Empowa and World Mobile bringing homes and internet to dozens of families in Mozambique

Sustainable ADA | Jul 29, 2022

A Blockchain4Good and NFT4Good Cardano Project

Empowa and World Mobile, two Cardano #Blockchain4Good projects have joined forces to tackle the housing crisis and close the digital divide in Beira, Mozambique.

Empowa

Empowa | It’s time for CHANGE

Empowa is the first RealFi (DeFi) property platform on Cardano that combines emerging technology, sustainable building, and decentralized financial inclusion.

At Empowa they are utilizing new technologies and a different type of thinking.

Empowa is an ecosystem providing access to affordable and green home loans for the underbanked in Africa.

They are doing this by providing developers access to affordable funding by leveraging Cardano’s blockchain technology and using tools in the decentralized finance space.

Because of this they are able to overcome systemic issues that have damaged the African property industry which unlocks an economic opportunity for all parties in the process.

Empowa solves this by…

Accelerated access to affordable housing: Tenant-purchase clients are on average 20 years younger than outright buying clients.

Grown local mortgage markets substantially: Currently working to grow Mozambique’s mortgage market by 5%.

Built wealth for underbanked and low-income group: Previously, only 1% of Mozambicans could afford a house. Empowa is expanding that to over 60%.

Stimulated climate-positive construction methods: The housing that Empowa invests in is greener than other local housing methods. They use EDGE certification for a metrics-driven approach. This allows them to certify exactly how the developing partners are building greener homes.

World Mobile

At World Mobile the main mission is to connect the unconnected and bridge the digital divide by 2030 through rebooting telecoms and incentivising users in the process.

They are doing this by creating the first mobile network that is run by the people and built on top of the Cardano blockchain so they can connect everyone, everywhere in the world.

With currently an estimated 4 billion people unconnected, around half the world’s population, there is a strong need for the work World Mobile does and no better platform to build on than Cardano with its strong focus in Africa to ‘bank the unbanked’.

Currently, all of the traditional mobile networks cannot connect remote places across the globe, because for them it’s too expensive and hard to maintain the network.

World Mobile solves this by…

Bridging the Digital divide:

Unlock access to digital banking, online education, and healthcare for billions of people worldwide, starting in Africa.

Creating a sustainable business model:

Empower entrepreneurs to connect themselves and others while earning rewards.

Unlocking the freedom of choice:

Give people the choice to connect to the Internet, so they can earn, learn, and grow.

Why World Mobile and Empowa go hand in hand:

By bringing together affordable housing, and connecting the unconnected, together they create an unstoppable bridge for communities to strive and grow with the rest of the world.

World Mobile, and Empowa are creating a revolutionary opportunity for the community of Mozambique. This is the first collaboration of its kind, and the action created through the sale of these NFTs will be replicable all across Africa, and the rest of the world.

Why Mozambique?

Beira, known as the ‘heart of Mozambique’, is the second largest city in Mozambique, and is where Empowa and World Mobile are concentrating their efforts for their initial collaboration.

As one of the poorest countries in the world, most of the population earn no more than $50 USD a month.

In Mozambique currently the level of Internet Connectivity is only 23.1%. Through the collaboration between Empowa, and World Mobile they unlock the potential for the level of internet connectivity to grow from the seed they are planting together in Mozambique.

Current home ownership levels are so low that by offering home loans and the opportunity to own their own home for 30 families. This will bump the total percentage of home ownership in Mozambique by 5%, which adds lots of positive value to the community living there.

Their solution also will reduce the average age of a homeowner by about 20 years. Enabling the potential homeowner to not need to save 10000 USD through the loan service, and minimizing costs down from 50000 USD.

https://housingfinanceafrica.org/countries/mozambique/

Why Cardano of all the Blockchains?

“We were drawn to the Cardano ecosystem primarily due to the the community who is committed to building long term impactful technology that solves real world challenges.

In addition to this the overall focus on Africa, the commitment to academic rigor, the low cost of operations and low environmental impact.” – Greg Schneider, COO at Empowa

Empowa NFT Sale

Empowa has created a RealFi NFT. The funds that are raised will be to help fund their first affordable housing project, helping create 30 new homes in Mozambique. The funds raised through this RealFi NFT will be used to provide affordable home loans for this local community. They do this by allowing local developers to offer a lease-to-own financing option, and build eco-homes for their customers.

By creating this new relationship between local developers and the people living in Mozambique, it empowers them to own their home after the lease period. The World Mobile partnership with Empowa enables these homes to have connectivity where they didn’t before. This will bring everlasting connectivity to this community so that they can stay connected and further provide connectivity to their local community.

