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Unity is defined as the state of being one. Around the world, there are people with African heritage that make up the diaspora. Currently, there are over 100 million people within the African diaspora and over 1.4 billion people living in Africa. The idea of unifying and connecting members of the African diaspora to African natives is a concept called Pan-Africanism which was theorized by W.E.B Du Bois. This movement was even furthermore popularized by Marcus Garvey who led the Back to Africa movement. Ideas of unification and collective collaboration amongst African people are often thought of in a physical sense, with the most recent example being Ghana’s Year of Return. However, Afropolitan is building a platform to unify African people and the African diaspora through digital means.
Afropolitan’s mission is to be a conduit and a gateway for Black excellence. The startup is building the first digital nation that is based on the internet to connect members in the African and African diasporic communities to talent, capital, culture, information, and experiences. Similar to the actions of W.E.B Du Bois and Marcus Garvey, Afropolitan is a response to the struggles that have led to the oppression of Africans and the broader diaspora. While much of the African diaspora and native Africans reside in different places, these communities have parallel experiences, such as Jim Crow and Apartheid. While there has been progress with regards to equality, Black Americans and many other groups around the globe protested in 2020 to fuel the Black Lives Matter movement which showed that the fight for racial equality is far from over worldwide. The multitude of shared parallel experiences that exist globally for Africans and the diaspora is the base that Afropolitan is leveraging to build the digital nation.
The concept of a digital nation seems abstract on the surface until one realizes that if Facebook was to become a country, it would be the largest in the world. Balaji Srinivasan, crypto titan and former CTO of Coinbase calls the idea of forming digital countries, the network state. The network state strategy is centered on building in the cloud before building on physical land. Communities would be built online with their own culture and values which ultimately leads to the desire for physical interactions. Balaji attests that to be recognized as a nation requires it to be recognized diplomatically as an entity by other nations. As one can imagine, nations need currency to run effectively, but with the increasing societal acceptance of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, a digital nation can leverage digital currencies to scale economically. Srinivasan also reminds those from nations who have a multiplicity of people such as the US, China, or India that most countries have small populations. Of the 193 countries recognized by the United Nations, around 75% of them have populations of less than 10 million people. Afropolitan’s North Star is the African diaspora which, as referenced earlier, encompasses over 100 million people.
Afropolitan currently has engaged the broader African community through community activations, including a fire party during NFT NYC. Ultimately, Afropolitan will launch in four phases.
The first phase of Afropolitan is the network. The digital nation will launch NFTs that outline the vision of Afropolitan as well as give its members access to a digital passport, events, and future services. Creating NFTs may provide a point of commonality for Afropolitan’s members and drive demand for the ideal member to take an active role in the progression of the nation. Additionally, if Afropolitan can create meaningful utility with their NFTs, it can be imagined that the value of the digital assets will increase. As we’ve seen with NFT projects such as Punks or Bored Ape, the value of NFTs prompts their holders to attach these projects to their identities. Afropolitan has the chance to create a similar attachment with their NFTs. Ultimately, NFTs with utility will win long term making it very attractive for Afropolitan to mint them for their users to be engaged for many years to come.
The second phase that Afropolitan will commence will be the launch of the Afropolitan application. The app aims to provide utility to its members by creating features to monitor holdings, send cross-border payments, earnings via DAO participation, and purchase goods and services. The Afropolitan app is exciting as it is an opportunity to practice social commerce with a collective goal of unity and equity for members of the African and African diasporic communities. For business owners who are able to transact on this platform, they could potentially secure very loyal customers, due to the communal tie Afropolitan looks to create. The app also creates an avenue for Afropolitan’s community to have access to essential financial services, which many people in the diaspora may not have access to. In Web2, there have been companies such as webuyblack.com that aim to connect Black-owned goods and services with Black buyers. However, sites like We Buy Black have been underappreciated. To succeed, the Afropolitan app must have a top-notch user experience that eclipses the marketplaces that Afropolitan’s members shop with today such as Amazon.
This app will serve as the foundation for socially conscious spending and collective economics. In my article written during Black History Month, it was found that in the US, Black investors are more likely to hold crypto in their investment portfolio. Furthermore, it was written that the African continent is the third fastest crypto economy due to the growth of its cryptocurrency users. With this in mind, it makes sense that the members of the diaspora may also want to be active members of Afropolitan to be able to leverage their crypto to advance the community.
Moreover, there will be a feed that shares community information, allowing members to monitor the movement in real time. This community feed will be valuable to the African diaspora as it allows them to become familiar with the customs of the cultures of other African Nations. Most importantly, it will allow Africans and the broader diaspora to shape their narratives, and provide exposure to a variety of stories that portray the various aspects of the African experience and excellence.
After having a community of active members on the application, Afropolitan plans on turning the app into a virtual community that will be governed by seed institutions such as subsidiary funds, organizations, and the developing internal economy.
The final phase for Afropolitan is to obtain a physical epicenter of its members that mirrors Chinatown. Having a physical presence will allow Afropolitan members to create economic opportunities. Additionally, Afropolitan will create a handful of charter cities constructed in a similar fashion as Hong Kong or Singapore.
Afropolitan is not just an idea and the project has received support from the investor community. The company raised 2.1 million dollars of pre-seed capital during the crypto downturn. These investors include the creator of The Network State, Balaji Srinivasan, co-founder of Syndicate DAO, Ian Lee, Olugbenga Agboola of Flutterwave, and more. Additionally, venture firms such as Hashed, Audacity Fund, Ingressive Capital, Cultur3 Capital, and Shima Capital also participated in the round.
The investors of Afropolitan are very diverse and all aren’t web3 native. The collection of these investors shows the viability of Afropolitan’s offering in the near term but also a support of Afropolitan’s long-term vision.
The vision of this revolutionary company is being executed by Afropolitan’s founders Eche Emole and Chika Uwazie. Eche is a former Flutterwave executive with over ten years as a curator for professional and social events. The events Eche has created have a distinct specialty to the African Diaspora. Chika is a former founder with one exit who has experience with exceptional organizations such as 500 Startups, Pinterest, and most recently, Protocol Labs.
All things considered, Afropolitan is driving the spirit of cultural unity to scale. Within the four phases of Afropolitan’s roadmap, there is a focus on collective issues that impact the African diaspora and native Africans alike. Additionally, Afropolitan has the connection of various cultures within the African community embedded within the product. This educational piece will provide access to knowledge about various cultures and hopefully provide broader cultural understanding yielding a greater possibility for unity. Afropolitan has recognized the connection of the diversity of Black people which is inherited resilience, creativity, and vision and that if provided the access will ultimately yield a better world.
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