Cardano reveals the extent of progress on its plans to digitally connect Zanzibar

World Mobile and IOHK develop closer ties during the Zanzibar tour.

Samuel Wan · November 10, 2021 at 2:00 am UTC · 2 min read

Cardano developers IOHK, in conjunction with World Mobile, have released a video documenting progress on their plans to connect the Tanzanian archipelago of Zanzibar.

News of a partnership with the Tanzanian government first broke in late April during the Cardano Africa Special. Since then, as evidenced by the video, great strides have been made in building out the internet infrastructure and moving forward with Cardano’s role in providing digital identities.

The footage was shot during IOHK’s tour of Africa, which began in late October. It shows the progress of deployment and how locals are taking to the project.

Cardano and World Mobile plan to change the world together

While most people in the west think nothing of paying bills or arranging credit through the internet, the same cannot be said for the 2 billion unbanked people globally.

World Mobile says 66% of Sub-Saharan Africans live without a bank account due to factors that include fees, inconvenient branch locations, and the lack of trust in traditional financial services.

To bring about better financial inclusion for all, World Mobile hopes to change this, starting with building the first blockchain internet, which includes constructing a network of communication towers. Cardano’s role in this comes into play by solving the digital identity issue.

Atala Prism is a Cardano-based decentralized identity solution enabling users to communicate securely with entities to verify digital records without third-party intervention. This covers banking and finance and extends to include other uses such as medical records and voting systems.

Hoskinson says the world is up for grabs

Addressing a class of school children during the tour, IOHK CEO Charles Hoskinson said the world is changing, and the way things used to be done is now “up for grabs.” What’s more, he said this wouldn’t be at the behest of superpowers, but instead, by individuals regardless of where they live.

“The reality is is that everything is up for grabs now. The whole world is being rewritten, not by America, not by Europe, not by China, by everybody together it doesn’t matter where they come from…”

World Mobile commented that the Zanzibar tour was a fantastic experience from which they’ll take away feedback points to plug into their existing plans. Mickey Watkins, the company CEO, added that the tour also enabled them to build closer ties with IOHK and for them to experience the governmental goodwill firsthand.

“Over the next six to twelve months you’re going to see mass adoption of telecommunications, you’re going to see implementation of digital identities from IO, and you’re going to see a new world.”