Africa is ripe for a revolution and Blockchain technology is here to facilitate that. On the 21st of October 2023, I sat amongst hundreds of other expectant guests at the Chike Okoli Entrepreneurship Center in Nnamdi Azikiwe University Awka, listening to numerous industry leaders in the tech and Blockchain space. It was the biggest Blockchain event to date in the whole of southeast Nigeria. I was so expectant, as was everyone else and I must say, I wasn't disappointed.

Here is an excerpt of some of the most valuable things I learned, I'm sure they would be of great value to you too.

The 1st panel session was led by Victor Denise Idon Gesit (Community and Social Media Manager) in the Web3 space.

Here are key points from what the participants discussed;

Umeh Maryjane Chinonye (Brand Strategist): "The whole web3 space is about the currency of value". Be extremely valuable and highly skilled,put yourself out there and let people see you. Focus on what you want to do, build your brand, break down your goals into small steps, write them out and run with them. The crypto space is a lot, specialization gives you more than generalization. Build experience in a particular niche, collaborate with persons in your niche and level, find your style and voice.

Chris Ani (CEO Digital Abundance LTD): speaking on ways to Create value;

There are diverse opportunities, clarity comes from taking action, starting small in a niche and developing a skill. Have a mentor that guides but try to be you, be unique.

Ogawaru David (Programs Lead CBC): There's no particular thing that works or style that sticks, try out new strategies. He further assured budding techies and Blockchain enthusiasts that there's time to build and advised against being pressured by social media.

Up next was a session introducing YELLOW CARD the grand sponsor of the event.

Paolo Abamwa Marketing Manager Nigeria at Yellow Card

Yellow card is an easy to use platform for crypto exchange (buy and sell) and sending money abroad. They offer Competitive rates, savings in stronger currency amongst other services. He noted that crypto makes it easier to save in hard currencies e.g pound or dollars using stable coins like USDT which is pegged to the value of dollars to hedge against inflation as is seen happening in Nigeria.

Paolo spoke about Yellow Pay which allows users to send money to 17 different African countries i.e Sending money in your local currency and having someone else in any of these 17 African countries,

receive it in their local currencies eg 5k naira to its equivalent in Ghana Cedis.

He further introduced Yellow card Academy where anyone can learn about crypto currency, from beginner to advanced level with just easy steps.

Yellow Card Academy

The 2nd panel session was on creating value in the crypto space as a techie.

Ifeanyichukwu Anthony (Alpha Blocks): noted that putting great effort in learning is critical to providing great value in this space; companies pay for the value you can provide.

Okoli Evans (Lead Blockchain Sub-Community, Blockchain Dev, Core Contributor on the Starknet Protocol): stressed the importance of volunteering and active participation in a community. He noted that contributing to open source was very instrumental in helping him land jobs as a developer in the Web3 space.

Uzondu Victor Joshua (Cryptovance ust): talked about building a personal brand, one that can speak for you and spread your influence.

Ifeanyichukwu John (Software Developer, GDSC Lead NAU): Advised fellow devs to create new solutions tackling real world problems because solutions solving societal problems brings you money.

Next was a session by Ugochukwu Aronu (Co-Founder & CEO of XendFinance, Founder of Wicrypt and Co-Founder Quiva Games).

He spoke about Our role in Digital Africa.

According to Ugochukwu, technology is the application of knowledge; it's not limited to coding, crypto too is a tiny part of technology as a whole. Knowing how things work under the hood is very important if one is going to build new things. Students have time to learn, continuous and consistent, repetition of tasks makes one a master at it. Having good fundamental knowledge is an advantage when building with technology. Africa seems to not be making enough impact because we lack much of the fundamental knowledge. Everyday there's something new to learn; a new software, crypto exchange being marketed, it's a lot of noise, we should focus on one thing and do it over and over till we become a master at it.

Tech can solve a lot of our problems as a country. Nigerians need to build new and unique solutions, away from the saturated markets, focusing on things that people are not really focussing on.

Then there was a Fireside chat where a group of amazing speakers discussed Emerging Technologies.

Emeka Ezike (VP Media and Publicity SIBAN, Communications Manager EMURGO Africa, CMO Bitbart): spoke about how we can adopt AI; its relevance in web3. He importantly noted that Web3 promises transparency, AI promises data... the two can merge at a point to provide true data.

According to Obinna Iwuno (President SIBAN, Founder Crypto Bootcamp Community): Blockchain technology offers security and privacy, hence blockchain can power the simplest of things voting systems, school databases and financial record systems.

Ifeanyi Reuben (Founder CIBchain Academy): says that we can revolutionize how tech works by first learning about technology, attending events like this where we can learn about technology, discovering, joining and actively participating in communities where we can gain value from.

We also had Chike Okonkwo (Business Development Director at GAMIC) introduce the platform. He rightly said that Gaming is for entertainment and fun first, but can also be a career.

The event was overall a very impactful one, there was a ton of information being shared, connection and networking being made. I sincerely appreciate the amazing team of speakers, sponsors, partners, volunteers that made this day happen, Especially Yellow Card, Unizik Blockchain Lab, Crypto Bootcamp Community, Anambra State ICT Agency and a host of other contributors, even the students of Nnamdi Azikiwe University who are always willing to learn and connect.