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As one of the fastest growing continents in the world, Africa is leading blockchain adoption on all fronts. Here at CV Labs & CV VC, we are always looking to help young African entrepreneurs develop their blockchain innovation into a practical solution. We are excited to be powering the Lisk Incubation Hub, set to launch in July 2024. The program will offer twenty early-stage African startups the opportunity to thrive and succeed in the dynamic world of Web3 technology.

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Road To Success

To kick off this exciting opportunity, the CV Labs and Lisk team hosted three roadshow events aimed at encouraging young entrepreneurs to apply for the incubation program. Powered by NODO, the events in Cape Town, Nairobi, and Lagos attracted a diverse set of Web3 talents, sparking ideas and learning more about what the program can provide. 

Notable figures in attendance included Oluwatobi Ajayi, CEO of crypto payment company IvoryPay, Oyedeji Oluwoye, CTO of DeFi startup Canza Finance, Felix Macharia, CEO of stablecoin payment company Kotani Pay, as well as members of the women-led DAO HERDAO Kenya.

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Why Lisk for Africa

Throughout the roadshow, attendees discovered the potential of building on Lisk, a cost-efficient and scalable L2 network secured by Ethereum and part of the Optimism Superchain. 

Chief Project Officer, Dominic Schwenter, highlighted the potential of Lisk’s emergence on the Optimism Superchain and the vision for Africa, stating that “a lot of the community and builders on Lisk Layer 1 resided in Nigeria and Indonesia, so what we decided to do with the shift to Layer 2 is a continuation of our overall vision of working as a group to build tech and democratize it to more people. It was also an opportunity to look at the places where the most exciting projects are being built, and it was Africa, without question”.

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The Superchain Collective: Enhancing Developer Tools and Infrastructure

The Superchain collective has piqued the interest of builders around the world. With individual protocols not competing against each other, the coming together will look to improve infrastructure, make for a better UI/UX experience, provide better developer tools, and solve fragmented liquidity. With a focus on Africa, Lisk and the superchain are creating an accessible set of tools for developers on the continent. “After discovering that African developers struggle with expensive smart contract auditing, the Lisk team initiated a proposal for cheaper smart contract auditing on its protocol and with the support of the Optimism team across the Superchain,” recounted Dominic Schwenter?

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Building at the center of the program

The Lisk Incubation Hub is centered around the building of strong, innovative projects on Lisk. However, taking that first step can often be expensive and difficult. “The greatest problem we see among many startups is the process of going from zero to one. That's the gap we are working to close," said CV VC’s Brenton Naicker during the roadshow. 

The Lisk Blockchain Incubation Hub aims to assist accepted startups in honing their ideas and developing a solid business case that addresses key issues people and businesses are facing in today’s economic, political, and social climate. The program includes two key phases: one focused on building a robust business case and the other on crafting a go-to-market strategy. These phases equip and support selected startups to become revenue-generating and attractive to global investors.

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Lisk Funding with no Equity Expectation

In addition to training from the Lisk & CV Labs and an ecosystem of global mentors that the selected startups will receive, participants will gain access to funding upon completion. At the end of two months of developing their ideas, the startups are awarded $4,000 to help them build an MVP for the next three months. Successful startups at the end of the Lisk programme are eligible for up to $100,000 in funding. Likely, successful participants will then be eligible for a fast-tracked application to the CV Labs Accelerator, where participating startups gain up to $150,000 in funding. 

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Applications are open

 With the roadshow at an end, we would like to extend a big thank you to all of those who attended in Cape Town, Nairobi, and Lagos! If you’re looking to begin your journey in Web3 or continue with a new venture, be sure to apply for the Lisk Incubation Hub. With applications closing on June 21^st, now is the time to take advantage of what the Lisk Incubation Hub has to offer, and take your idea to the next level. Apply for the Lisk Incubation Hub here.

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About Lisk

Lisk provides a cost-efficient, fast, and scalable Layer 2 (L2) network that is secured by Ethereum. As a longstanding Web3 infrastructure project, Lisk has been democratizing blockchain accessibility for developers and end users globally since 2016. Its core focus is to solve local problems in Emerging Markets by bringing solutions around real-world assets (RWA), off-chain assets (OCA), and DePIN onchain. As a member of the Optimism Superchain, Lisk is contributing to onboarding the next 1 billion people to Web3

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