[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

Summary

Build a dApp that fuses traditional cooperative operations in the form of smart contracts and integrates Atala Prism to provide credit to informal businesses in Africa. Organizing the informal sector on blockchain and recognizing its role as a profitable activity would contribute to economic development and easy large-scale adoption of Cardano in Africa.

Background

The blockchain provides the platform for Africa’s informal sector to put its deep-rooted traditional cooperative system used to provide credit to informal businesses. It is public knowledge that the Cardano blockchain has Africa as part of its strategic goal. To fully explore the potential of Africa’s market share, we cannot afford to ignore the informal sector in Africa.

The informal sector is the engine for economic growth and employs 90% of youths in Africa, yet the development agenda in Africa and from multilateral development partners seems to ignore the very engine of economic growth in Africa. This proposal seeks to provide financial inclusion by providing credit to businesses in the informal sector. It is established that the development of the informal sector is a great accelerator towards solving critical socio-economic problems, including Poverty, hunger, and improving the standard of living among others. Among the challenges faced by the informal sector, financing businesses or access to credit is a huge problem (Lader, 1996). Existing credit facilities and banks do not have financial products for businesses in the informal sector. This is due to the inability of the sector to document its activity or provide easy identification for its players as well as the inability to raise the needed collateral to secure loans or credit from banks, ,microfinance and financial institutions. Financial institutions with the formal sector structure their product to meet the needs of large corporations.

There is also element of discrimination with the credit constraints which depends on gender disparity gap. Abor and Biekpe (2006) identified that female-owned businesses in the informal sector are relatively small and less likely to employ debt finance. This is because, the necessary collateral to qualify for debt finance is not owned in their names and females are unable to penetrate informal financial network which affects their ability to gain useful information and source of capital (Greene et al, 1999).

Solution in Details

The solution proposes to use existing cooperative operations in Africa through smart contracts on dApp and provide secured and collateral-free credits at a rate of less than 2%. It is estimated that there are over 500 million cooperatives across Africa. As of 2016, South Africa had 132,000 cooperative movements and there are 25,000 cooperatives with 14,000,000 members in Kenya. Ghana equally has about 15,000 cooperative societies. It must be noted that several other cooperative movements operate with little or no records on them. Traditionally, the extended family in Africa forms the basic economic unit of communities. It must be noted that the extended family operates with a pool of resource, however, the extended family is a private entity as several other private families exists even within one community. Also, there exist co-operatives systems that pool resources on a mutual cooperative basis between several individuals from various families. For instance, members of a particular cooperative can undertake to weed individual farmlands in turns and on a weekly basis. It is how, traditionally, co-operatives organize various economic activities including farming.

The Cardano blockchain presents safety and reduces the risk associated with traditional cooperative operation. With smart contracts developed on a dApp which would code the traditional cooperative operation on the blockchain. Blockchain technology would present secure, transparent, and safe cooperation among individuals in the informal sector.

Smart Contract and No Collateral Credit for Informal Sector Businesses in Africa

Individual businesses in the informal sector form various co-operatives to contribute flat fees into a pool fund (savings mobilization) on a weekly or monthly basis. This amount is then given to a one member of the co-operative group. This would continue until all members within a cooperative group receive funds from the pool fund when their turn is due to end the cycle of the pool fund. This practice has sustained informal businesses till present-day Africa and the sector remains the backbone of economies in Africa. In such a cooperative system no collateral is needed to receive funds from the cooperative pool but solely on mutual cooperation basis. The smart contract would provide an imprint of cooperative operation on the Cardano blockchain. The smart contract would function to allow players in the informal sectors to undertake the following;

1. Form cooperative groups of 3, 5, and 7 to access financial credit

2. The group formed would serve as a security for credit and there would be no need for collateral

3. Individuals in the group getting more and high credit is dependent on the performance of all group members in repaying the loans.

4. Governance mechanics exist to resolve real situations of setbacks, justifiable bad debt, and participatory recovery plans.

