Proposal: Dash funds education and gives financial access (#DashDoesGood)

[NickfromSA]

Key points:
- Students can earn Dash for reaching education milestones
- We will call our student dashboard the "Dash" board and have it branded Dash and a link to the site
- The project will generate huge interest in Dash, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, is key as most people have mobile phones but do not have bank accounts
- Run a social media campaign #DashDoesGood to promote the project
- Run a pilot with 20 Dash for one month to prove the idea

Hi,

I am Nick from South Africa and am running an EdTech startup that makes mobile education free for any student with access to a mobile phone.

The platform provides a database of questions for students to practice on any subject and gives them big data feedback on performance. The program uses AI to show which areas they need to focus on.

This is an example of the feedback (below). Please note:This is my test profile above - obviously an average score of 33% is not ideal!

We are growing quickly. Last month we had +/- 50 students and this month we have +/- 250 already. Our platform works in both universities (colleges) and in schools and we have a presence in both. We expect to grow to at least 10 000 students by year-end as we scale in both schools and universities. We will also scale into other countries as we grow.

The platform offers rewards for students when they hit education milestones (i.e. did 100 questions in one week and got 70% correct). The rewards are randomized therefore anyone who hits this goal stands on opportunity of winning.

We already have prizes for students but I believe that offering Dash rewards to students could have a huge positive impact in motivating students and providing exposure for Dash to a young audience.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the perfect market for Dash coin to be in because 80% people do not have bank accounts but do have mobile phones (Mckinsey report). About 12 per cent of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa have mobile bank accounts, which compares to 2% per cent globally (CNBC Africa report).

This suggests, the crypto-currency revolution is most likely to happen in Africa first rather than in developed countries

My proposal
I want to:
- Offer 20 Dash a month as rewards on the platform. Students have to "earn" the chance of winning Dash (i.e. even if you do a certain number of questions and get them correct you are not guaranteed to win Dash)
- Each winner will receive 1 Dash.
- There will be 5 Dash coins weekly up for grabs.
- The process will be randomized to ensure that a new student will receive a Dash every week (therefore increasing the number of new Dash owners).
- We will brand our student dashboard the "Dash" board in the Dash colors with a link to the Dash website.
- Tag each student who wins Dash in a social media post (Facebook/Twitter) each week to promote the currency so their friends will see their winnings and want in

The advantages of this project are huge:
1) Dash gets new customers and exposure as people learn about the coin (both through receiving it and hearing about it offered as a prize)
2) The coin gets exposure in a market where there is high demand for alternative banking solutions
3) Education levels are raised as students study more to stand a chance to win the cool prizes

My commitments:
1) Every month I will post on a blog the confirmation that the coins were sent to students
2) I will run a social media promotion with the handle #DashDoesGood with the promotion and winners each week
3) For transparency, I will share to the community evidence of having sent the Dash to the qualifying students.

I am also I huge fan of Dash and believe it is the currency of the future. This would be an amazing opportunity of raising awareness for this brilliant crypto and at the same time improve education!

 

[JZA]

1. Dash coin is not DASH, just make sure you know that.
2. Is this a local national or cross-national project? what about french and portuguese africa?
3. I also not sure this makes much business sense, basically I dont see a connection between your project and DASH besides 'hey I got a great idea, lets give out free money to people in name of XXXX'

I would rather see a project that teaches people about DASH, and gamify the DASH as opposed to just give it away. By gamify I mean exchange FIAT for DASH, not just give it away.

Otherwise this project will just be as succesful as how much DASH you can give out, and the thing with Marketing is that it dies out quick as soon as you used the money.

 

[Yannick_Coinizy]

Evangelization through education is the way to go, +1

 

[UdjinM6]

I can see how prizes for winners in some competition can increase people awareness if such prizes are nominated in Dash. Competition creates emotional link, so that could be at least memorable event in their life. Plus, they would have to create wallet and move coins at least once (to cash out). Or they can become future users and even contributors and/or contractors. So the idea in general is interesting imo.

But I have few concerns about this specific proposal:
1. How do we know if you really are the one from thutor.co?
2. How do we know this startup is actually alive? There is no news or anything one the page and https://twitter.com/mythutor has one single tweet back from Oct 2016
3. Is your service free? I wasn't able to find any pricing info on thutor.co
- if so, isn't 1 DASH a lot for a prize in competition with no stakes given current price ~$100 per DASH?
- if not, how about accepting Dash as a payment and maybe lowering prizes to a 1 month subscription equivalent (I guess it's not $100/mo)?
4. 250 people and growth from 50 in just a month is really nice but compare that to say youtube channels with 100K+ subscribers like the one @JerryBanfield has for example. He asked for 29 DASH when Dash was much cheaper and we got few orders of magnitude larger audience. Imo possible coverage/impact of this proposal is way too tiny for 100 DASH.

