https://kusama.subsquare.io/referenda/594
🟢 0 • 🔴 3 • ⚪️ 1
5-member quorum not met.
Vote #1: NAY
8 available members.
No CoI reported. DV delegation exercised.
https://kusama.subscan.io/extrinsic/30206204-2
https://kusama.subsquare.io/referenda/594#3
Love where this is going. Would Love to see some track record of this from previous projects, this looks a lot like an incubator. can you tap Nigeria Gov tech grants for this? they could be matched the funding coming if this gets approved
I find the proposal interesting and promising overall, but it lacks sufficient track record information. Anda and JizzleSzn appear active on social media, and their presence provides a certain level of confidence, but the proposal itself does not contain enough substance to justify a ~$67K request. I would suggest going for half the asked amount initially to demonstrate capability. Nay, but with a supportive tone.
I think it's a very interesting idea, but I would like to see some preliminary work done. Perhaps it would be interesting for them to work on finding some retroactive evidence, so that their ability to achieve goals can be evaluated later.
Not confident about the final deliveries.
I think going after small/medium businesses is a good idea, especially in a region such as Nigeria where entrepreneurs might be more open-minded to web3 solutions. However, I think with such ambitious goals, it's better for the community to have proposals with smaller asks and take the process step by step instead of larger fundings. This reduces the risk to the treasury and also helps smoothing the communities concerns about funding more adventures ventures. I'll abstain in this case since I'm supportive of the initiative and want them to come back with an updated proposal.
The proposal lacks a sufficient track record and concrete evidence of prior results to justify the budget. Additionally, it would be more prudent to start small, validate the approach, utilize event bounty for meetups for example, and then commit to larger expenditures. Overall, the proposal is too general without proper details on what are the targeted enterprises and what is the end game solution for them to using Kusama tech.
Appreciate the effort of the team, however I'd like to see relevant past team experience in BD and onboarding enterprises to relevant products or platforms. I'd also like to see, for a first step, the team have direct experience and direct responsibility to produce the content/case studies/materials needed to accomplish onboarding.
Thank you all for taking the time to review our proposal and provide candid feedbacks. We deeply value this input and would like to clarify and adjust accordingly:
On the point of government grants: in Nigeria, government programs and tech funding bodies (such as SMEDAN, BOI, and NITDA) are generally structured to support Web2-style startups in areas like fintech, agriculture, or logistics. These grants are designed for traditional businesses with clear local incorporation, audited financials, and compliance with strict regulatory frameworks.
Unfortunately, blockchain projects especially those that directly build or integrate with decentralized infrastructure like Kusama/Polkadot are not eligible under these programs. In fact, the regulatory environment in Nigeria is still very cautious around cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption. While there are pilot programs for “digital economy” initiatives, none of them extend to funding permissionless, public blockchain networks.
This is why ecosystem-led funding is essential. If we wait for government grants, progress will stall, and projects with potential to onboard enterprises into Polkadot/Kusama will never even start. That said, part of our strategy includes
collaboration with local government SME bodies (SMEDAN and others) for enterprise outreach and awareness, but as partners in mobilization, not as funders.
In short:
On Past Activities concerns by EzioRed and Jose_TwoPebbles:
While much of our earlier work has focused on creating awareness for build on dot via meetups and business development efforts, these have not been “basic” in intention but foundational steps to build a credible presence and trust within the Nigerian enterprise ecosystem. While our activities has been imbed as a link attached to the doc.
We've successfully on-board hundreds of users in recent time, the most active community in the ecosystem, contributing across all sections dotbulls, multiple parachains, the community produce over 55% of the total current ambassadors in the ecosystem, growing awareness speedily in the region through collective efforts of the team leads for the past 3 years. without any previous attempt at the treasury, this proposal only aim to build on this accomplishments by pivoting towards onboarding enterprises and changing the narrative from just consumer base.
On Ambitious Target As with other DAOs misunderstanding this, and as explained during the last AAG.
The plan is to reach upto 500 enterprise via the content lead plan towards web2 platforms, since it's web2 projects that are the target.
And by the end of this phase on-boarding fully 10 projects only!
While creating awareness in the minds of 500 and offering training to 100.
This phased approach allows us to validate the model, prove capability, and then scale responsibly.
On Budget Use ($65k) The requested budget is intentionally lean and excludes team incentives. It is designed as a first initiative, where funds are dedicated solely to execution (enterprise workshops, onboarding infrastructure, documentation, and partnerships). Our intent is to prove delivery with this budget before scaling further. Importantly, while the requested amount is lower than many single-project spends, this initiative is structured to support multiple enterprise pilots (up to 10 MVPs) maximizing ecosystem value, and spreading risks.
On Supporting Evidence We are working to secure and include letters of intent from SME associations, accelerators.
This is only possible after the necessary fees has been paid, which is highlighted as a 2 months milestone delivery in the proposal.
Commitment Moving Forward Our approach remains: start lean, prove value, scale later. This feedback has been essential in helping us refine the scope to ensure accountability and deliver measurable outcomes for Kusama.
We hope this addresses the concerns raised and look forward to re-engaging with a more grounded, evidence-backed version of this proposal.
We hope to move forward quickly, as we've evaluate the feedbacks from various DVs, we're already behind schedule for this initiative. The NYSC orientation camp for youths in the country starts this coming week and only lasts three weeks. To align with the timing for a large audience gathering and to ensure signings of necessary documents within this period, we need to move quickly, especially since Kusama refrander last only two weeks. We'll have the last week to activate this.
Meanwhile AAG session; https://x.com/TheKusamarian/status/1971001709443842454
With gratitude, Polkadot Nigeria Team
