In June 2018, American-Senegalese musician and social impact entrepreneur Akon announced the launch of his new cryptocurrency venture Akoin. Akoin aims to boost entrepreneurship in Africa by providing a blockchain-powered ecosystem that will stimulate and create revenue-generating opportunities for young entrepreneurs.

The Akoin Ecosystem

The Akoin ecosystem combined with its native cryptocurrency, Akoin, will unlock Africa’s economic potential through the creation of a blockchain-based stable currency as well as digital and in-real-life platforms that will provide its users with “crypto-based apps offer immediate and ongoing new revenue-generating opportunities to stimulate micro-exchanges and financial stability.”

For entrepreneurs, Akoin will provide a much-needed platform for individuals to gain access to educational materials, tools and resources to make their entrepreneurial visions a reality. This, in turn, will foster a more sustainable environment that encourages a focus on entrepreneurship over charity.

Through the Akoin platform, brands can also gain exposure to territories and individuals ready for their products and services. The Akoin platform is different as it builds a bridge between philanthropists, brands, and entrepreneurs, creating a trusted, stable environment for all to connect and thrive.

The team behind Akoin is composed of several successful social impact entrepreneurs.

Ryan Scott, who heads the team as CEO, founded the hugely successful community impact platform CauseCast and runs the fundraising platform ICO Impact, which helps social impact blockchain startups to raise funds.

Scott is joined by COO Lynn Liss, who has ten years experience in the social entrepreneurship and startup sector, and President Jon Karas, who comes with over 20 years of experience in capital raising and the entertainment industry. Akon acts as the project’s figurehead and Chief Visionary.

Crypto City

A big part of Akoin is the project’s planned ‘Akon Crypto City’ based on 2,000 acres of land in Senegal, West Africa. Akon was gifted this land by the Senegalese government to fulfil his vision of a tech-driven city that will empower local entrepreneurs by fostering a supportive business culture.

Akon envisions a futuristic “smart city” where the cryptocurrency Akoin will be the primary means of exchange and businesses and the community can flourish thanks to the benefits of using a stable coin that is not linked to volatile local fiat currencies.

Akon’s Social Impact in Africa

Akoin is not Akon’s first social entrepreneurship project in Africa. Through his company Akon Lightening Africa, Akon has been delivering electricity to low-income families and individuals in over 15 countries through the installation of solar panels.

Since 2014, Akon Lightening Africa has trained local engineers to install and maintain solar panels in their local communities with the long-term goal of providing electricity to over 600 million Africans. So far, the initiative has managed to install over 200,000 solar panels in over 480 local communities while creating over 5,500 jobs.

Akon Believes in the Power of Crypto

Akon seeks to leverage his experience in social entrepreneurship to tackle the issue of unstable currencies in developing countries, which he believes is a significant hindrance to the continent’s economic development.

“With all the work I’ve done in Africa with the Akon Lighting project, you start to get engulfed in the environment, people and government. You start to realise all the things missing and what could be possible solutions. One thing I realised was there are a lot of unstable currencies and unstable governments in Africa and it made me think about how cryptocurrencies are now revolutionising how money is being spent,” Akon said.

“I feel like transparency is the one thing that can weed out the corruption in Africa and create a system that can put everything back together where the people are more in control over the resources,” he added.

For more news and information visit www.akoin.io