Our team is 60+ people throughout West Africa. We all work together to make this program a success. Team leaders thoroughly vet new members (linkedin, facebook, socials, Discord history of activity, work reference). The core leaders are as follows and for the other leaders, check out our notion page. 

President: David Ogoegbunem 

David holds a B.Sc. in Marketing from Delta State University and has extensive experience in community leadership and digital marketing. As the Community Lead at Binance, he developed and implemented successful engagement strategies, organized large-scale events, and managed social media channels, significantly boosting user engagement. At Flow Africa, he led initiatives to expand the blockchain community across the continent, fostering partnerships and driving educational campaigns to enhance blockchain adoption and literacy.

Timothy Ovie:

As a Programs and Community Manager with 6 years of experience in building and managing communities and marketing teams, Timothy has a proven track record of developing and executing successful programs, campaigns, and initiatives that engage and grow communities and user base.

Anthony Ebenbunahe:

A Product Designer with extensive experience in designing digital products for both web and mobile platforms and around the Web2 and Web3 space. Over the past few years, he has also dedicated himself to building and managing communities centered around the products and technologies. He has built communities in collaboration with Web3 Partners, Flow Blockchain, and Figma.

Purity Ochuko: 

Purity is a seasoned Community Manager and Digital Marketer with extensive experience in both Web2 and Web3 sectors across Africa. She has effectively led initiatives that significantly expanded user bases, managed ambassador programs, and orchestrated large events. Recently, Purity has headed notable Web3 communities such as Filecoin Orbit, Flow Blockchain Africa, and Fluence Network

The West African Ambassador program is a dynamic incentive designed to address regional challenges through blockchain technology on the Stellar ecosystem. With 60+ members, and hundreds of event attendees, the program aims to generate innovative solutions applicable across various industries in  Africa. Since it’s inception, it has already successfully supported the development of GearUP, its first funded project, with the ambition of catalyzing a new project each month. This initiative not only promotes local blockchain developers but also organizes numerous events to boost adoption of the homegrown applications. Next month we have 8 events planned in the region and well as 12 virtual coding classes on Discord, and weekly Ambassador meetings open to the public to attend. 

The West Africa Ambassadors Program addresses several key issues in the region through the application of blockchain technology:

Economic Development and Entrepreneurship: By encouraging the creation of blockchain-based businesses, the program supports economic growth and provides new opportunities for local entrepreneurs. This is achieved by nurturing skills in blockchain technology and smart contract deployment, empowering participants to turn innovative ideas into viable businesses.

Education and Skill Development: The program targets individuals with little to no coding experience, offering educational classes that teach them how to code and deploy smart contracts. This education not only builds valuable technical skills but also enhances problem-solving capabilities, preparing participants for advanced opportunities in the tech sector.

Community Building and Collaboration: By organizing events and fostering collaboration among members, the program strengthens the local blockchain community. This enables knowledge sharing and joint problem-solving, creating a supportive ecosystem where members can learn from each other and collaborate on projects.

Technology Adoption and Innovation: The program promotes the adoption of blockchain technology by demonstrating its practical applications, particularly how it can solve local problems. By featuring local applications built on Stellar, it showcases successful implementations and encourages further innovation in the region.

The primary audience includes developers, entrepreneurs, and tech enthusiasts in West Africa who are interested in blockchain technology and its applications for local development.

Events in the West Africa Ambassadors Program play a crucial role in promoting projects built on Stellar, particularly those utilizing Soroban smart contracts. These gatherings serve as dynamic platforms where developers can showcase their applications through detailed presentations and engaging live demonstrations. By highlighting successful projects, these events encourage broader adoption of Stellar’s technologies and demonstrate practical uses in solving local issues.

Each event is carefully structured to maximize exposure for developers, allowing them to present their blockchain solutions to an audience that includes potential investors, industry leaders, and future users. This exposure is instrumental in securing feedback, fostering partnerships, and attracting necessary funding. Additionally, these events offer valuable case studies and success stories that illustrate the tangible benefits and impact of using Stellar and Soroban in real-world applications.

Moreover, the community-centric atmosphere of these events encourages networking and collaboration among participants. This environment fosters a supportive ecosystem where developers can connect, share insights, and collaborate on future projects. Such interactions not only enhance individual projects but also strengthen the overall capacity of the local blockchain community to innovate and address regional challenges effectively.