 

[NickfromSA]

@JZA, thanks so much for the feedback and comments.

In response to specific points:

1. I've updated my post - my mistake! I was actually aware of the other coin but wasn't sure the correct referral for a unit of Dash.

2. Francophone and Portuguese countries make up probably 10-20% of the African population. We will be able to translate the content on our site but our focus is the english speaking countries (Nigera, South Africa, Kenya) where the population and opportunities are much larger.

3. I am not proposing to give away Dash for free, simply to offer it as a prize to students who earn it through good academic performance. I am linking two strong needs with this idea - the need for improving education and the need for providing people financial access. The demand for mobile banking is huge for Sub-Saharan Africa and this is a great way to give people exposure to the benefits of crypo, particularly Dash.

4. The marketing does not need to increase necessarily. As to price of Dash rises, so the 'prize pot' increases and we will start awarding Dash increments (like 0,5 Dash) rather than a full coin. Also the prize is random i.e. even with good academic performance the student will not necessarily receive Dash, they will just stand a chance of winning Dash. This will generate interest for Dash as people will be enticed by the prize and the potential payoff.


Please let me know your thoughts on this as I would like to update the proposal with this feedback. Thanks again

 

[NickfromSA]

I can see how prizes for winners in some competition can increase people awareness if such prizes are nominated in Dash. Competition creates emotional link, so that could be at least memorable event in their life. Plus, they would have to create wallet and move coins at least once (to cash out). Or they can become future users and even contributors and/or contractors. So the idea in general is interesting imo.

But I have few concerns about this specific proposal:
1. How do we know if you really are the one from thutor.co?
2. How do we know this startup is actually alive? There is no news or anything one the page and https://twitter.com/mythutor has one single tweet back from Oct 2016
3. Is your service free? I wasn't able to find any pricing info on thutor.co
- if so, isn't 1 DASH a lot for a prize in competition with no stakes given current price ~$100 per DASH?
- if not, how about accepting Dash as a payment and maybe lowering prizes to a 1 month subscription equivalent (I guess it's not $100/mo)?
4. 250 people and growth from 50 in just a month is really nice but compare that to say youtube channels with 100K+ subscribers like the one @JerryBanfield has for example. He asked for 29 DASH when Dash was much cheaper and we got few orders of magnitude larger audience. Imo possible coverage/impact of this proposal is way too tiny for 100 DASH.

Thanks so much for the feedback! Yes that is exactly what I am thinking - once students own Dash they will have an emotional link having 'earned' it and will have to open a wallet to receive it. This will then get merchants to start adopting Dash since students will not want to go through the hassle of exchanging it for fiat each time.

1. I am happy to share my linkedin profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-hill-12ab58b1/). You will see on the home page of Thutor a message from me "Nick Hill - CEO of Thutor", talking about how I am inspired by Elon Musk (a fellow South African). Let me know what other authentication you might need - happy to oblige!
2. I've attached a screen shot of score logs of students doing tests on Friday. I had to blank out the names due to user privacy but you can see the recent activity (time/etc).
3. Yes the service is free. We provide the platform free to teachers and students and will charge parents (once we monetize). I truly believe that we need a platform like this to make education accessible to anyone who has a mobile phone so I will keep it free to stay true to this mission.
- Yes 1 Dash is a lot but humans are enticed by large payoffs (lotto winnings,etc). I would rather provide larger winnings, say 1 Dash, rather than 0,1 Dash since the motivation is greater with the bigger payoff. Plus it is a random chance of winning Dash which gamifies the process and gives Dash greater exposure.
- We have project plans to build the parent portal which will allow parents to buy a subscription to a student report card. We will accept Dash as a payment method to increase visibility of the crypto.
4. As someone who has worked with a few startups, eyeballs are less important than active users. What you want is active or evangelic users who will promote your product. If you provide Dash as a prize, you create a subset of little marketeers who now have a vested interest in the product. Yes we do not have 100 000 users but we are growing quickly and can reach that number. Also, when students hear you can win $100 Dash coins just for doing your homework, I reckon the adoption will be quicker than we think ;-). Having said that, if you think the proposal would have better chance of success if I only ask for 10 Dash then I'm happy to change. I follow the lean startup approach so we can try the idea, see if it works, then scale.

