CryptoSavannah — ILP Summit Reflections 2023

In the image above from left to right is our group Head of Technology, Noah, CEO CryptoSavannah, Jassy and Myself

Description: Sharing a report as part of my participation/attendance at the ILP Summit 2023.

Introduction

Hi Community, my name Margaret, a technology enthusiast, customer experience expert, contributor in the web3 space and a project manager at CryptoSavannah, a company driving digital transformation in Uganda through digital identity and Know Your Customer (KYC) solutions.

CryptoSavannah envisions a continent where secure identity, transparent transactions, and boundless opportunities converge. We aspire to revolutionize the landscape, fostering a billion-strong community engaged in a seamless, trusted, and rewarding digital economy across Africa.

From the summit, we hoped to get a deeper understanding of Rafiki as an open payments protocol and see projects from different grantees and identify new areas of collaboration to contribute to the Interledger ecosystem.

Key highlights about your participation at the Summit

The first day of the summit was exhilarating as we walked to the registration table to collect our badges/IDs and met for the first time the ILF program team that we had been communicating with for over a year. We met other grantees like GIB, Snake nation, AgnostiPay, Chimoney and engaged in conversations about the improvements on their projects and identified potential areas of collaborations that would benefit the interledger community and ecosystem.

The opportunity to present our project "Binusu Universal Wallet" to other participants was rewarding as we not only saw interest in the work that we are doing or have done but also feedback on the impact of our project to the community.

The discussions and presentations made during the panel and break-out sessions gave me a different perspective on financial inclusion, realizing that the problem of accessibility to financial services is not limited to people living in developing countries but exists in those that are developed as well. The opportunity presented to us to solve this challenge is massive and as contributors to the ecosystem, we need to work together.

During the Digital finance- A woman's immersive experience breakout session, we were challenged to live a day in the life of a woman in a financially illiterate family and community, facing all the tough decisions she is forced to make with the limited resources available. This demonstrated the need and urgency to educate and create awareness first on financial education so that the solutions we build are applicable to these communities.

Key takeaways from the Summit

The steps taken towards making payments as seamless as possible were clearly demonstrated through Rafiki and the newly launched Dassie network under the theme "send a payment as easily as an email."

Project presentations need to be focused and designed around possible use cases so that they are more relatable and instantly understood even by non- tech individuals or groups. The tech language has to be cut as much as possible to increase the chances of project adaptability.

The interactions held at the summit with other participants were enlightening and depicted the passion that each contributor had towards their project addressing a need or problem for a particular audience. Willingness to share and receive feedback was a trait required by every project builder to help them improve their project.

Overall, the summit exceeded my expectations with so much to learn, share and collaborate on. The summit objectives were clearly communicated and achieved, and we had a lot of fun meeting the ILF team, grantees and other participants.

Thank you ILF Team