The credit would not be given in isolation as plans exist to provide identity and accounting management to help businesses get credit ratings that can be an indicator to rely on for future access to credit.

Module: Bottom-Up Approach

The sustainability of the project hinge on advancing traditional co-operative principles. We seek to use the bottom-up approach for increased participation of businesses in the informal sector to have a sense of ownership in the entire project. Cooperative operation is grassroots-oriented therefore, the bottom-up approach is a sustainable way to address socio-economic challenges associated with affecting informal businesses.

Market Research

The informal sector is dominated by individual private businesses undertaking various economic activities that are vital to the economies of countries in Africa. Caprio & Honohan (2001) have argued that GDP growth rate could increase by 2% if credit flow to the private sector is doubled. It has been established that the level of economic activity is highly affected by any disruption to the supply of credit (Melzer, 2007). Currently, the informal sector is faced with existing credit constraints. According to the World Bank (2008), access to finance is described as absence of price and non-price barriers to the actual use of financial services (credit). In practice, documentation process alone provides difficulty to the informal sector and prevents them from accessing credit from existing financial institutions.

Naturally, at the going market rate, when demand for credit exceeds supply, borrowers will be prepared to pay higher rate to obtain credit but a high-interest rate will reduce the expected returns of lenders since higher interest rate can be a disincentive to repay the loan. What is more crucial is that a high-interest rate takes away the borrower's expected returns; therefore, borrowers are motivated to engage in high-risk ventures with high returns and low possibility of success. Therefore, there is a moral responsibility on lenders not to increase interest rates (price) in response to increasing demand for credit even though borrowers may want to pay higher prices (Domeher et al., 2014). However, high interest rate can induce more lenders to increase supply of credit and reduce interest rates in the long run.

Since the project would take off in Ghana, it is important to note that, in Ghana, small enterprises in the informal sector mainly source their credit from non-bank financial institutions. In addition, the nature of small enterprise borrowing in Ghana is interesting as Domeher et al., (2014) revealed that the amount of loan SMEs desire to borrow has a significant association with the average amount of cash generated per month by the business. Thus, the loan amount increases as the cash generated per month by the business increases and vice versa. This is good for lenders and the economy as a whole because SMEs only borrow as much as they can afford. To put it another way, SMEs that generate higher cash per month are relatively big businesses with bigger financial needs hence, mostly decide to apply for large amounts of credit.

This presents an opportunity to use smart-contract to imprint on the Cardano blockchain credit operations that have made informal businesses survive in the face of adversities and neglect from financial inclusion.

Atala Prism Integration

Decentralized Identity Verification: Decentralized identities for individuals and enterprises operating in the informal sector may be created using Atala Prism. This minimizes the possibility of fraud and boosts participant confidence by ensuring that each entity on the blockchain has a distinct and verifiable identity.

Reputation and Credit History: Each group in the cooperative smart contract system would have their transaction history and reputation tracked by Atala Prism. It would keep track of productive loan repayments, company performance, and other pertinent information. Lenders may consult this credit history to assess the creditworthiness of unregistered enterprises.

Smart Contract-Based Loan Application: Smart contracts would be used to submit loan applications from informal enterprises. These agreements may be created to incorporate certain clauses like the required collateral, interest rate, loan amount, and payback conditions. The applicant's identity and credit history kept in Atala Prism would be instantly verified via the smart contract.

Transparent Loan Repayment: Payback conditions and automated payback procedures can be included in smart contracts. Tracking loan repayments using Atala Prism ensures accountability and transparency. The borrower's credit history may benefit from timely payments, which may improve their ability to obtain credit in the future.

Continuous Improvement: To learn more about the efficacy of the cooperative smart contract system, data gathered through Atala Prism may be evaluated. This knowledge would be used to enhance credit availability, loan conditions, and lending procedures for Africa's informal companies.

[IMPACT] How does your proposed solution address the challenge and what benefits will this bring to the Cardano ecosystem?

