Celo Labs, an ‘open platform’ devoted to making the world carbon-negative, has won the Social Impact Award at the inaugural Crypties Awards held on November 30 2022 in Los Angeles, United States.
Billed as the Oscars of Web3, the event was organized by Decrypt Studios, a film and production company financed by Joseph Lubin, a co-founder of the cryptocurrency platform, Ethereum.
And the #Crypties Social Impact Award goes to… the Celo community! #WeAreCelohttps://t.co/yZ2haMN9fw
— Celo (@CeloOrg) December 2, 2022
Besides the social impact award, there were winners in 9 other categories, including NFT Project of the Year and Metaverse Project of the Year.
Celo is a mobile-first blockchain platform that has established itself in Africa with several programs to speed up blockchain growth for social impact with a particular focus on financial inclusion. Celo says it is driven by the mission to create a new economic paradigm – one centered around a regenerative economy to create prosperity for all.’
Below are some of the programs Celo has targeting Africa:
Defi Lending Pilots
Celo, in collaboration with various organizations, has implemented several pilots testing how people across Africa can derive the benefits of the blockchain.
In April 2022, Celo partnered with Mercy Corps Ventures to leverage Moola Market, a borrower and lending protocol built on Celo, and Kotani Pay, an on/off ramp provider in Africa, to launch an employer-based stablecoin lending model in Nanyuki, Kenya initially targeting farmers employed by Cinch Markets.
This first-of-its-kind pilot explored a scalable solution for micro-loans that leverages Celo’s mobile-friendly blockchain. From the pilot, farmers were able to access loans at an 8% annual interest rate, significantly cheaper than the 20% offered by local banks.
“This is the best loan group I have ever seen,” said pilot participant Ephraim Wachira. “It is the first one I have seen with such a low-interest rate.”
DeFi for the People
Celo’s experiments with DeFi are part of a wider belief in the potential of the sector to provide economic benefits all over the world.
In 2021, Celo announced a partnership with some of the leading DeFi projects for an initiative called DeFi for the People.
The partners include some of the most popular DeFi projects:
- Aave
- Curve
- Moola Market
This is a long-term program designed to help scale DeFi globally, especially in emerging markets and countries in Africa where the growing industry is yet to impact.
DeFi for the People will empower developers across the world to create products that make DeFi more accessible and easier to use for people in the developing world.
The initiative will see $100 million contributed by the participants to support educational initiatives, grants, and incentives to fulfill its ambition.
Web3 Fund for African Startups Looking to Transition from Web2
In July 2022, Celo launched The Celo Africa Web3 Fund to invest and help scale Web2 organizations looking to incorporate web3.
Together with multiple partners including:
- Unicorn Growth Capital
- Ape Unit
- Echo VC
- Uncovered Fund, and
- Flori Ventures
Celo sought Web2 founders from payments, remittances, crypto, savings, lending, and related financial services sectors with an interest in crypto to apply for the fund.
Up to 50 successful applicants in each key country will secure access to equity investors, venture capital funding, technical and business mentorship, marketing support, and Decentralized Exchange Listing opportunities.
Celo Africa Regional DAO
In August 2022, the Celo Africa team proposed a regional DAO that would foster a local-led approach to the growth of the Celo ecosystem in Africa.
Focused on Africa, the purpose of the DAO would be to ‘win the hearts and minds of Web3 builders across Africa’ by empowering them to drive the growth of the Celo ecosystem from the grassroots.
The proposal requests $507,000 worth of Celo to support 4 specific areas of activity for the DAO. The first would involve hosting hackathons with the goal of producing projects that eventually receive funding from the Celo ecosystem.
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