foreign
[Music]
folks in addition to the mentors that
you guys got us connected to was huge
for us coming from a small country and
getting that visibility and that access
to Resource was very very important for
us and for the twofold the second piece
in addition to the technical assistance
was also the mentorship on you know the
business model and how we can make a a
greater or a a stronger business model
for the for us to sustain and then again
back to the impact metrics because we're
also a company really focused on impact
and the impact mentorship was also very
key for us to really understand like how
do we position ourselves and how do we
look at the impact metrics and how could
we try to find follow-on impact uh
investment so I think that was
um very very um helpful for us and
um you know the open source piece in the
digital public good leg we were very new
to that process and the UNICEF team
literally held our hands to walk us
through that path and and now we're a
proud registered DPG solution so that
has also been very very amazing for us
so thank you
great
um
yeah like there's a lot of mentorship
that goes on I hope that there's also
like support as well you know the
mentorship is almost like the technical
um you know
guidance I suppose but I hope that
there's there's some support because I
want to kind of pivot over to my next
question for emea which is really about
some of the challenges that you face and
like so you get technical mentorship but
tell us a little bit about some of the
challenges that you faced as you try to
you know bring about this product for
impact in the real world
so there was a lot of challenges
because especially when you connect the
smart contracts to the real world is a
totally different story if you are
building
um I don't know decentralized exchange
or something like that it's like in a
closed loop you're still in ethereum you
are just communicating with other smart
contracts even I don't know if it's a
landing protocol exchange or whatever
usually the data is like
um that you need for those smart
contracts on the blockchain but when
you're building something like treasure
you are coming you're connecting with uh
you're interacting with uh the smart
contracts interacting with real humans
like uh they need to provide data
um so
one side is the
technical limitations and some of the
shortcomings of the blockchain
technology that we have
like civil attacks like
um
um many things that I mean the problem
of oracles
these things exist and for many of them
there is no uh big solution so far even
right now
so
that was one side of the challenges that
we had the other side was actually
like
the challenges that you know
are there when you want to introduce a
high-tech solution
to a community that didn't know about it
local communities in rural areas and
they don't need to know about it you
don't you shouldn't force them to know
about like blockchain and it's even
better not to mention that they're using
blockchain because it makes it
complicated so many new questions
so what we try to do on this side was to
make it so easy for them to use the
project so just to have a recap of the
project we connect donors to
local communities who do conservation
work protect forests the protocol gives
a proof of impact impact in the form of
NFD to the donor and on the other side
the money goes to the protocol and is
managed
in a similar way to an escrow system
whenever they provide updates from the
forest from the trees a portion of the
money is unlocked and goes to their
non-custodial value to wherever they are
and
um that's how Toyota Portugal works the
version one of the protocol of course we
are doing a lot of more things
so to do this
um I mean to get the rewards for
conservation I mean
um we try to make it
um similar experience to their web 2
experience like like having a WhatsApp
Instagram application on their mobile
so we built an application
um which has integrated some seed
phraseless valid non-custodial wallets
they don't have seed phrases they don't
need to know about the complex nature of
valids in blockchain so they use their
email but it's not custodial we use
web3odes for that at the same time we
sponsor all their transactions on the
supply side for local communities we use
stable coins
instead of
um volatile assets like ethereum Bitcoin
so they get their conservation rewards
in Dai
and many many other works like I many of
them I forget but this was actually one
of the most uh challenging parts of our
job to
make it like because it's actually
important like we had to take one of the
things that we learned is that
um some of our early local communities
that were using a buggy and both
complicated profile left
um actually the movement the project
because it was too complicated for them
and the more we try to make it better
for them user friendly the easier
um it was for them to stay in the
project and of course with UNICEF we got
a lot of
mentorship like uh referring to the
impact mentorship uh in the case of
Teresa it's not only about planting
trees because we onboard the local
communities are who are less privileged
who have less access to
um actually the typical opportunities in
climate Finance so it's about social
impact as well that's why we actually
have that kind of social impact project
as well and the impact mentorships have
helped us uh quantify measure those
impacts so we learn uh what we're doing
like
um in a better way and of course the
open source like this is one of the best
things that you can get out of this um
um
investment because
you think you're open source but you are
not like a open source friendly project
so lots of documentation contribution
guidelines
