Everest, a biometry-based, value transfer company, and 1000 Alternatives, a leader in social impact development, are joining to accelerate blockchain innovation and economic development in Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda. The goal of the partners is to extend that progress throughout Africa in the near future. The partnership will utilize 1000 Alternatives’ incubators in each country to educate entrepreneurs to build distributed applications (“DApps”) on top of the Everest platform.

Development of DApps on top of the existing Everest platform will not only create jobs, it will also reduce the costs of doing business and give economic access to millions of individuals previously lacking access to these connective technologies. The Everest-enabled DApps will have a variety of applications, including micro-banking with built-in know your customer (“KYC”) / anti-money laundering (“AML”) and value storage; healthcare services with native document storage and sharing; and app-based mortgage lending with native KYC, document storage and messaging.

“We are thrilled to partner with Everest, which is focused on the use of blockchain technology for social good,” said Athman Ali, CEO of 1000 Alternatives. “We see a lot of opportunity in the use of blockchains to reduce middle-men costs and we are excited about having access to the Everest platform to empower our entrepreneurs to build modern distributed applications.”

“Our partnership with 1000 Alternatives enables entrepreneurs across Africa to leverage the distributed foundation and powerful technology stack of the Everest platform, creating new and innovative applications and quickly bringing them to market,” said Bob Reid, CEO and co-founder of Everest. “We are excited about this new partnership and look forward to seeing entrepreneurs leverage these existing, proven technologies to develop and deliver unique DApps.”

Everest, founded in 2016, is a leader in biometric identification, digital wallet and distributed ledger (blockchain) technologies, offering an integrated suite of tools to deliver a full eBanking platform.

1000 Alternatives was recently founded with locations rolling out in Singapore, Kenya, Rwanda and Nigeria. The company incubates, invests in and scales profitable lock-step ventures that deliver positive social impact through their products and services.