Empowa
Decentralized, green property development platform targeting the African market. Harnessing the power of global community to empower people on the ground.
There are several issues preventing the much needed development of property on the African continent, including: property rights, affordability, building knowledge and skills, and a lack of fulfillment on delivery promises. This compounds on top of sociological, economic, and environmental (i.e. natural disasters) issues to create a large backlog of housing. A backlog that is growing at an increasing rate.
Empowa’s vision, which has won Project Catalyst funding, uses a combination of DeFi crowdfunding to facilitate the development of sustainable, affordable housing through social and financial investment into property assets by those from afar. This is done through tokenization and the collection of “Empowerment Cards” (NFTs) and provides economic empowerment to those who have little to no access to empowering themselves.
Empowerment Cards
Each card, an NFT, represents a unique portion of wealth empowerment (in EMP tokens) and supports property development in Africa. These cards are purchased in “packs” and each card represents a unique portion of an individual empowerment project, with the quantity of cards owned for a particular project determining the percentage of the returns e.g. rent, collected by the card owner. Owning cards from different projects allows the owner to spread their risk across different market segments, cities, nations, and projects.
Note that cards are not an actual property asset or ownership stake in the property, land, or development. They are a tokenized representation of an investment that contains within it the potentially for great individual and socioeconomic empowerment.
Each card includes non-financial values such as the project’s location, its environmental impact score, its empowerment value for different elements of society, and many others. These cards will also include a history of the property and the holder will receive access to media related to the project represented by each card. As the stories of the project associated with the card, and the empowerment they provide, grows the cards will accumulate stories and, potentially, financial value. (Note that they could also decrease in financial value.)
Gamification of these cards is being explored with the accumulation of sets boosting the cards’ characteristics.
Platform Participants
Collectors - Collectors purchase empowerment cards that can simultaneous can be viewed as: investments, collectibles, and philanthropic activities. These cards can be actively traded.
Land Owners - Get access to collectors and can crowdfund their property project, collateralizing their land through the DeFi element embedded in the Empowa platform.
Approved Suppliers - These are global and local construction companies that supply eco-friendly, modular, and affordable structures. These companies must have a solid track record as a provider and evidence of experience in several elements of constructing eco-friendly, modular housing. They must also contribute to the local community i.e. by providing jobs and training, and meet ethical and quality standards.
Tenants - The Empowa platform enables tenants to get on the property ladder. They are a cornerstone of the ecosystem and will be recognized and rewarded for being good actors.
Platform Service Providers
Project Partners - local individuals and organizations who have the capacity and local knowledge and skills to initiate the program. These will build the ecosystem from ground zero, validating business plans and suppliers.
Property Managers - Locally based individuals or companies that will support tenants and land owners in accessing the system, manage rental and cash flows, and support the maintenance of the property asset.
Yield Generator - Cards can be put into the yield generator, as is a share of rent paid to the platform. Where they then have the potential to generate yields and funds for the platform and the card holder.
Fiat Payment Processors - Attracting those not exposed to blockchain tech means operating in “their world” i.e. the current, un-tokenized fiat world. Fiat payment providers will remove the tokenization step and simplify the payment process for these entities.
EMP Tokens
It is foreseen that there will be a wide variety of local currencies flowing in and out of the Empowa platform. Tokenizing transactions on the platform and implementing a proprietary token as a means of exchange between all actors removes the complexity of exchanging these currencies.
Empowa supports the creation of value beyond financial returns and addresses 14 of the 17 UN’s Sustainable Development Goals