Also the media attention this could obtain could see many more eyeballs, especially since it is such a novel idea.

Let me know your thoughts. Working in Sub Saharan Africa, using Dash as a means of payment makes the most sense so I would expect the adoption rates to be higher here than in developed economies. Check out this article:
http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/...tial-revenue-opportunity-for-digital-payments

I really think this proposal could work so would love feedback as to how I can make it better.

 

[NickfromSA]

Evangelization through education is the way to go, +1

Yes! Love the enthusiasm!

 

[ewok]

HI Nick, Cheers for the PM.

One thing I think you should consider in giving this Dash out in an emerging region is how an ecosystem will be created. What I mean by this is, if a person has some Dash, what can they realistically do with it.

Where I would see that it has value and potential would be if you were able to onboard several merchants in the localized area who would accept Dash payment. You may need to establish a fiat gateway for the merchants which may simply be access to an appropriate exchange.

If your given rewarded Dash is within a localized region who can access these merchants then you will see if an ecosystem develops. If it does you would expect to see funds move through the merchants, between students and hopefully new participants . If this then occurs you have a process which can be replicated, verified as value to the Dash community and then be repeated.

 

[UdjinM6]

Thanks for additional info and explanation. An idea of adoption through education and possible additional media coverage are strong parts of this proposal imo. I still have concerns about _real_ possible impact of it though. Anyway, if I would vote for smth like this, I would be more likely supporting a proposal for smth like 25 DASH for a single month (i.e. start with 5 winners each week + 5 DASH reimbursement for proposal fee) and not a 100 DASH multi-months proposal.

 

[camosoul]

I agree, and would like to add: It's almost like buying users. DASH has the killer feature. Not using it is leading to desperate moves. A "winner" of 5 DASH is likely to just cash out and disappear. They're going to be educated only well enough to take the money and run.

Fix IX.

 

[camosoul]

Where I would see that it has value and potential would be if you were able to onboard several merchants in the localized area who would accept Dash payment. You may need to establish a fiat gateway for the merchants which may simply be access to an appropriate exchange.

We're still trying to convince Evan and Ryan to stop undermining attempts to do this in 1st world countries. Forget sub-Saharan Africa...

"No! We must be the nerd heroes! We need to be worshiped! It must be us or no one! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

Been dealing with that crap attitude for nearly 2 years now. Do nothing, slander and undermine anyone who tries. The Usual Suspects are trying to undermine kodaxx's progress, too...

 

[NickfromSA]

HI Nick, Cheers for the PM.

One thing I think you should consider in giving this Dash out in an emerging region is how an ecosystem will be created. What I mean by this is, if a person has some Dash, what can they realistically do with it.

Where I would see that it has value and potential would be if you were able to onboard several merchants in the localized area who would accept Dash payment. You may need to establish a fiat gateway for the merchants which may simply be access to an appropriate exchange.

If your given rewarded Dash is within a localized region who can access these merchants then you will see if an ecosystem develops. If it does you would expect to see funds move through the merchants, between students and hopefully new participants . If this then occurs you have a process which can be replicated, verified as value to the Dash community and then be repeated.

Hi Ewok, thanks for feedback.

Agree on the merchant front. My feeling is that if people are holding Dash and wanting to spend it, they will help drive the merchants to adopt Dash. This customer driven approach could be more effectively than simply going to merchants and saying 'Hey, you should integrate Dash payments into your payments system'. I understand that it is beneficial to the merchants but there is a stronger incentive if customers are pushing for adoption.

It is cumbersome to change cryto to fiat - especially in South Africa. We have one local exchange 'Luno' which only does Bitcoin to fiat. Therefore if you won Dash, you would have to convert Dash to Bitcoin to get your money back into fiat which is a bit of a process. If you had the option of spending it, it is likely you would chose to do that which would, as you noted, grow the local ecosystem.

Also, there are strong FinTech startups that enable mobile payments already (checkout SnapScan). The merchants here are therefore more knowledgeable when it comes to using mobile wallets/payments.

Let me know your thoughts on this.

 

[NickfromSA]

We're still trying to convince Evan and Ryan to stop undermining attempts to do this in 1st world countries. Forget sub-Saharan Africa...

"No! We must be the nerd heroes! We need to be worshiped! It must be us or no one! REEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

Been dealing with that crap attitude for nearly 2 years now. Do nothing, slander and undermine anyone who tries. The Usual Suspects are trying to undermine kodaxx's progress, too...