The proposal provides blockchain and decentralized solutions to a critical and unique niche within the African continent thus the informal sector. The informal sector has the ability to scale up ADA use and adoption rapidly in the face of competition from other ecosystems in the crypto market share of Africa.

The credit would be paid in ADA value and allow players in the informal sector to use Yoroi wallet to receive credit facilities to support their businesses. This would provide evidence-based support and development of real businesses and grow cryptocurrency trust among real business owners. This would be easy to build grounds, in the long run, to adopt Cardano for real-world business value delivery.

The proposal provides a win-win situation for players in the informal sector by addressing the problem of lack of access to credit by informal sector players and making Cardano adoption accelerate on the African continent. Developments of the informal sector in Africa have a huge tendency of accelerating adoption and hence should be given needed attention because blockchain technology exists to provide self-governance to the informal sector that abhors control from a centralized authority.

Through smart-contract with businesses in the informal sector, the future of growth in adopting Cardano in Africa would accelerate since this proposal presents a solution to the informal sector which is the engine of economic activities in Africa.

Finally, the proposed solution spreads up adoption and provides representative stakeholders working within groups for a decentralized ecosystem that provides credit to informal business owners.

[IMPACT] How do you intend to measure the success of your project?

The impact we have on enterprises in the informal sector, providing them with a trustless credit system through a decentralized application (dApp) leveraging cooperative smart contracts and Atala Prism on the Cardano Blockchain that can be trusted for their financial inclusion in Ghana and throughout Africa, is how the team defines success. Particularly, the measures characterize our success below:

1. Adoption and Usage: The degree of dApp usage and acceptance by informal companies is critical to our success. How much SMEs would use the platform to conduct financial transactions, confirm their identities, and access other services, therefore, the number of active users, transaction volume, and user engagement are key indicators for success.
2. Financial Inclusion: The main objective is to increase SME financial inclusion. The number of formerly financially excluded enterprises/ SMEs that have obtained access to financial services through the dApp would be used to gauge success. Financial inclusion development would be monitored by keeping tabs on the rise in the proportion of SMEs having access to loans, credit score, payment services, and other financial instruments.
3. Stakeholder Engagement: It's critical to collaborate with stakeholders including SMEs, financial institutions, regulators, and community organizations. The degree of cooperation, collaboration, and support gathered from different stakeholders may be utilized to measure success.
4. Long-Term Sustainability: Long-term insights on the dApp's capacity to continue supporting SMEs may be gained by analyzing the dApp's financial sustainability, scalability, and flexibility. The success of the project may be determined in part by tracking its development, funding, and potential for growth.

KPIs

The project sought to use the following indicators to measure progress.

§ Number of Users

§ Number of Wallets Created (Yoroi/Nami/CC-Vault/Daedalus) for informal businesses

§ Number of Credit Applications

§ Number of Credit Facilitated and Approved

§ Number of Informal Businesses Paying Back Credit

§ Number of informal business owners/players attending the workshop

[IMPACT] Please describe your plans to share the outputs and results of your project?

Documentation and Reporting: Keep complete records of all project activities, obstacles, and outcomes, as well as significant milestones. Create frequent progress updates and thorough project documentation that reflect the approaches employed, the impact made, and the implementation process. The outputs of the project will be shared using this documentation as a base.

Stakeholder Engagement: Throughout the project, include and involve stakeholders to foster ownership and guarantee their active participation. Engage in regular communication and collaboration with all relevant parties, including the neighborhood's companies, financial institutions, governmental organizations, development groups, and government agencies.

Workshops and Training Sessions: To disseminate the information and insights learned from the project, hold seminars, training sessions, and capacity-building initiatives. These seminars would be directed toward informal businesses, financial institutions, and pertinent parties. Sharing best practices, showcasing the advantages of the cooperative smart contract system and Atala Prism, and offering advice on putting such projects into action should be the main priorities.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What is your capability to deliver your project with high levels of trust and accountability?

Our team has been active in the catalyst ecosystem since fund 7. With experience in both business and nonprofit management, project management, and compliance.

