Blockchain Association of Africa Announces Strategic Partnership With Afriplains Digital and Blockchain Worx, Singapore

The group will set up Blockchain Innovation Centres across South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda & Tanzania to drive awareness and education, and help organizations in Africa harness the potential of Distributed Ledger Technology for digital enablement

PRETORIA, South Africa and SINGAPORE, May 15, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Blockchain Association of Africa (BAA), a South Africa based non-profit pan-African organisation, announced its strategic partnership with Afriplains Digital, Tanzania (AFD) & Blockchain Worx, Singapore (BCW) to leverage synergies and further its efforts to equip the community and stakeholders in Africa with hands-on Blockchain education, acumen and tools to shape Africa's future.

The partnership will focus on the common vision of driving technology evangelization, community outreach, capacity building and local talent building. This will be targeted towards driving adoption, helping the implementation of this cutting-edge technology and bringing sustainable, unparalleled business-value to Africa. As a part of the alliance, the three parties will kick-off their collaboration by deploying Blockchain Worx's Blockchain Innovation Centre across local chapters in South Africa, Uganda, Rwanda & Tanzania. The Blockchain Innovation Centre is a digital centre of excellence, designed to explore possibilities, forge alliances and accelerate innovation within institutions and communities.

Blockchain is a native digital technology that is setting up the financial-services and other industries for significant transformation. While most blockchain applications are still in their early days, distinct categories of use cases have begun to emerge, with numerous projects now moving beyond the 'concept/idea' phase. Blockchain use cases are often exciting to explore and research, however it's important to also understand the gap between the potential and tangibility of implementation. 

The Blockchain Innovation Centre is designed to help institutions - public and private, to understand and harness the potential of this emerging technology. With a well-rounded knowledge base, a bouquet of ready-to-use development tools and a select set of relevant PoC/demo applications, any institution can have its OWN Blockchain Innovation Lab in a matter of days. These resources are carefully selected to ensure relevancy, aid with understanding the potential of the technology and help the organization develop and evolve applicable use-cases. 

"Africa is no longer the dark continent, and everyone is looking at Africa now. Blockchain will ensure that Africans are now stakeholders in what the continent has to offer and it all starts with education," says Yaliwe Soko, the Chairwoman for Blockchain Association of Africa. She further adds that "This partnership will ensure that upcoming generation is equipped with the right skills and expertise to move the continent further."

"As the interest in Blockchain Technology gains momentum across Africa and people are able to see the true potential of the technology, beyond the obvious use-case of cryptocurrencies, it becomes imperative that we build the necessary infrastructure and ecosystem that can help create awareness, provide effective tools to develop skills and  talent locally and create innovative use-cases that are truly designed to solve the problems that we, as African Businesses and Society experience," says Merlin Van Lawick, Director of Afriplains Digital, Tanzania.

"We are super excited to team up with Blockchain Association of Africa and Afriplains Digital to deploy our premier Blockchain Innovation Centre solution, across communities and local chapters in Africa. We truly believe that Africa has potential to lead the way for the rest of the world and showcase how to effectively leverage and make use of technological advances for sustainable and inclusive growth., says Sumantra Naik, Co-founder & COO, Blockchain Worx, Singapore.

About Blockchain Association of Africa

Blockchain Association of Africa (BAA) is an independent, self-regulatory organisation for the blockchain industry in Africa. BAA enables international brands, companies, start-ups, investors, developers, service providers and regulators to connect and collaborate. BAA has been the voice of blockchain technology in Africa since 2014, although it was only officially incorporated in 2018. BAA speaks for an industry that aims to touch the daily lives of every African, in every corner of the continent - by providing solutions for everyday problems, creating much-needed jobs and career opportunities in technology, and by investing in the communities across Africa.

For more information, please visit www.blockchain.org.za

About Afriplains Digital

Afriplains Digital is a next-gen technology services company based out of East Africa (Tanzania). It is focused on helping organisations harness the potential of leading-edge technologies for competitive advantage and social transformation. Its solutions and services are targeted to empower and help businesses and people to rise up and drive digital and socio-economic transformation across Africa and lead the rest of the world towards a connected and inclusive future.

For more information, please visit www.afriplains.com

About Blockchain Worx

Blockchain Worx is a global Fintech-Regtech venture with its headquarters in Singapore. It focuses on helping institutions harness the potential of blockchain technology to achieve a competitive advantage. Its turnkey solutions, including a Blockchain Innovation Centre, a Securities Tokenisation Platform and Digital Asset Marketplace as well an Anti-Money Laundering application, aim to enable communities and organisations to create next generation digital finance and regulatory systems that are powered by blockchain technology.

For more information, please visit www.blockchainworx.com