um many many things like I think it was
awesome like that that part like now we
feel confident about like being a good
open source project even if the project
fails
the resources everything out there in a
good ways for the future Builders to use
yeah that's it
great
um
lots of challenges
um congratulations on getting through
all those challenges and and really
thanks very much for putting out such an
amazing product of benefit for for
everyone with the conservation that it
supports
um
that kind of like something that
benefits people all around the world
even if it's done in local communities
makes me think of
equity which is one of you know the key
lenses that UNICEF UNICEF is an
equity-based organization
everything we think about we use equity
as a kind of a lens for that
and and one of the ways that we think
about digital products and how we make
them Equitable is digital public goods
which is my next next question for Just
For You Jose
um first of all sorry I should say
congratulations to each of you for
becoming a certified digital public good
which is very impressive and challenging
to to get done
um but Jose would you tell us a little
bit about next capits and your journey
to becoming a certified DPG
um how did UNICEF support you
um
in that process I mean I know it's
somewhat through the mentorship but
um
what kind of benefit then like after you
talk a little bit about the process what
benefit do you see and I know armia
mentioned a little bit some of the
benefits of dpgs what benefits do you
see from your perspective and even talk
a little bit about maybe
you know being a for-profit business
with an open Digital public goods
okay that's a whole question yeah so I
will try to to wrap up everything or I
will try not to forget part of it uh but
the starting point for was uh thinking
about building a digital public good
that could achieve the sustainable goals
from new and so from starting point I
think that having onboard all of the
support of Unicef Innovation fund had to
do first of all about thinking on the
impact thinking about the resources
thinking about leaving something that
could be scalable that could be secure
that could be useful for some other
products just to use so first of all I
would say that becoming an open source
project has to do with
developing a layer in which other people
could build so from that starting point
UNICEF was amazing
um
and
having the impact
in in the main objectives of building a
digital product has to do with uh first
of all measuring it theory of change was
one of the mentorships and it's amazing
how you could measure your impact
on a region and actually that's that's a
profitable digital probably good
a company that could create lasting and
social economic impact and coming from
Latin America that's a huge depth of the
region so for us was
easy to
to like have that purpose but still
difficult or challenging to build it in
a way that could be useful for everybody
so uh at last but not least I think that
uh every project should be sustainable
and should be
um
profitable in terms of creating value
and creating value has much to do not
only with revenue or incomes but having
these things in mind if you could align
your project so as to build it with
values and having in front people that
have needs and if you could fulfill
those needs through through
technological Solution that's great and
just to mention some objectives of
digital probably good we have no poverty
gender equality quality education no
poverty those are like
huge North Stars to have and
an invitation that should be done on
every entrepreneur that it's building
their Venture it's to to continue
tackling those objectives uh it's a huge
rock that we need to defeat it's not one
or two companies who will make it come
true it's and that this has to do with
web3 too web3 with web3 it's a matter of
community and this is so loud loud voice
in and in an ecosystem as web3
that first of all makes me proud to be
part of it makes me wanna collaborate
with other projects that are tackling
the same problems and
joining forces I'm sure about that uh it
will be more fulfillable than going just
by my own so uh just uh in a rough sense
I think that that's what uh left us to
become a digital probably good
it's great um and I I like that you
brought out the aspect of community as
well as soon as we're here at like
Devcon and there's a very strong kind of
feeling of community around
the like the technology but also like
the the problems that some people are
are looking to solve and and for for us
as UNICEF and for me like it's
it's exciting and it's inspiring and
energizing to get that feel of community
and hopefully being able to like get
people to come and join us in our in our
journey and in our work but yeah that's
that's that's great thank you very much
um
I think we'll maybe try and talk a
little bit about so we've talked about
the DPG process the process of
um you know joining the Venture fund
your your journey with the Venture fund
um I'd like to talk a little bit more
about real world now it's it was part of
the uh the title so
taking you've gone through you've joined
the Venture fund you've accepted you've
gone through mentored now maybe I'll ask
roomie to tell us a little bit about
um
the opportunity for piloting the actual
product that you gain with with UNICEF
can you tell us a little bit about the
the real application now that we've gone
through the process
so we are currently in the midst of uh
piloting our solution Rahat with the
country office the UNICEF country office
in Nepal we are working on
um uh with 1500 households for an
unconditional cash transfer of about I
think 150 000 through the country office
