Charles Hoskinson, CEO of IOHK and founder of Cardana, visited Africa where he met with business people and politicians to discuss the integration of their blockchain network in Ethiopia.
Hoskinson also visited the Ethiopian Ministry of Education as part of the “Cardano Africa Tour” to explore student credentials with the country’s authorities.
The credential system aimed to reprocess the academic records of 5 million students by adding information such as attendance and grades to the blockchain to collect data and provide a digital identity system.
Hoskinson said this is the first phase of the program. Then the goal is to use this as a springboard to start a national identity system in the country. This will increase the number of users to 110 million.
Cardano is creating excitement on the global stage. According to the Project Management Institute (PMI), the Cardano Atala Prism project in Ethiopia was ranked 14th among the 50 most influential projects in 2021.
PMI has identified the project as a gamechanger that has the potential to improve the educational outcomes of Ethiopian students.
Opposition to the project initially prevailed in government, according to John O’Conner, director of Africa operations. But the government has come to realize that digital identity and blockchain technology are not the burden as originally thought.
O’Conner said the Atala Prism enables governments to fulfill their documentation management responsibilities as they move towards greater digitization.
Why does Cardano want to go to Africa?
Many people question Cardan’s presence in Africa. However, Hoskinson sees great potential and many possible partnerships in this region.
More precisely, IOHK has commented on this on its blog. The article states that Africa “is by no means faithful to the systems of the past that have not worked well here”. So all the infrastructure is in place when it comes to implementing better and more equitable ways of doing business.
IOHK wants to ride the wave of progress as Africa is clearly gaining more and more space on the global stage.
Other visits as part of “Cardano Africa Tour”
As part of the tour, Hoskinson visited Burundi, South Africa and many other countries where he met with presidents and businessmen to discuss the future of their country where digitalization based on blockchain innovation should prevail.
Hoskinson also plans to visit Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt.
Disclaimer: What is written here is not investment advice. Cryptocurrency investments are high-risk investments. Every investment decision is under the individual’s own responsibility.