I’ve been an active community advisor, a voter, and a proponent with two community-funded and executed projects. The successful execution of those projects has propelled us with experience in mobilizing grassroots for blockchain adoption as well as engaging policymakers and regulators through policy dialogues. (See reference to proposal <https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/62263>, <https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/64441>)

Apart from our active involvement in the catalyst space, our team brings not only extensive experience and a high level of engagement in the Cardano Project Catalyst in terms of project implementation and successful outcomes that lead to onboarding and promoting Cardano among grassroots within our local communities.

Having successfully completed projects in the past, our experience and commitment to transparency and accountability through detailed and understandable community reporting. In addition, our transparency with project challenges amalgamates to building trust and accountability consciousness in the community.

Our team’s skills, experience, and commitment to goal-oriented solutions for scaling the Cardano ecosystem by leveraging blockchain solutions to local problems including developing dApp contribute to building credibility and reputation for achieving project deliverables.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] What are the main goals for the project and how will you validate if your approach is feasible?

The main goal of the project is to:

1. Enhance financial Inclusion for SMEs and informal businesses through scalable and sustainable dApp solutions.

2. By utilizing Atala Prism and cooperative smart contracts, the project aims to close the gap between the formal and informal economies, empowering companies that have traditionally been shut out of traditional financial services. This will increase financial inclusion by giving informal sector businesses in Africa access to financial credit.

3. Foster economic growth within the informal sector

The project provides identity and financial inclusiveness for informal businesses in Africa but would commence with those in Ghana.

Feasibility

The successful execution of the project would hinge on technical, operational, and project scheduling.

Technical - The technical experts for the project are vested with experienced developers with full knowledge of Cardano Blockchain and integrating dApp development tools. Developers at Inversion have proven and established experience that is appropriate and effective in providing the required functions including compatible smart contract language and the Cardano blockchain is suitable for scaling.

Operational - The project practically aligns to provide a solution that is currently needed by SMEs to provide financial inclusion and expand their business interest. Therefore, SMEs and informal businesses' readiness to adopt and utilize dApp once it is created is high. This is because access to credit is a major challenge to informal businesses therefore, the dApp solution provides a critical business solution for easy adoption and utilization.

Project Scheduling - The project timeline is flexible to ensure achieving project milestones. With an agile implementation approach, the timeline is structured to concord with the catalyst resource and funding batch to ensure the efficient use of resources. This helps to mitigate risks on resource availability.

Sustainability - The project in the long term would charge minimum fees to sustain and maintain dApp operations. Also, there is the possibility of internet infrastructure expansion as well as the growing educated population to enable the utilization of dApp solutions.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed breakdown of your project’s milestones and each of the main tasks or activities to reach the milestone plus the expected timeline for the delivery.

This project is estimated to be executed in five (5) months thus 20 weeks. We seek funding to develop dApp and seed capital to provide credit to at most 25 informal businesses as first step of the project. Details of the project timeline;

Phase A: 1 – 3 Weeks

• Kick-off Meeting
• User Research
• User onboard & Outreach Strategic Plan
• Financial Regulatory Research and Compliance

Phase B: 4 – 10 Weeks

• Pilot implementation
• Gather data on credit facilitation
• Define smart contract parameters

Phase C: 11 – 14 Weeks

• Atala Prism Integration
• Launch & Test-net for dApp & integration
• Monitoring & Evaluation Report

Phase D: 15 – 19 Weeks

• Marketing
• Engagement with informal business
• Host a workshop to onboard informal business owners/players
• Completely Develop dApp

Phase E: 19 – 20 Weeks

• Deploy dApp
• Finalizing Project Completion & Report

The detailed activities/deliverables for the key 7 milestones for the project is as follows;

Milestone 1 - Project Planning and Preparation

1. Make a detailed analysis of the financial requirements and difficulties experienced by unlicensed enterprises in the target areas.
2. Establish and maintain partnerships with the appropriate parties, including financial institutions, local governments, and development groups.
3. Create a thorough project plan that includes the budget, the distribution of resources, and the timetable.

