It is remembered that IOHK and The Ministry of Innovation and Technology (MinT) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in May 2018 for the utilization of blockchain technology in Ethiopia and training junior software developers.
IOHK ( Input Output Hong Kong ) founded by Charles Hoskinson and jermy Wood, is a technology company behind Cardano (ADA), a decentralized public blockchain network for building smart contract-based applications.
The training is part of the IOHK’s engagement with Ethiopia. The trainees learned how to program in the Haskell programming language, which is used to build software programs on the Cardano platform.
Charles Hoskinson, co-founder IOHK, was in Ethiopia for the graduation of the developers and other side engagements. The graduation happened with the presence of Dr. Getahun, Ministry of MiNT, and other members of the IOHK team at Sapphire Addis Hotel.
It is expected that most of the developers will be hired to work on blockchain-based projects at IOHK Addis Abeba Office.
IOHK seems to plan it’s activities in Ethiopia in three phases in the range of 3 – 7 year. Phase one is “establishing a political goodwill and labor force (training)”, says Hoskinson in a video released earlier. This is the phase that is just ending with the graduation of women developers and current good relationships with the government.
Phase two is “to work with local partners and look for interesting pilot projects that might last from one month to a year to develop a commercial product.”
Phase three is “to set up a public-private partnership and take the product to the entire vertical”. The product is going to be free in the front end and monetized from the background.
Our biggest investment will be in Ethiopia.
said Hosnison, when asked if IOHK is going to work with any other African countries than Ethiopia on an event that was organized at bluespace just one day before the graduation.
Despite being Ethiopia the main focus, they aim to organize Cardano meetups in 25 African countries by the end this year in partnership with Iceaddis. Rwanda and Uganda are also some of the countries where there can be possible projects by IOHK.
