World Mobile and Empowa plan to bring connection and affordable housing to Mozambique

World Mobile and Empowa bring connection and affordable housing to Mozambique

World Mobile has partnered with Empowa to roll out our hybrid, blockchain-based network in the port city of Beira, Mozambique in the near future.

Empowa is a RealFi project built on the Cardano blockchain that provides decentralised affordable home loans for the financially excluded. As part of this collaboration, Empowa plans to build environmentally sustainable homes in Beira and deliver access to affordable home ownership, and we plan to roll out our foundational infrastructure and work together with local entrepreneurs to deliver connectivity in the region.

The synergy of our network and Empowa’s decentralised home financing will provide life-changing opportunities for people in Beira. Not only will hundreds of people have access to affordable homes, but they will also be able to join the sharing economy and benefit from the many opportunities offered by connectivity through the World Mobile network.

World Mobile’s hybrid network is built on blockchain and the sharing economy, allowing people to benefit from their stake in the network’s infrastructure and to earn rewards from offering connectivity. Anyone can own part of the network by operating an AirNode once we have rolled out our foundational infrastructure and earn rewards for delivering connectivity to others.

Everyone has a right to Internet access and the wealth of education, social and financial opportunities it brings, and Empowa shares our belief that financial autonomy and connectivity are crucial for economic and social development. Empowa’s decentralised financing model synergises perfectly with our network’s sharing economy, allowing us to build a circular ecosystem in Beira where everyone can benefit and earn from affordable home financing and better, fairer connectivity.

The success of this project could pave the way for a better standard of living across the world, changing lives everywhere home ownership or affordable connectivity is out of reach for the people that need it most.

Solving real problems with the Cardano ecosystem

Our partnership with Empowa highlights the true utility of the Cardano blockchain and its utility for delivering world-changing applications. Mozambique faces major challenges that conventional business models have been unable to address, and together with Empowa, we can leverage our decentralised solutions built on Cardano to solve them.

Mozambique’s population is over 30 million, but there are only 600 mortgages in the country. The cheapest housing options in the formal market start from $55,000 with an interest rate on home loans between 20 and 30%, which makes housing affordable to only 1% of the total population.

Our partnership with Empowa solves this problem by reducing the cost of homes and financing, delivering a sustainable business model that will grow Mozambique’s mortgage market, while also offering connectivity and financial opportunity through the World Mobile network’s sharing economy.

In January 2021, Internet penetration in Mozambique stood at 21.2% and only 34.2% of the population had 3G coverage. The cost of mobile data is also expensive – with the country ranked in the top 100 most expensive countries for mobile data. Connectivity and Internet penetration are even worse in the rural areas of the country that have not been served by existing networks.

This problem is mirrored across many countries in Africa and other parts of the world where substantial portions of the population remain unconnected.

It is a problem the World Mobile network is uniquely designed and positioned to solve in a way that empowers people with the opportunity to own a part of the network and earn rewards for delivering connectivity. By building a better and fairer mobile network together with the people, we can all share the rewards of disrupting a trillion-dollar telco industry.

This is a perfect opportunity for our network to make a real-world impact and for both us and Empowa to demonstrate the possibilities of RealFi and affordable connectivity. By deploying in Mozambique soon, we are proving that our disruptive solutions to these longstanding problems can work anywhere in Africa or the world.