Cardano News: IO's Journey in Africa - RealFi and Atala PRISM Lead the Way

• The latest blog post details Cardano’s Charles Hoskinson and Input | Output (IO) journey to make a real impact in Ethiopia using blockchain technology.
• According to the report, an education program was started to train fresh graduates to use Cardano to boost the agriculture sector.

---

To impact the financial economy as well as the individuals’ lives in Africa, Input|Output (IO) has decided to build a new technology in Ethiopia after conducting a pilot program for IT students in Greece and Barbados. In a comprehensive blog post detailing this journey, it was highlighted that the Ethiopian government made an early move to accelerate the digital future of the country. This is evident in the 155-page report – Digital Ethiopia 2025, approved by the Ethiopian Council of Ministers in June 2020.

Fascinatingly, Cardano (ADA) co-founder Charles Hoskinson was mentioned in the report as the prime minister shared his dream and mutual desire to harness the potential of blockchain technology. Later, Hoskinson unveiled plans for IO educators and engineers to train local blockchain developers to use Cardano to improve the traceability of produce. Earlier, the target was coffee exports, which formed 10% of the government’s revenue.

According to the blog post, the Ethiopian government was advised to focus on teaching recent graduates how to use Haskell. This was to enable them to develop a ledger of produce and producers on the Cardano blockchain. In the initial stage, the training cohort reportedly began with women. However, several of the students had to quit their jobs to focus, so a stipend program was introduced. Later, the Haskell training program jumpstarted its effort in Africa.

Our work in Africa and the Global South is central to achieving IO’s vision to serve the underserved and transform the systems of the world. From our pilot project in Ethiopia—with all its challenges—to the birth of RealFi and Atala PRISM’s new home in Hyperledger Identus—the…— Input Output (@InputOutputHK) November 29, 2024

More on the Journey to Make an Impact with Cardano

According to the report, the Ethiopian government agreed to move forward with the system-for-students which ultimately relied on the Atala PRISM. In the report, it was stated that developing countries lack the foundational resources to keep track of critical personal information, hence the need for the system.

Explaining this, Hoskinson is noted to have said that the plan to start with education was meant to roll out across the entire country. This would have made Ethiopia the first country to have a self-sovereign identification system.

People could then take that as a portable credential, and eventually, it would work its way into passports and the banking system … That was our vision, and we said, ‘Wow, all we need to do is add a payment system, and then everyone is their bank, and Ethiopia will go from one of the worst financial systems to the most advanced banking system in the world. Seventy percent of the country is at or below the age of 30, so if you start with the education system, you’ll cover most of the country within five years. That was our thinking.

Identus, a platform developed by the IO’s Atala team to enable businesses to develop decentralized identity solutions, was reported to have contributed immensely to the work done on the Ministry of Ethiopia project. According to the report, the effort to harness creativity, passion, and determination was partly an inspiration from Real Finance (RealFi.)

---

Recommended for you: