Benkiko is a DAO(Decentralized Autonomous Organization) that was founded in 2022 is is based in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. A DAO is an organization with no central authority where members have the ability to vote on initiatives and issues affecting them. Such organizations are powered by blockchain technology and they work towards a shared objective. These organizations bring together like minded individuals around the globe without the trust of 1 benevolent leader in management of funds and operations. In the Kenyan market, it will suffice to say that public trust in a single leader to manage resources is scarce. This is especially true among the GEN-Z generation who want to govern their own affairs when it comes to finances and wealth creation. Benkiko will therefore come as a welcome respite to the woos of this generation as well as other generations within the country and across the continent. It is crucial to mention that Africa has few such organizations owing to the fact that the blockchain powered technology is relatively new. Also, with African government staking their shares in publicly traded companies, the tendency to control operations of those companies leads to mismanagement and embezzlement of funds from the political class making the young populations skeptical about investing in them since they only serve a few individuals.
Benkiko DAO is therefore, proposing a blockchain solution to scale micropayment and governance for projects in digital native communities. The platform seeks to enable projects and native communities to come together and govern themselves while thriving through instant micropayment services as well as democratization of equity to include all currencies that are preferred by the digital communities. Through this robust blockchain solution that is powered by Stellar.org, the platform will facilitate users to move economic value at fast speeds across anywhere on the globe while utilizing a network of more than 200 000 MoneyGram locations to convert their cash to digital assets and vice versa. On this quest, the platform serves as a finance and blockchain enabler for Fintechs(Financial Technologies) while creating a cryptocurrency payment gateway and a crypto API(Application Programming Interface) to assist blockchain and web3 developers. The platform was co-founded John Frank Githiaka who also doubles as the CTO(Chief Technology Officer) and strategist for the platform.
Stellar.org is a fast blockchain protocol that powers the platform to offer P2P(Peer to Peer) micropayment transactions that cover other DAOs, NFTs, DeFi(Decentralized Finance) and web3 development in a network scalable manner that ensures low costs. The platform is still in the beta stage but it is promising its audience the ability to reclaim their freedom by creating a digital ecosystem where users and creators can move value sustainably across the globe with the aid of apps present within the ecosystem. In enhancing sustainability for blockchain developers, the platform has its own Benkiko USD which combined with other tokens will foster composability to allow developers to build infrastructure on the platform. With composability present within the ecosystem, integrations with other numerous developer systems will be made easier and more efficient.
Author’s Sentiments
With blockchain technology providing DAOs with numerous power, the process of building consensus among investors in projects is democratized and made equitable for all concerned stakeholders. In the traditional ways of managing businesses and organizations, there is a disconnect from the more vibrant younger generations because of lack of trust in one leader to run the firms’ operations and achieve set objectives. That coupled with interference from authorities like governments that have stakes in the firms leads to collapsing of the organizations with investors pulling out. A decentralized blockchain system however, enforces efficiency easily as members are able to vote on hardline positions reaching consensus in no time. Members are able to govern themselves within the organization instead of depending on a single leader and can therefore feel safety in making their own investment decisions.
With that said, we would like to hear your opinion on relinquishing control of firms from a single entity and the role blockchain has to play in this sector. Leave your comment below and be sure to check out the next article on this series here.
