Greetings,
I am Lavender Esther Khayali, a vital organizing team member behind the Polkadot Savannah Hackathon and Conference, Additionally, I hold the position of Operations Steward at H.E.R. DAO Kenya.
With great pleasure, I extend this invitation to the forthcoming event, the Polkadot Savannah hackathon and Conference, which is scheduled to host participants from June 3rd to June 5th, 2024, at the Kofisi Square, Nairobi.
. Subsequently, from June 6th to the 9th, we will transition to hosting the conference near the Nairobi National Park at Masai Lodge. The culmination of our event will feature an unconference conference. The closing party on Saturday will be our premier unconference conference and closing party in the bush, surrounded by our indigenous Acacia trees and warthogs roaming around.
Polkadot Savannah, formerly known as Polkadot Safari, is the largest Polkadot conference on the African continent. Polkadot Safari, our inaugural hackathon, has evolved into Polkadot Savannah, spearheaded by Web3 Savannah and H.E.R DAO Kenya. Our mission is to empower women to embrace Web3 technologies through hackathons and conferences.
The blockchain landscape in Africa is still developing, offering limited awareness and opportunities for local developers to engage with platforms like Polkadot. Despite burgeoning cryptocurrency adoption across Africa, driven by a widespread distrust In traditional banking systems, the potential of Polkadot remains largely untapped. With approximately 53 million cryptocurrency holders on the Continent, a burgeoning audience is keen to explore alternative financial systems and technological innovations. Notably, Nigeria leads in crypto adoption, followed by South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, and Tanzania, illustrating a diverse and burgeoning interest in digital assets.
Furthermore, Africa’s expanding developer population presents a unique opportunity for innovation and growth. Despite economic challenges compounded by the ongoing impact of COVID-19, the number of professional developers has risen by 3.8%, constituting 0.4% of the continent’s non-agricultural workforce. However, African developers need more avenues to learn about and contribute to the Polkadot ecosystem.
We aim to conduct conduct online boot camps, and side events in seven other countries beyond Kenya, with scheduled events from March to May 2024. These initiatives aim to onboard developers and enthusiasts into the Polkadot ecosystem.
Polkadot Savannah will host a conference and hackathon following our preliminary events, across eight Sub-Saharan African countries. This event will unite developers, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts to learn, hack, and explore the Polkadot ecosystem. Emphasizing gender inclusivity and supporting African startups building on Polkadot. Polkadot Savannah will host a conference and hackathon following the advancement and showcase the potential for a decentralized, secure, and equitable future. The participating countries include Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Zambia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Africa.
The hackathon and Conference will be happening from June 3rd to 8th, 2024. The timeline is as follows:
- Hackathon: June 3rd to 5th at Kofisi Square, Nairobi.
- Unconference Conference: June 6th.
- Conference: June 7th and 8th near Nairobi National Park at Masai Lodge.
- Closing Party: June 8th, amidst the scenic backdrop of indigenous Acacia trees and roaming warthogs.
Polkadot Safari Hackathon and Conference witnessed remarkable success, attracting over 236 in-person attendees and 326 online and offline hackathon participants . The event achieved several milestones, including high participation and submission of quality and diverse projects. Collaboration, knowledge sharing, and innovation thrived within the blockchain industry, involving different parachain teams, hack challenges, and organizations like the Web3 Foundation.
Polkadot Savannah holds immense significance in accelerating Polkadot adoption in Africa. This event will offer African developers a platform to learn about and contribute to the Polkadot ecosystem while promoting gender inclusivity in the African blockchain sphere. We are confident that Polkadot Savannah will be a resounding success, nurturing a vibrant African Polkadot community.
Committed to inclusivity, the Polkadot Savannah team will collaborate with local organizations to ensure widespread participation. Together with the Polkadot community, we aim to make Polkadot Savannah a transformative event for the African blockchain ecosystem.
Our success metrics include:
- Expected developer registrations: 300
- Number of project builders: Approximately 200 individuals, yielding around 50 projects
- Talks per day: 10-14
- Management of Ecosystem: 5 Parachains in Real Life (IRL)
Interested participants include NovaWallet , Encointer, Sora Network, Polytope Labs, and Zeitgeist among others like Moonbeam, Apillon, Origin Trail who we are still in talks with.
Our qualitative goals encompass
- Unifying existing Polkadot online communities to foster cohesion
- Propagating the vision of Web3 through the Polkadot lens.
- Facilitating interaction and exploration of the East African market by Polkadot ecosystem participants
- Introducing Substrate as a framework for blockchain development to existing Web2 and Web3 developers
- Presenting Polkadot/Substrate as an enterprise solution for governmental agencies, corporations, and organizations
- Addressing challenges encountered by users on the network or building on Polkadot through Q&A sessions
Thank you for considering our proposal.
You can access our detailed proposal using the link I’ve shared here
Feel free to follow us on Twitter @web3_savannah for updates and join our telegram channel
Warmest regards,
Lavender & Polkadot Savannah team.