Milestone 2 - Design and Development of Cooperative Smart Contract System

1. Define the specifications and criteria for the cooperative smart contract system while taking into account the unique requirements of African informal companies.
2. Design and create the smart contract system with the help of blockchain engineers and experts to ensure scalability, security, and usability.
3. Test and iterate the system to address any bugs or issues, ensuring its reliability and functionality.

Milestone 3 - Integration of Atala Prism

1. Decentralized identity verification and reputation tracking are made possible by integrating Atala Prism into the cooperative smart contract framework.
2. Set up Atala Prism so that participating informal enterprises' identities and credit histories are securely managed and stored.
3. Ensure seamless communication between Atala Prism and the cooperative smart contract system, enabling efficient data transfer and transaction verification.

Milestone 4 - Pilot Implementation

1. Choose a target population of informal businesses to take part in the test phase.
2. Add the chosen companies to the network of cooperative smart contracts after confirming their legitimacy using Atala Prism.
3. Use smart contracts to streamline the loan application and approval process while taking into account details like loan amounts, interest rates, and collateral restrictions.
4. Distribute the authorized loans to the involved companies and monitor their development.

Milestone 5 - Monitoring and Evaluation

1. Create a structure for monitoring and evaluating the project to determine its impact and efficiency.
2. Data on loan disbursements, repayment rates, business expansion, job creation, and overall financial inclusion would be gathered and examined.
3. Continually assess the project's performance in relation to the established KPIs and make the required modifications to enhance results.

Milestone 6 - Scaling Up and Expansion

1. Create strategies for expanding the initiative to further regions of Africa and informal sector enterprises based on the pilot phase's success.
2. Using the information from the pilot phase, modify and improve the Atala Prism integration and the cooperative smart contract system.

Milestone 7 - Knowledge Sharing and Dissemination

1. Work together with key stakeholders to spread information and replicate the project's achievements in other African nations and areas.
2. Engage in knowledge exchange and networking constantly to advance the fields of blockchain technology and financial inclusion.

[CAPABILITY/ FEASIBILITY] Please describe the deliverables, outputs and intended outcomes of each milestone.

Milestone 1 - Project Planning and Preparation

Deliverables

1. Make a detailed analysis of the financial requirements and difficulties experienced by unlicensed enterprises in the target areas.
2. Establish and maintain partnerships with the appropriate parties, including financial institutions, local governments, and development groups.
3. Create a thorough project plan that includes the budget, the distribution of resources, and the timetable.

Output: comprehensive assessment of the issues and financial requirements posed by the target areas' informal sector firms.

Intended Outcome: Clearly stated project objectives, targets, and KPIs. Partnerships with the appropriate stakeholders would be also be in place.

Milestone 2 - Design and Development of Cooperative Smart Contract System

Deliverables

1. Define the specifications and criteria for the cooperative smart contract system while taking into account the unique requirements of African informal companies.
2. Design and create the smart contract system with the help of blockchain engineers and experts to ensure scalability, security, and usability.
3. Test and iterate the system to address any bugs or issues, ensuring its reliability and functionality.

Output: With all the required features and functions, create a functional cooperative smart contract system.

Intended Outcome: Have a cooperative smart contract system that is reliable and safe that is prepared for integration with Atala Prism.

Milestone 3 - Integration of Atala Prism

Deliverables

1. Decentralized identity verification and reputation tracking are made possible by integrating Atala Prism into the cooperative smart contract framework.
2. Set up Atala Prism so that participating informal enterprises' identities and credit histories are securely managed and stored.
3. Ensure seamless communication between Atala Prism and the cooperative smart contract system, enabling efficient data transfer and transaction verification.

Output: Integrate Atala Prism into the cooperative smart contract framework, enabling decentralized reputation monitoring and identity verification.

Intended Outcome: Smooth and dependable connection that guarantees the safe handling and preservation of identification and credit history data.