and the Innovation fund and uh with that
pilot
um we are really looking at
um building or bringing in or bringing
in some learning insights about the
impact of how a blockchain-powered
solution can bring in efficiencies in
the cash transfer project so
um how for example real-time monitoring
could help
um the country office
understand
or understand how the cache is being
transferred understand the flow of funds
and get verifiable transactions so um so
we're really looking at working not just
with the country office like but along
um site with the local authorities and
the government bodies there so we're
bringing them along for this particular
pilot and getting them on boarded or
getting them to understand the process
and really as hermia had said like
really not talking to them about what
blockchain technology is but really
getting them and showing them the
benefit of how they can use a system
like this and get it to the ones who
need it the most efficiently like cost
effectively and in a very
um I think like an auditable way because
with all of the financial reconciliation
that happens in in these aspects that's
a huge uh time and resource sucks so uh
we're looking at how the time and
resources can be saved through this
particular pilot and um where we're
trying to see if we can take all of the
learnings from this particular pilot and
replicate it hopefully replicate it in
other country offices and globally so
taking
um Rahat from a local as almost like a
local product from Nepal to sort of see
how we can globally
um amplify it so that's kind of where
we're at with the pilot currently and
um just as an example right now like you
know if you're sort of bringing uh
training the the local government bodies
and how they can use the dashboard look
at some real-time information on how the
transactions are coming through and how
the data is coming through and sort of
see if they can detect anomalies and
escalate it immediately and act upon it
so
um giving them or showing them the value
of what some information like that could
support them to make a greater impact
great thank you and I'm actually really
excited as you know I'm very excited
about this pilot
um I wonder can you have a little
reflection on so you mentioned you know
asides from your own company you
mentioned two other entities you
mentioned three actually you mentioned
units have country office you mentioned
the government and of course the
beneficiaries can you maybe just speak a
little bit about how uh The Innovation
fund facilitated with the UNICEF country
office the engagement with with the
government because that's that can be
difficult if you're if you don't have
that like evidence as yet
right
um in Nepal all of the cash transfer
that we do like we usually have to work
with the government so there's
definitely the piece of onboarding them
to understand for them to understand and
be open to it so again the the because
again because crypto is illegal getting
that or making them to understand the
difference and that was definitely a
little bit of a hurdle but with the rate
um concept and the rate
um understanding with the Innovation
fund and the country office we were able
to have a number of conversations with
the local government and you know in
such real world cases at times we're
talking about emerging Tech and you know
blockchain and then here you are where
everything is like paper-based and
um you know and the beneficiaries like
they don't even have like they only have
feature phones that they don't even have
phones so just making that leap frogging
to that is is very very difficult and
and then getting even the local
government to say okay this is a
dashboard you can get in you can see all
of the information so that definitely is
a challenge but
um we are having these conversations to
bringing them along one at a time and
the country office is definitely paying
uh playing a huge role as being part of
uh and joining us in the field as we
have these conversations with the local
government bodies and with the
beneficiaries and really looking at some
issues that are on the field where you
know where the beneficiaries there's a
struggle between okay who's going to get
the cash in their like real world
problems beyond the monitoring piece as
well
great thank you
um that's great
um
I I'd actually love to talk more about
about this particular topic and I really
one thing I want to point out like
cash-based transfers is a huge uh
programmatic tool to basically get funds
get currency get money directly to the
beneficiaries which is a I've seen it in
action and it's really hugely effective
efficient and important and we heard
someone speak a little bit about
subtraction yesterday in um in the
opening ceremonies and I feel I would
love to speak more about it but I feel
that cash-based transfers and using
Technologies to really speed them up and
facilitate them kind of speaks to that
subtraction so thank you very much and
thanks for the great work that you're
doing
um we have a few minutes left what I'd
really like to do now actually or me if
I can ask you to be the first one if you
could take a couple of minutes to think
about what kind of advice you would give
to someone out here who's maybe in a
startup situation and wants to become
working in the impact area or even if
you were talking to yourself you know 18
months in the past or two years in the
past what kind of advice would you like
to give to yourself
are to our audience so I would say like
one of the most important things that I
mean
impact projects in our impact Founders
like us need to consider or the
challenges that they face is the funding
so
you are not a typical startup that
probably can make money from the early
