Mercy Corps and airtime-to-crypto platform, Fonbnk, have launched a Learn-to-Earn (L2E) program focused on financial and Web3 literacy and digital earning opportunities offered on Fonbnk’s market-maker program.
In the program, Fonbnk will create a localized learn-to-earn program where job seekers can take courses on financial literacy and Web3 skills and the Fonbnk market maker opportunity. Once completed, participants will earn a small crypto incentive with the chance to turn into regular users of the Fonbnk platform.
A large digital divide continues to exist across Africa.
We've launched a pilot with @fonbnk1 to accelerate access to the digital economy, training underserved users on financial literacy & #Web3 & enabling them to swap prepaid airtime for #crypto.https://t.co/FXV0hQP85j pic.twitter.com/naXnOVyUhR
— Mercy Corps Ventures (@MCSocialVenture) November 29, 2022
The decentralized market-making platform, now available on smartphones, lets users exchange their pre-paid airtime amounts for cryptocurrency. On the marketplace, users transact with a network of airtime liquidity providers (market makers) for their respective mobile carrier’s pre-paid airtime credits.
According to Fonbnk, users can convert airtime from more than 1, 000 international phone networks into $MIN tokens, a dollar-pegged cryptocurrency that exchanges at 1 MIB = $0.01. Users can also use virtual cards funded by digital money to make online payments.
Through the app, the market makers, including individuals and enterprises, have the opportunity to earn extra income by actively trading airtime on the marketplace to ensure that Fonbnk users (Airtime Traders) can easily transact by creating liquidity for the swaps.
The pilot is also being used to explore growth opportunities for the Fonbnk platform. With the airtime-to-crypto service already available in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, Fonbnk expects to launch this L2E program in new markets, including Kenya, Nigeria, and other select countries where the program will be directed towards underserved groups.
MercyCorps says the success of the program will mainly be determined by how well these under-represented groups such as youth, women, rural communities, and low-income populations adopt the program and its benefits.
As such, the key measurements the impact investor is looking at include:
- Total # of users registering for and completing courses
- % of individuals from underserved groups, i.e., youth, women, rural communities, and refugees
- $ amount paid out as incentives for market makers
- $ revenue earned by market makers on the Fonbnk platform
- Total number of learners completing the market maker course
- # of new market makers registered from key markets
The pilot is also being used to determine the market opportunity for such education programs in Africa as well as the differences between the countries involved when it comes to the digital economy.
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