On March 12, 2020, IOTA Foundation (IF) announced its new strategic partnership with respected and influential TradeMark East Africa (TMEA) Company, aimed at improving infrastructure and trade through technology.

IOTA Foundation stated that the two companies would spearhead initiatives using Tangle’s ledger technology. They will improve data management and collaboration along trade corridors, explore new ways to ensure digital solutions for traders, and increase global exposure and competitiveness of East African products.

TMEA is one of the most influential and impactful companies in eight African countries. IOTA stated that they are pleased with TMEA’s decision, which followed a due diligence process, multiple ideations, and hands-on-work before its board approved their request for the strategic partnership.

The Partnership Aims To Improve Shared Vision, Through Technology

Apart from sharing the same vision with TMEA, IOTA stated:

“As organizations, we share many of the same values, such as: being transparent and inclusive, using our respective capabilities for the public good; as well as both organizations are driven by not-for-profit mandates.”

TMEA’s track record on various programs spans across infrastructure development, including roads and border posts. The company also employs the latest technology to upgrade government agencies’ systems and processes to improve the regulatory environment.

The company, whose headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, promotes prosperity in East Africa through trade via funding from development agencies. Its mission is to promote regional trade, economic integration, and competitiveness in eight African countries, Kenya, Ethiopia, Burundi, DRC, South Sudan, Tanzania, and Rwanda.

TMEA Will Use Tangle to Improve Public Infrastructure for Trade

Public infrastructure, according to IOTA Foundation, will be their first area of focus in the partnership, with a key focus on:

“The exchange of data and trade certificates across borders and between government agencies and with traders.”

The partnership will soon deploy a pilot program that uses Tangle’s distributed ledger technology to introduce trust in data sharing.

The pilot system will be based on three immutable design principles which are, single version of the truth, data accountability, integration with existing structures and time and cost-saving:

“Given that IOTA’s technology is open source, low cost, secure, and is decentralized, it matches well with building public data infrastructure.”

Additionally, Tangle for data transactions comes at no cost, token trading, mining, regulatory loopholes, or centralized aspects that would give certain users privileged access. This puts Tangle in a position to allow anyone to innovate and grow their business without restrictions.

Training Local Talent for a Sustainable Path to Development

The IF identifies itself as a movement rather than a consultancy or software developer. In that capacity, IF engineers have already completed training Kenya developers-with more to be trained-through the deployment of shared resources to ensure.

IOTA stated that this would ensure a more sustainable path to development:

“We want to build a talent pool in the region that has access to the innovation happening around IOTA and who can collaborate with TMEA’s ICT-4 trade reams to drive use cases and take advantage of new technology.”

TMEA Will Contribute Established Relationships and IOTA Will Bring In Trade Expertise

IOTA has referred to TMEA as a natural anchor that will ensure its distributed ledger technology will be brought to an ecosystem with both public and private sectors.

“Using distributed ledger technology is more about bringing the ecosystem together than building the technology.”

In turn, IOTA will bring an ecosystem of startups, corporates, and developers, who will help to improve transparency and cost-effectiveness in supply chain management.