Highlights from Celo Gather Africa and ETHSafari
September 19 2024
by Victoria Calmon
Community Visit in Nairobi
The week started off with a visit to Mento stablecoin users in the community. A research team ventured into the outskirts of Nairobi to better understand “chamas” - local community-based lending circles - and their role for small businesses and communities in Kenya. These self-organized groups are essential for providing access to credit, enabling entrepreneurs to grow their ventures, and driving economic development.
The goal was to dive deeper into how microlending works and understand its transformative potential for these communities. What became clear is that microloans are a critical lifeline, often making the difference between a business growing or failing. Accessible and affordable credit is key to unlocking the potential of these business owners and entrepreneurs, helping bring their ideas and strategies to life.
One of the most exciting insights was how new technologies can enhance the traditional community lending process. Blockchain solutions (developed by Haraka, Clixpesa, Mento Labs and Celo), have the potential to make access to capital safer, cheaper, and more efficient. By leveraging Web3, we can empower local chamas with the tools they need to unlock capital and grow their businesses in ways previously unimaginable.
Our visit, organized by Haraka and Clixpesa, with support from researchers at Mento Labs, Celo Foundation, and Celo Europe DAO, showcased how locally developed solutions - like stablecoin-based lending - are paving the way for a more inclusive financial future in Kenya.
The power of Web3 and open-source technology is clear: real change happens when communities are listened to and empowered to build their own solutions.
Ecosystem Happy Hour
Following the visit to the user communities, the Mento Labs team joined the Ecosystem Happy Hour event organized by Celo Africa DAO. It was an exciting evening of networking with builders, VCs, and partners from the Celo Foundation, Mento Labs, and MiniPay ecosystems. What a great way to reconnect with old friends and meet new friends in person!
Celo Gather Africa Builders' Workshop
This community-led conference aims to shape the future of Celo in Africa, an immersive day of learning, building, and networking. This event brought together some of the most innovative minds in the Celo ecosystem for a hands-on experience designed to empower and equip builders in the African Web3 space. Highlights included:
Mento Builders' Workshop
Presented by Jordan Muthemba from Celo Africa DAO, this session included insights on Mento, diving into their latest tools and solutions that are driving the future of decentralized finance on Celo and the Mento decentralized stablecoin ecosystem.
In the cKES workshop, participants had hands-on experience learning how to integrate the Celo Kenya Shilling (cKES) stablecoin into their projects, unlocking new opportunities for local transactions.
MiniPay Workshop
The MiniPay workshop included a recap and highlights of the 1st year of Opera MiniPay, a panel session with Opera Mini, Celo Foundation and builders, and concluded with an open interactive Q&A session.
Celo Gather Africa
A community-led conference shaping the future of Celo in Africa where visionaries, innovators, and changemakers connected to shape the future of Web3 in Africa. This one-day gathering organized by the Celo Africa DAO and Celo Europe featured engaging workshops, insightful talks, and networking opportunities to connect with top blockchain builders, founders, Web3 developers and investors from across the continent.
The panel “cKES: Unlocking the power of local stablecoins” with Haraka, Mento and Clixpesa showcased the findings of the cKES lending pilot in Kenyan chamas.
With Pretium, Fonbnk and Kotani Pay, three Mento partners talked about “Bridging financial inclusion to expand access to Finance in Africa.” In his keynote Markus presented cKES, the Kenya Shilling stablecoin on Mento and showcased user activations planned for ETHSafari. Also the MiniPay team presented the updates on MiniPay user numbers and the sleek new MiniPay Pockets feature powered by Mento technology.
ETHSafari
The 3rd edition of ETHSafari was held in Kilifi, Kenya, and brought together attendees from all over Africa and around the world to learn, hack, buidl, discuss, and celebrate our decentralized future. The Mento Labs’ team was on the ground sharing a kibanda with Celo Foundation and Opera MiniPay.
Day 1 of ETHSafari kicked off with Mento Labs on the main stage! Markus gave a keynote presentation on the “Next wave of adoption via local currency stablecoins.” In the afternoon, Victoria gave a presentation sharing best practices for “Web3 Crisis Comms - It’s a Jungle Out There.”
A roundtable discussion about the growth of local currency stablecoins led by Mento and the onboarding of new users thanks to MiniPay was held featuring Celo Foundation, Opera and Mento Labs.
The highlight of Day 2 of ETHSafari was celebrating MiniPay’s 1st birthday party in our booth! The team spent the morning getting ready to celebrate by decorating with balloons and a happy birthday sign. At 12:30 there was an announcement, the team sang “Happy Birthday” and shared green and white cupcakes with the community to celebrate together!
Some fun activations took place at the event where users could experience the ease of using cKES. Attendees at the event could onramp with Fonbnk and purchase coffee and coffee beans straight from the growers and baristas of Project Mocha in cKES with Valora!
During the closing party, ETHSafari DJs set up their Payd and Clixpesa wallets to collect tips in cKES from enthusiastic fans who were enjoying the music at the event.
Mento Labs launched campaigns with partners Fonbnk and HaloFi to enable users opportunities to earn cKES.
In addition to the birthday cupcakes, attendees appreciated the Mento stablecoin fans for staying cool in the safari heat and the stylish cKES t-shirts were being spotted all across the event venue.
Team Dinner
Mento Labs hosted a team dinner to thank our partners Celo Foundation, Celo Africa DAO, Celo Europe DAO, MiniPay and others. This was a great opportunity to come together and enjoy excellent food and conversation after the long day at ETHSafari.
The Mento Labs team is already excited about the next events!
Be sure to join the Mento Community on Discord and follow @MentoLabs for more updates.
Discover more
Sign up for
Mento Magazine
Want to know more about Mento?
Introducing Mento Magazine, featuring
news and updates on the Mento platform
and Mento Labs