Milestone 4 - Pilot Implementation

Deliverables

1. Choose a target population of informal businesses to take part in the test phase.
2. Add the chosen companies to the network of cooperative smart contracts after confirming their legitimacy using Atala Prism.
3. Use smart contracts to streamline the loan application and approval process while taking into account details like loan amounts, interest rates, and collateral restrictions.
4. Distribute the authorized loans to the involved companies and monitor their development.

Output: Businesses from the informal sector would be added to the cooperative smart contract system, and identities would be confirmed using Atala Prism.

Intended Outcome: Loans would be disbursed to participating firms, loan repayment rates would be tracked, and the effects on company development and financial inclusion would be reported.

Milestone 5 - Monitoring and Evaluation

Deliverables

1. Create a structure for monitoring and evaluating the project to determine its impact and efficiency.
2. Data on loan disbursements, repayment rates, business expansion, job creation, and overall financial inclusion would be gathered and examined.
3. Continually assess the project's performance in relation to the established KPIs and make the required modifications to enhance results.

Output: Provide a framework for monitoring and evaluating, along with methods for gathering and analyzing data.

Intended Outcome: A thorough assessment report including loan disbursements, repayment rates, business expansion, job creation, and overall financial inclusion.

Milestone 6 - Scaling Up and Expansion

Deliverables

1. Create strategies for expanding the initiative to further regions of Africa and informal sector enterprises based on the pilot phase's success.
2. Using the information from the pilot phase, modify and improve the Atala Prism integration and the cooperative smart contract system.

Output: Thorough scaling-up plan designed, including methods for interacting with more informal businesses across various locations.

Intended Outcome: Project implementation broadened, more firms served, and financial inclusion significantly impacted.

Milestone 7 - Knowledge Sharing and Dissemination

Deliverables

1. Work together with key stakeholders to spread information and replicate the project's achievements in other African nations and areas.
2. Engage in knowledge exchange and networking constantly to advance the fields of blockchain technology and financial inclusion.

Output: Lessons learned, and best practices are shared through workshops, conferences, publications, and online platforms.

Intended Outcome: Increasing stakeholder awareness and understanding, and advancing the fields of blockchain technology and financial inclusion more broadly.

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown of the proposed work and resources.

Budget (ADA)

The budget is detailed and structured along with our activities. The allocation of the amount is based on the estimation that the price of ADA is $0.24. The working duration, a day is estimated as 7 hours, 5 days for a week and 10 days make 2 weeks. Our total ask is 400816 ADA. Below is the detail.

Planning and Gathering of Requirements

4250 ADA

User Interface (UI) Design

Adoption requires creating an interface that is simple and easy to use.

1458/Day * 3 days = 4374 ADA

Front-end Development

Creating user interactions and integrating them with the Cardano blockchain network

3500/Day * 5 Weeks = 87500 ADA

Back-end Development

Creating smart contracts, integrated Atala Prism Cooperative Credit system.

4375/Day * 10 Weeks = 218750 ADA

Testing and Quality Assurance

Thoroughly test the dApp to identify and fix any bugs or flaws.

1888/Day * 2 Weeks = 18880 ADA

Deployment and Launch

The dApp deployed to the Cardano blockchain

2500/Day * 3 Days = 7500 ADA

Product Management

358/Day * 10 Weeks = 17900 ADA

Marketing & Advertising

2083/Day * 2 Weeks = 20830 ADA

Informal Sector Education & Workshop

Undertake 3 educational and Outreach Workshop

10416/Event * 2 Events = 20832 ADA

Team Fees

5417 ADA

Total ………………………. 400816

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] Who is in the project team and what are their roles?

Jacques Bosch, Founer, Inversion - dApp Developers

Jacques has 3 decades of experience in building systems for human utilization. Our project has a good collaboration with Inversion (https://inversion.dev/#aboutus) for technical expertise. The team of developers has tremendous years of experience integrating traditional software systems with blockchain platforms; wallets, native tokens, NFT minting, and smart contracts. This level of technical expertise is important to facilitate the development and successful execution of the proposed dApp solution.

