By Wala, the blockchain-powered financial services platform which launched in South Africa early this year, is pursuing the opportunity to develop a solar power program. Wala’s blockchain-enabled project will use Dala as its main transactional cryptocurrency to build a clean energy economy in Uganda.
Wala the Zero-Fee Blockchain Money App
Wala’s original mission was to close the gap between consumers and financial service providers in emerging markets. This was done through Wala’s zero-fee financial app that targeted the high fee level of existing financial service providers. By reducing transaction costs, Wala has attempted to support the previously unbanked and underbanked African mass markets which had limited access to financial services due to high fee charges.
CEO and Co-Founder of Wala, Tricia Martinez, believes that the launch of this app “is a giant leap in the right direction to solve a problem that impacts almost half of the global population”. Wala, now active in 12 African countries, works with specialist providers within each market in order to offer a full suite of financial services including transactional banking, remittances, loans and insurance. Wala’s partners benefit from the reach and low-cost access to previously unserviceable customers which this platform enables.
The Wala CPEM Collaboration
Wala’s progression from the financial services sector to the clean energy market was guided by the perceived opportunities it saw in the large number of Ugandan citizens that had little or no access to electricity. Uganda has one of the lowest electrification rates in Africa with the current overall access rate to electricity at 22%, while as much as 80% of Ugandans are without electricity.
Wala plans to enter into a partnership with government agencies and energy company CleanPath Emerging Markets Uganda (CPEM), with the intention of creating a blockchain-enabled solar energy project, managed through the dala blockchain. Wala CEO stated that the “numbers we’ve seen since the launch of Dala have been staggering, and a large portion of our current users are Ugandan, so this partnership is a natural next step to allow users the opportunity to further benefit from using Dala”.
This project proposes to create a clean-energy economy, generate employment opportunities and impact new economic development in Uganda. The CPEM program is reported to be costing approximately $1.5 billion, and could provide as much as 25% of Ugandans with clean energy. With aims to create utility-scale grid-connected renewable power systems, this project plans to generate clean energy across Uganda.
According to Wala CEO “the high level of user traffic also shows us that Ugandans are ready to use crypto assets in day-to-day transactions”. Dala will be employed as the principle transactional currency for the project and workers, consumers and vendors that are building up the ecosystem will be paid in dala and may use the cryptocurrency to purchase clean solar energy.
Prince Kalema of the Buganda Kingdom, managing partner and co-founder of CPEM, has expressed his excitement about the proposed partnership. Prince Kalema stated that “by providing Ugandans with an opportunity to access clean energy through $DALA, we’re fostering a more inclusive decentralized financial system not possible with legacy technologies”. In his capacity as a custodian of land, Prince Kalema has recognized that one of the largest problems in Uganda was the lack of access to reliable electricity which he believes may be countered by the Wala clean energy project.
Do you believe Uganda’s crypto-driven clean energy project will succeed? If so, what other high-impact development opportunities do you think could replicate the Uganda project? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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