days or even if you can make money or
attractions probably are not very
similar to the some of the startups that
VCS are very interested to like invest
in
so you have this problem
[Music]
I mean now it's easier because refi has
become a trend in crypto and VCS are
understanding it and
but unfortunately you are now in a beer
pocket so you will have hard time to
raise uh some money compared to I don't
know one year two year ago
so you have a number of options based on
our experience and the ex I mean the
best practices that we had in Treasure
so
UNICEF is of course one of the places
that you can go if you have an crazy
impact idea and you think probably I
mean a crazy impact idea but not very
unrealistic you think it works like uh
and you have some small Pilots because
if you're in the process of application
UNICEF doesn't accept only the ideas
like there should be some metrics some
tractions that proves that this idea
um even if now it doesn't
um I mean
and it's not a charity I mean you need
to make a sustainable project so all
these together makes it challenging to
actually get funding so UNICEF is one
place the other place that you have is
kidscoin which you can consider we
raised
um I would say
almost equal to the uh I mean similar to
the amount that we raised from UNICEF
from git coin I think 85 or 90 000 in
different rounds in climate rounds
and
um
there are also of course the I mean the
product your product should make money
and if I mean we want to make it
sustainable that's
really important
so all in all these helped us to keep
treasure in a
aligned uh
um I mean capture aligned to our vision
and now we feel much more uh comfortable
to raise money from other VCS and we are
doing it now and um that's what I think
about I mean
the challenges and
things that you can do great thank you
okay Jose from your experienced position
now what advice would you like to impart
on on early stage startups wanting to
get in to kind of follow the great
example that you guys have given I would
say impact should be in the roadmap as
the essential path
um
I would say that and I will just share a
small meet that I had before we were
selected and it was kind of the spirit
of the program and
we were like working with the work plan
with the the plan that we were gonna
present for the units of innovation fund
and
it was like too ambitious and we were
asked if we wanted to to change that in
order to be fulfillable so as to achieve
it and our spirit was let's make the
ambitious possible and that had to do
with the spirit of
what kept us not sleeping what kept us
working through the whole journey
um
what I mean to say it's it's great to to
have huge objectives in mind a huge
purpose not only could help
in your region it starts by helping you
and your team we we never had uh such an
amazing team such an aligned team
since we we didn't add that purpose so
clear so so so focus on reaching that so
I strongly recommend if if that's
possible uh for the ones who are trying
to to follow that path of impact and and
becoming uh a startup that could create
some change in your region
have a great dream afterwards have a
great purpose share it with valuable
people and count on the support of like
UNICEF in this case that will make this
harder at first because it's challenging
but afterwards uh it start paying and
will continue to pay Time After Time
great that sounds like good advice uh
Rumi you give me your advice in one
minute please yes
um I just wanted to get done um it just
took Jose's point about they make it
harder in the beginning because when we
applied and we had done we had to do
this full-fledged work plan and as soon
as I submitted I just looked back at my
team and I was like I'm not I don't know
if we're getting this investment but I
think we're set we have a whole road map
and a plan and a purpose and a focus all
set so I think that is key to have that
process in tight and uh I think I
completely agree with Jose about that
can really set the stage and how the
team work and the team is set to do that
as well so I think that's definitely
definitely very very helpful I think the
one last thing that I would add is
um I felt like for us the non-tech
challenges have also been very very high
and I think it's very important to
design
for you know like non-utopian conditions
so we are looking at the real world
problems and not just working in a
bubble so I think that's very very
important so I'll pause it that perfect
thank you very much guys can I ask you
for a round of applause for our three
great companies
and thank you so much for the great work
now
how can you guys how can you join us all
the all the impact startups are out
there I hope you've been inspired by
hearing the great work from our three
panelists here
um please if you are in the same
position that these guys were 18 months
two years ago please if you have
something that you think can help apply
to the UNICEF Venture fund and you will
be brought through that difficult but
rewarding Journey
um we're also looking for people to
partner with us
um and you could also
um if you have spare time spare
expertise you could join the um the
mentoring process that we have for the
next round of venture fund companies and
finally the last 15 seconds I'll say if
you have a little bit of spare eth or
some spare money you can certainly
contribute to our phone as well and you
can be guaranteed that it will go
towards
um impactful projects like what we have
up here on stage
I have two seconds left so thank you
very much everybody I hope you've
enjoyed the panel if you have any
questions for us please come up and be
happy to speak to you outside or later
thank you
[Applause]