The recently concluded ETHSafari, Africa’s largest gathering of Ethereum stakeholders, was an experience to relive. Held late September in the coastal city of Kilifi in Kenya, the event’s lineup of activities and the calibre of networks present lived up to the enthusiasm built from the maiden edition last year. Amongst other things, ETHSafari highlighted the persistence of crypto adoption in Africa and the increased activity of global blockchain companies, despite overall bearish market conditions and declining investors’ appetite.

NODO, in its typical fashion of staying atop the web3 conversation in Africa, hoisted its flag at the event—and had several members of its team participating in key panel sessions that contributed to the event’s overall success. The week-long event, which was preceded by hackathons that began on September 1st, created opportunities for stakeholders to engage in some of the most critical conversations involving blockchain technology in Africa.

Micheal Kimani, President of the Blockchain Association of Kenya (BAK), discussed the state of digital asset policies in Africa. Kimani, who recently led the BAK to sue the Kenyan Government and prevent the implementation of a 3% tax on crypto assets, highlighted that the blockchain industry needs to work more closely with the government to set better standards for crypto regulations.

In spite of what seems to be an impasse between crypto and African governments, ETHSafari made it clear that “Africa Rising” is more than a cliche. Some of the world’s biggest blockchain firms, including Coinbase, MetaMask and CELO, were present and had representatives contributing to the nuanced conversations about web3 and Africa’s future. This future, most of them agreed, is one in which web3 is not perceived as sexy only because of an inherent blockchain appeal—but is widely accepted because builders are super creative with blockchain, leveraging the tech to build some of the most pressing solutions for Africans.

In addition to global firms, Africa-native blockchain companies were present in their numbers. NODO. Kotani Pay, Onboard, Kamusi DAO, and Web3Bridge were some of the locally represented projects that are demonstrating traction across the continent. Africa Defi Alliance, an ambitious project to connect African MSMEs to cheap capital and trustable financial infrastructure, held an annual meeting as part of ETHSafari’s programs. The organisation, whose work on the continent has led to partnerships with B2B e-commerce firm Marketforce and Kenyan ride-sharing upstart Maramoja Transport, seeks to support MSMEs with about $100 billion in business capital. Africa Defi Alliance’s meeting brought together an exquisite lineup of speakers, including Raise’s Marvin Coleby, SafariDAO’s Gwera Kiwana, and Jason Eisen, CEO of UTU, a project that seeks to tokenise trust for the web3 space.

Perhaps, one of the most striking conversations had at ETHSafari was about sourcing alternative capital for web3 projects. Africa’s technology ecosystem is mostly powered by foreign capital, and VCs play a crucial role in this. Two African web3 companies, Kucoin and Scroll, crossed the one billion dollar valuation mark last year, right after mega VC rounds. While these companies are revenue-making and solving business problems at scale, their ability to access global capital invites ecosystem recognition, which ripples into capital access for web3 startups across the continent.

However, the onset of a bear market has markedly suppressed investors’ confidence in blockchain projects, as more investors prioritise metrics such as utility, profitability, and capital efficiency. These considerations, some investors have argued, are not popular with blockchain businesses, several of which have had to deepen their value propositions towards solving real problems. In a scarcity of pro-blockchain investors, what should budding startups do? Songyi Lee believes an answer lies in exploring alternative funding models. Lee, a fourth-time founder who leads Impact Collective, an Asia-focused investment outfit, led a fireside conversation titled “Beyond VC”.

“So much energy”

When we asked Isha Varshney, CELO’s Head of DeFi, about her ETHSafari experience. Her excited response was, “Energy, there’s so much energy here. I feel rejuvenated and ready to keep building.” Varshney’s experience at ETHSafari is not peculiar to her. Several other players we interacted with spoke effusively about the event being a catalyst for a hyper-local approach to web3 building.

“What’s interesting is that people here are not building replicas of Western web3 products. Web3 builders in Africa are simply bringing on chain, some of the traditional frameworks they’ve mastered,” Varshney said, speaking about the projects she interacted with at ETHSafari.

Varshney’s point is rooted in the history of African tech to replicate Western models that have been proven to be successful. This is usually expressed in what is termed forced branding, and has given rise to labels such as Jumia, the Amazon of Africa; and Paystack, the Stripe of Africa. However, many African founders have found out, oftentimes a bit too late, that an adaption of Western models is not guaranteed to scale in Africa. For e-commerce giant, Jumia, this realisation came with deep losses, leading to fundamental changes in their business approach. “Web2 builders in Africa were not able to make products that really fit local needs. But this is where web3 is winning,” Vashey said.

NODO at ETHSafari

Sowmya Raghavan, NODO’s head of product, and Chidubem Emelumadu, Content Operator at NODO were some of the team members on the ground who participated in some of the defining panel sessions at ETHSafari. Sowmya highlighted the key role that communities play in Africa’s burgeoning NFT space, which, over the years, has grown in leaps and bounds, minting out digital artist celebrities such as Jacon Osinachi Igwe and Anthony Azekwoh. The conversation also touched on the increasing use cases NFTs are finding in Africa, especially in land registries and voter verification.

Like Sowmya, Emelumadu led the conversation in her panel session that explored the work, impact, and mission of L2 blockchain tech players in Africa. The duo held sway at ETHSafari and told the world about NODO, a product for discovering, learning, and interacting with web3 products and stakeholders in Africa.

ETHSafari remains one of the most important events in African tech, gathering people from across the world to learn, network, and collaborate towards a prosperous African future powered by blockchain technology.