Kenyan blockchain community, Sankore, has partnered with Swiss non-profit NEAR Foundation to launch a new regional hub.
The hub will focus on ongoing blockchain innovation as well as education and development emerging throughout the continent.
The new hub will be helmed by Sankore founder Kevin Imani and will consist of launching a series of events, an academy, an incubation program, and the Sankore Bounty ecosystem.
“We are thrilled to be working with NEAR to educate and nurture talented individuals to become world-class blockchain developers,” Imani said in a statement. “Our dream is to lead the way in blockchain innovations in providing solutions to Africa’s biggest problems. The NEAR Protocol allows tomorrow’s brightest developers to build custom solutions with scalability, security, and transparency and this hub is the next step in turning our shared vision into reality.”
The Sankore 2.0 Guild was founded last June 2021 and took its responsibility to educate very seriously.
It is named after the oldest educational institution in Africa. The Sankoré Madrasa (also called the University of Sankoré or Sankore Masjid) was founded in Mali almost seven centuries ago in 989 AD by the chief judge of Tumbuktu, Al-Qadi Aqib Ibn Mahmud–during the time of the Empire of Ghana. The company aims to further expand the continent’s reach into Web3 and the Open Web Culture in Africa with the NEAR protocol.
Sankore has already enlisted local universities and began rolling out student workshops. Six students have already become officially certified developers.
Sankore 2.0 operates as the primary development branch of the NEAR ecosystem in Africa.
“We are excited by the potential avenues throughout Africa for blockchain solutions, which come from innovation in development, education and talent,” said Marieke Flament, CEO of the NEAR Foundation. “This hub represents a unique opportunity to partner with local talent not only for the opportunities that we know exist today but also for the opportunities yet to be created in the future.”