Nathaniel Dwamena - Chief Operation Officer

He has a B. A (Hons) in Geography and Rural Development and 2023 candidate for Bachelor of Law. He is a researcher and has more than seven years of experience in think tank development, non-profit management, and business development consulting. He was part of the team contracted by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ Ghana) to conduct a study on red tape for doing business in Ghana. He successfully completed think tank training in Nigeria and project management training in Kenya, which aided in his successful graduation from the Atlas Leadership Academy, Atlas Network (USA). He is a member of Wada and has been involved in Catalyst since Fund 7 as a proposal advisor and proponent who has successfully completed two projects.

LinkedIn : https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathaniel-dwamena-02578a127/

Kingsley Mensah - Chief Technical Officer

He holds an MSc. in Computer Science & Technology. Founder of a web hosting company, Kingscel Technologies. He has proven skills in web designing, software development, computer networking and security, Javascript, Plutus, and CSS, and loves ideas for a free society. He was awarded the Star of Innovation Award in 2019 by the Hubei University of Technology (China). He also received the Young Achievers Award at the Pride of Africa Awards (Asia) 2020 by Appreciate Africa Network (Asia).

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kingsley-mensah/

Charles Fiifi Hagan - Accountant

He has a BSc (Hons) in Business Administration (Accounting). He is a Pastor and a business development consultant and has more than seven years of experience in Ministry Accounting and, and business development consulting. He is the CEO of Chems Consultants, a business consortium that aims at helping startups. He has consulted for a few startups that are currently finding

their feet in the world of business.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/charles-hagan-77570312a

Joshua Larweh Tetteh - Agri-business Lead & Coordinator

He has a BSc. (Hons) in Agriculture. He has more than three years of experience in volunteer management and non-profit management. He is part of the team at the Ashanti Regional Department of Agriculture which coordinates the activities of the Government of Ghana's Planting for Food and Jobs program in the region to ensure that there are checks and balances. He has been involved in catalyst since Fund 8 as a Community Advisor.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-larweh-tetteh-a1b391192

[RESOURCES & VALUE FOR MONEY] How does the cost of the project represent value for money for the Cardano ecosystem?

The project idea of combining Atala Prism with a cooperative smart contract credit system for informal businesses offers the Cardano ecosystem substantial value for money in the following ways:

1. Enhanced Adoption and Utility of Cardano: The project increases the use case and value of the Cardano blockchain ecosystem by utilizing Atala Prism and incorporating it into the cooperative smart contract credit system. It would demonstrates how Cardano's technology can be used in the real world to address urgent problems faced by informal businesses, drawing in additional users and boosting platform adoption.
2. Increased Transaction Volume and Network Activity: The cooperative smart contract credit scheme expands the Cardano network's user base and transaction volume by facilitating financial transactions for unregistered firms. The entire health and development of the Cardano ecosystem are positively impacted by the increasing transaction volume and network activity. It aids in the sustainability, decentralization, and security of the network.
3. Positive Reputation and Branding: The project's excellent execution and the beneficial effects it has on Africa's informal economy help the Cardano ecosystem's reputation and image. It reflects Cardano's dedication to social impact, financial inclusivity, and sustainable growth. This favorable reputation can promote the Cardano ecosystem's long-term development and sustainability by luring additional users, developers, and investors to it.
4. Catalyst for Innovation and Research: Further innovation and study inside the Cardano ecosystem would be stimulated by the combination of Atala Prism and the cooperative smart contract credit system. It promotes the investigation of novel use cases, innovations, and fixes that make advantage of Cardano's features and further its ongoing development. Future research and development initiatives within the Cardano community can benefit from the project's revelations and lessons gained.
5. Ecosystem Expansion and Partnerships: Within the Cardano ecosystem, the initiative may result in the establishment of strategic alliances and collaborations. With a view to use blockchain technology for financial inclusion, it offers chances for engagement with financial institutions, development organizations, and governmental bodies. These collaborations help the Cardano ecosystem grow and diversify, building a strong and linked network of stakeholders.