Intersect Wada x Africa Hub is a collaboration between Cardano’s Intersect Members Based Organization (MBO) and Wada. The goal of this collaboration is to set up regional “Hubs” all over the African continent. These hubs exist in order to invite active participation from these regions in Cardano governance decisions.

As part of the Voltaire era, it is now more important than ever to get the community involved in decision making processes in the Cardano ecosystem.

You can follow the Intersect Wada x Africa Hub initiative on X @IntersectWADA

As a result of this collaboration, the Intersect Regional Hub in Nairobi, Kenya was launched on Sep 25, 2024. Numerous groups and constituencies were represented at the event, including Intersect, Wada, the Cardano Kenya community, Cardano Africa Academy, and Lido Nation:

Intersect MBO

Intersect is a Member based organization that puts the community at the heart of Cardano’s development. You can learn more about Intersect at: https://www.intersectmbo.org/ and on X @IntersectMBO

Wada

Wada is an international organization, primarily focused on Africa. They aim to help local developers and entrepreneurs to create decentralized application (DApps) creation and build business for the Web3 future. You can learn more: https://www.wada.org/ and follow them @Wada_org

Cardano Kenya Community

Is an informal community something you can launch? According to Cardano Ambassador Jeremiah Baani, it is, and that launch happened in April 2024: https://forum.cardano.org/t/cardano-africa-academy-launches-the-cardano-community-in-nairobi-kenya/131781 The launch of a community is partly symbolic, but important in that it represents a gathering of people who are forming a collective identity: people in Kenya who follow, support, and participate in Cardano activities.

Cardano Africa Academy

Cardano Africa Academy is once again led by Jeremiah Baani. The Academy is an educational movement which aims to empower people across Africa on the potentials of blockchain technology and leveraging Cardano’s opportunities for development. Learn more: https://cteil.org/ and follow Jeremiah @Jerrybnj

Lido Nation

Lido Nation focuses on blockchain education and global community building in the Cardano space. Lido Nation also leads the work at the Ngong Road Blockchain Lab in Nairobi. At Lido Nation, we believe the future is for everyone! Learn more about Lido Nation by subscribing to our monthly newsletter: https://www.lidonation.com/en/library

The Event

The session was hosted both online and in person at Westpark Towers in Nairobi. It was a privilege to have a multitude of speakers representing various organizations playing key roles in the Cardano ecosystem.

• Nick Cook - Head of Community & Membership at Intersect MBO
• Daniel D. Lezu - Operations Manager Catalyst Africa town hall
• Darlington Wleh - Co-Dreamer Lido Nation
• Jeremiah Baani - Founder of Cardano Africa Academy & Cteil

The event attracted about 90 people in attendance, who were engaged on all things Intersect and how they can participate in the Cardano ecosystem.

What happened?

The session kicked off with Darlington introducing the audience to Intersect, and an overview of its primary committees:

• Civics committee
• Membership and Community Committee (MCC)
• Technical Steering Committee (TSC)
• Parameter Committee (PC)
• Open Source Committee (OSC).

Next, Jeremiah took the stage to introduce Nick. Nick showcased the Intersect Wada x Africa Hub efforts in launching hubs across Africa to increase the local community involvement in the Cardano space. He expressed gratitude for being part of the launch as the then rolled towards the benefits of becoming an intersect member. He highlighted the following benefits:

1. The opportunity to participate in decentralized governance: members can participate in governance decisions to ensure the process is transparent and inclusive in covering all aspects of Cardano evolution.
2. Access to essential resources and tools: Cardano node, core libraries, and up-to-date documentation. This aids developers, companies, and individuals to navigate the ecosystem with ease and help with its growth.
3. Grants and funding opportunities: There exists a lot of funding mechanisms that members can bid for in the work packages and not all are technical such as organizing local meetups, running events, or even hosting Intersect’s Town Hall meetings.

Nick stated that whether you are a technical person or not you can contribute to shape Cardano’s future. He encouraged the participants to get involved in their Local Wada Communities and also join the Intersect as an associate member. He also covered the Annual Members Meeting that is mandated as an MBO. These will be held this October starting from 4th to the 20th. The locations for this meeting are as follows: Tokyo, Sri Lanka, Portugal, Ghana (hosted by Wada), Mexico, and the United States.

In closing, Nick emphasized that intersect exists to serve its members and community and many of the participants will join intersect and be part of its journey. He is looking forward to engaging with the participants as either associates or full intersect members of Intersect.

After a break, Darlington took over to talk about Cardano governance and its tools: gov.tool & 1694.io. Participants were then given time to register interest as intersect free or paid members and were taken through the process on how to do it. A short community challenge was then held to test how the audience understood the concept that had been delivered to them through the day. Daniel gave more insights on decentralized decision making.

The Audience was given a chance for a Q & A Session, which showcased their interest to know more about Intersect and Cardano.

Jerry then took over to close the session. He thanked all the Speakers and Participants for making time and taking part in the Intersect Regional Hub Launch.