More about the NFT:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjdJtRx5VOg

Empowa's Stories of Impact: The Constructor's Plan (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjdJtRx5VOg)

Impact Rewards:

NFT Creator:

The Value of Owning a Seed NFT.

Chief Operating Officer at Empowa, Greg Schneider, explained how a purchaser of the NFT owns the NFT, and with that comes the following value:

The NFT has artistic value. Each NFT displays an animated tesseract supported by an associated creative story.

As with many early NFTs, this collection has value from being the first of its kind. As the first NFT to enable the construction of affordable housing and the rollout of decentralised internet in Africa, this NFT marks a moment in history. Imagine you were one of the 3000 founding investors of the Empire State Building, and had a recorded proof of that. What value would you give to that? Owning a Seed NFT means you are helping to execute on the Cardano mission.

Owners of the NFT are also rewarded monthly for the impact they’ve made in both EMP and Impact Rewards, a project agnostic token. For more details on the projected rewards please visit https://empowa.io/nft-sale/ and for details on the Impact Rewards project please visit impactrewards.io

NFT impact value – with an earn with purpose project – part of the return is the knowledge you made an impact. With the Seed NFT, you can track the impact upon the lives of people who have benefited from the homes financed via the sales of the NFT.

Financial – owning the NFT provides the potential for future rewards that are locked into that NFT and the value given to it by people. With EMP locked into the NFT, buyers can speculate on the resale price and value of the NFT.

The public sale is running until 8th of August 2022 12:00 UTC. To be a part of the first RealFi NFT Collaboration on Cardano purchase a NFT here.

Empowa and World Mobile’s connection to the SDGs

The United Nations’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are an urgent call for action by all countries. This enables countries to create global partnerships that work towards achieving these goals. The goal is to achieve the SDGs, which are built upon decades of work by countries and the UN.

Blockchain technology is a key technology for the SDGs because it enables stakeholders globally to have the ability to track, record, and share data that is immutable, timestamped, and verifiable. Both Empowa and World Mobile have a strong connection to the SDGs and show this through the work they are doing on the ground to enable Mozambique to be a more connected place through DeFI, and digital transformation.

Empowa’s connection to SDGs

Empowa has a connection to SDG 5. Gender equality – “where they have a keen focus on providing funding to women-led households”.

SDG 10. Reduce Inequality – “for most a home is their largest asset, by better enabling individuals to own their home we believe we are working towards reducing inequality”.

SDG 11. Sustainable Cities – All of Empowa’s homes are designed and built with a focus on sustainability to ensure they uplift the community and have very little impact on the planet. They use EDGE certification for a metrics-driven approach to certify exactly how their delivery partners are building greener.

Research carried out by the Asian Development Bank (2013) explains how there are numerous positive economic and social impacts of more and better housing, and that housing can help unlock inclusive growth and combat poverty.

Benefits to people

SDG 3 – Good Health and Well-Being. More and better housing increases the welfare of housing occupants. The evidence points specifically to improved health conditions, but there are other benefits such as less stress and increased security, especially for children and women.
SDG 16 – Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions via social and political stability and engagement. Greater homeownership can lead to increased civic engagement and stability through the creation of a property-owning society with a stake in the local and national community.
SDG 1 – No Poverty and SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth. The purchase of a home can provide an asset from which to generate security in old age.

SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth – Benefits to the Economy

A positive multiplier effect with Construction. Housing construction and improvements, as well as the transactional activities of buying and selling housing, generate economic activity with multiplier effects for the economy.
Employment generation. Construction and home improvement generate demand for professional, skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled labor.
Housing provides a place of employment for many micro and small businesses and can be used as collateral to secure a loan.

Source: Asian Development Bank, 2013

World Mobile’s connection to SDGs

World Mobile connects to SDG 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth – This is done through connecting the unconnected where World Mobile opens the door to the connected world and new ways to market and build a business.

SDG 9 Industry Innovation and Infrastructure – They do this through their model and plan to build out the infrastructure to give connectivity to the entire continent of Africa.

SDG 11 Sustainable Cities, and Communities – Through World Mobile’s smart village use case in Tanzania, connecting a village of 200. This represents a model that can connect an entire village and has helped “fishermen have access to WiFi so they can connect their phones to the World Mobile network, making it possible to learn, watch the news, message friends and family, and arrange business deals”.

What other initiatives does Empowa have in the pipeline, and how might they connect to the SDG’s, and positive social and environmental impact?

“We are doing some very interesting research into the use of hemp as a building material which when successful will greatly reduce the carbon footprint of our homes.” – Greg

What do you see as key challenges in your landscape and context?

“Educating the market on the business opportunity affordable housing presents. While overcoming the negative perception many have around investments in Africa.” – Greg