Hi camosoul, thanks for feedback. I think sub-saharan African might be the market that is going to adopt cryptos earlier than developed markets. This is because there is a strong need for mobile banking services and remittances plus it is difficult to open a bank account without going into a branch. Cryptos solve all of these issues. Check out this article on techcrunch:

https://techcrunch.com/2015/06/07/how-fintech-can-disrupt-africas-cash-based-economy/

On the buying users front, so I am not proposing to give money away for free; I am suggesting to offer it as a prize for students who earn it. This way it creates a feeling of attachment to the prize. I have about 180 finance grads using the platform. I am going to propose piloting with this group since they will most likely have the greatest interest/appreciation for Dash.

Let me know your thoughts!

 

[NickfromSA]

Thanks for additional info and explanation. An idea of adoption through education and possible additional media coverage are strong parts of this proposal imo. I still have concerns about _real_ possible impact of it though. Anyway, if I would vote for smth like this, I would be more likely supporting a proposal for smth like 25 DASH for a single month (i.e. start with 5 winners each week + 5 DASH reimbursement for proposal fee) and not a 100 DASH multi-months proposal.

Cheers for the suggestion! It would be a good way to test the idea and see feedback.

 

[ewok]

Hi Nick,

My thoughts are that you need to have both the Merchant and the customer if you wish to grow your project by using Dash as a give away. If you just have one part you will not be able to show adoption results to the network which may lead to no ongoing funding.

On the other hand if you can create both sides you have a case for on going funding as this can be quantified to the network. This incentive's the network to further support.

I assume your project is localized so you may only need to strike a deal with one general merchant in an area and the customers would know this .

The merchant will want to convert, would they want USD? If so they could use an alternative exchange such as Bitfinex.

 

[NickfromSA]

Hi Nick,

My thoughts are that you need to have both the Merchant and the customer if you wish to grow your project by using Dash as a give away. If you just have one part you will not be able to show adoption results to the network which may lead to no ongoing funding.

On the other hand if you can create both sides you have a case for on going funding as this can be quantified to the network. This incentive's the network to further support.

I assume your project is localized so you may only need to strike a deal with one general merchant in an area and the customers would know this .

The merchant will want to convert, would they want USD? If so they could use an alternative exchange such as Bitfinex.

Makes a lot of sense. We have a few bitcoin payment integration services so I will get a sense from them as to a willingness to accept Dash. Thanks again for the input

 

[TanteStefana]

Makes a lot of sense. We have a few bitcoin payment integration services so I will get a sense from them as to a willingness to accept Dash. Thanks again for the input

Hey, if you do that, find out what payment service they use. We can then help integrate Dash into them.

 

[NickfromSA]

Hey, if you do that, find out what payment service they use. We can then help integrate Dash into them.

Hey TanteStefana, I actually reached out to a payment service provider already (www.payfast.co.za). They were interested in the integration as they already provide bitcoin integration to a number of online retailers around South Africa.

They need an exchange that they can provide ZAR - Dash conversion for the retailers. Would you know how this could be integrated and what exchange could be used? Currently they use Luno, a local bitcoin exchange, but they only have bitcoin.

 

[camosoul]

Let me know your thoughts!

Until IX gets fixed, DASH's functionality is no different from any other bitclone. It brings nothing to the table that LTC doesn't already do.

Until IX is fixed, it won't matter if you're in Illinois, Namibia, or on the effing Moon.

IX is still broken, so it doesn't matter. From a retail vendor's perspective, IX may as well not exist, therefore it solves none of the problems it promised to solve.

It's the same failure mode all over again. Big Promises, Lack of Feature Set, can't be used as advertised.

 

[JZA]

Hi camosoul, thanks for feedback. I think sub-saharan African might be the market that is going to adopt cryptos earlier than developed markets. This is because there is a strong need for mobile banking services and remittances plus it is difficult to open a bank account without going into a branch. Cryptos solve all of these issues. Check out this article on techcrunch:

https://techcrunch.com/2015/06/07/how-fintech-can-disrupt-africas-cash-based-economy/

On the buying users front, so I am not proposing to give money away for free; I am suggesting to offer it as a prize for students who earn it. This way it creates a feeling of attachment to the prize. I have about 180 finance grads using the platform. I am going to propose piloting with this group since they will most likely have the greatest interest/appreciation for Dash.

Let me know your thoughts!

Here is a suggestion, why not start by making easy for merchants to accept dash and have your students code and market the dash point of sell system for extra credit and scholarship?

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