The coding classes within the program are integral to preparing ambassadors for these events. By focusing on the technical workings of the Stellar SDK and the Rust programming language, essential for crafting smart contracts on Soroban, ambassadors gain a deep understanding of Stellar's infrastructure. This knowledge equips them to host discussions and presentations about Stellar's technical interworkings at events, enhancing their ability to educate and engage audiences effectively.

Participants start with a fundamental understanding of blockchain technology and progressively tackle more complex topics, including smart contract deployment and optimization on the Stellar network. This structured educational approach ensures that by the end of the program, attendees are not only well-versed in theoretical concepts but also competent in applying them to develop practical, scalable solutions. 

Deliverables

45 day plan

Deliverable 1

Fund the Brazilian Ambassador Program 

The Brazil Ambassadors cannot apply for their own SCF grant yet because they have not had the crucial first month of operations and organization needed to make a compelling SCF proposal. The initial month of the WAA program was internally funded, allowing us to:

Carefully identify and allow leaders to emerge
Understand our audience and regional issues
Learn the best ways to host events and determine optimal event sizes
Develop a detailed and accurate budget
Without this foundational month, completing a successful SCF application would have been challenging. Therefore, to promote the growth of the Ambassadors program and provide them with 30-45 days of funding to prepare for their SCF grant application, we will allocate $15,000 for their first month of operations.

Once Brazil receives their SCF grant, they will fund the first month for the India Ambassadors, and this cycle will continue for each new region. This strategy links us all as one global community and fosters the communication and collaborative environment essential for the program's success.

This connection will be more than just a wallet transaction as Ambassador presidents along with Dana Sacco will come together for monthly meetings to share their progress, collaborate on ideas, and offer any guidance and help to other programs. We want to foster sustained growth and unity among all ambassador members. 

By funding the initial month for each new member, we create a strong foundation and continuous support network, allowing the ambassador programs to thrive globally.

They plan on hosting 6 events and having a large side event at the largest Brazilian blockchain event, Blockchain Rio. Their groups is comprised of impressive builders and visionaries like Helo, a young woman who was on the Forbes list of 30 under 30. She is already applying for her SCF grant this round and is very active in their group. 

More info on them is on our notion page

15k

Completed by July 20th (or first day we receive payment for grant)

Deliverable 2

Host 12 in-person, regional events

We have 12 events planned in the region. On our notion page you can see the budget break down of each as well as their agenda and location. They will all have 50-70 attendees, and they will feature Stellar as well as SCF and projects with local team builders. 

14800

Will happen over the next 6 weeks. 

You will know it's done from the twitter page sharing photos from events

Deliverable 3

2 Large scale events with partnership

Stellar Woman in Tech: Empowering African Innovators and Web3. The women's event will be live streamed and will have over 250 attending. Speakers are attending from across the continent. For more info on each, you can go to our Notion page. 5k August 24th

You will know this is done because there will be tweets before and after event and photos shared from the event. 

Web3Bridge event Africa 5k. September 5-7th

https://stellarambassadors.notion.site/WAA-Deliverables-Budget-edf17e7e26d747ea92fa9e6c96ffebd1

You can see our event info on our Notion, socials, photos, and on the web3bridge website. 5k

Deliverable 4

Semester of Coding

36 coding classes over 3 months. We have self funded the first month of them and the second two months we are asking for funding. These are recorded and posted on our Youtube channel. 

$2,600

Deliverable 5

1 new funded SCF team from the West African Ambassador Program

(House Africa, Seso, myaza)

All WAA events will be covered in our monthly newsletter and Medium articles. These will be all linked from the Notion page which is the source of all information around this project. We have Lu.ma and Twitter as well to track and promote each event. All links are available on Notion and we keep attendees emails for the newsletter and do not post them publicly on the notion. We can make those emails available to you though if needed. 

The second page of the link displays a projected roadmap for the coming month.

Our goal is to illustrate that as the Ambassador Program expands, local projects will also grow in number and flourish. Many of these projects will require marketing support to achieve regional adoption. The most effective strategy is to market at ten in-person events each month and leverage all our social media platforms. For example, imagine an app designed for the people of West Africa, achieving 50 downloads per event, with 10 events per month. This demonstrates why projects will continue to rely on the Ambassador Program for marketing assistance. Even projects like Beans, which are not based in West Africa but have a significant market there, will greatly benefit from our marketing efforts.