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A developer on what smart contracts are for.

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Executive producer: C.Y. Lee

Seven minutes in Ikorodu, Lagos at the end of Web3Bridge Cohort 12, the seventh episode in a run of short interviews We Them Media filmed with the developers finishing the course.

Web3Bridge founder Ayodeji Awosika opens from the same building, counting the cohort in and out and listing where applications for the next one came from.

The subject introduces himself briefly: “my name is Joseph and I’m from Anambra State and I’m Igbo by tribe”. He was already a developer, JavaScript and Python, and heard about Web3 through “an ex-classmate, Oluchi by name” who had been through an earlier cohort.

Asked for a favourite memory he will not pick one. Asked to describe the course to somebody else, he does not sell it. It is “mental draining”, he says, and “it will get you to think outside the box”. His warning is short: “you have to like be mentally prepared”.

On community he starts small and moves out. “the community is vast”, but “you start from somewhere”, and the somewhere is the classroom: “It starts actually from here, from the classmates and all that, meeting a lot of people.” After that, “Web3 Bridge gave us the opportunity to go for events”, and the network grows from there.

His reflection on the cohort is that it is a beginning rather than an end. “first of all, there’s a lot more to learn, so this is not just where it stops.” His team is building RaceTree, “an app, a dApp that connects investors to founders easily”. The problem he names is on the funding side: investors “fund the startups and yeah, there’s nothing to show for it. There’s no gauge.” The fix is mechanical. “So funds are being released based on milestones.”

What excites him about smart contracts is how far past the obvious they go. “We feel it’s just based on money, the DeFi aspect and all that. But then you get to go deeper and deeper and you begin to see things like NFTs, DeSci, and the rest and the likes.” His own pull is elsewhere: “The side of crypto that interests me the most is the gaming aspect”, though the cohort’s work has been on DeFi and on contracts that hold up.

The last question is how much Nigeria actually knows about crypto. He thinks it is slow work. “it’s going to take a lot of time. It’s not something that will like happen ones”, because the vocabulary “sounds new to the layman”. What he wants is education that leaves the top layer and goes “to the markets, like penetrate and actually like teach people to understand this thing”, so the whole field is not mistaken for tap-to-earn.

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Who speaks, by their own introduction on the tape: Ayodeji Awosika at 0:23, Joseph at 1:20. Transcribed from the original audio and corrected for names. Search every transcript

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0:00when you see people using smart contracts, you understand? I’ve come to discover that they use it in ways that you most times we feel it’s just um based on what we were taught and all that. We feel it’s just based on money, the defi aspect and all that, but then you get to go deeper and deeper and you need to see things like NFTts, decide and the rest and the likes. Yeah. So, Hello everyone, my name is Iodor Jawusheka. I’m the founder at Bridge. Over the last 5 and a half years, has been training amazing developers in Nigeria and in Africa. Trust me, Port 12

0:44was amazing. We had 74 guys into the core, 39 guys from the court. They are intense. But then for is going to be bigger than this 12 court because everyone guys apply from Cameroon, from Togo, from Kenya, from Zimbabwe, from Uganda and yes, Nigeria is not left out. Trust me, don’t want to miss the experience. Today I’m chilling with Masio and his team at W the Media. They’re speaking with the guys that just finished from the court. Make sure you watch that. As we see here at W the Media in 3 2 1.

1:14All right. So, how you doing? I do fine. What’s now? Can you introduce yourself to the audience? Okay. My name is Joseph and I’m from Anra states and am I by tribe?

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1:25Okay. Yeah. And how did you learn about web three? Were you already a developer? Yes. I was already a developer stack, JavaScript, Python. Yeah. So, I got to know about web three from a friend um an exclassmate. So, she introduced me. She’s from the past. And what is your favorite memory out of being a part of this this 12 corporate work through bridge has

1:50Oh. Oh, I I have a lot of memories like a lot of memories. It’s been both good, bad, the good, bad, the the ugly, you know. So, yeah.

2:02I can’t really like pinpoint one at the moment. That’s okay. Yeah. Uh how would you describe your experience as someone though? Oh, uh I would say it is um mental draining. It’s it will get you to think outside the box, think beyond what you or how like your pattern kind of thinking, you understand? You have to like widen out. So if you’re coming, you have to like be mentally prepared.

2:29And how would you describe the the role of of the community and your experience here? The the whole community. Uh it’s the community is vast. Yeah. But um you know, you start from somewhere where you you network. It starts actually from here from the classmates and all that meeting a lot of people. Then um web free bridge gave us the opportunity to go for events. Yeah. And from there we network and meet several people and yeah it’s goes on from there.

2:59And as this cohort just wrapped up I’m curious you know what are your reflections on this experience and how you’ve seen yourself grow. Oh okay. I I have a lot like first of all there’s a lot more to learn. So this is not just where it stops. Yeah. more learning and learning and learning and um yeah right now we actually like building something I am my team race tree and all that race tree is an app a d app that um connects investors to founders easily so investors and founder um investors are always like there’s this um short change whereby they give grants or they give things to people

3:36like funds they fund the startups and yeah there’s nothing to show for it there’s no gauge so the app is trying to like bring in that limitation, you understand? Through the the milestone um concept, you understand? So funds are being released based on milestones.

3:53Mhm. Yeah. So that’s that’s actually what we’re working on. That’s beautiful for Yeah. And I guess another question I have is, you know, I’m really curious when you look at the problems you see smart contract developers solving, you know, what what what gets you excited? Uh, a lot gets me excited. I I I see smart contract as like a a whole it’s it’s something that is like very very very um I don’t know how to describe it but when you see people using smart contracts you understand I’ve come to discover that they use it in ways that you most times we feel it’s just um based on what we

4:39were taught and all that we feel it’s just based on money the defi aspect and all that but then you get to go deeper and deeper and you need to see things like NFTTS and the rest and the likes. Yeah.

4:52And you mentioned like NFTs and DI is there like um I guess a side of crypto that interests you the most? Uh the side of crypto that interests me the most is um the gaming aspect although I’ve not like been able to like um go fully into it because mainly what we’re like based on here is actually the DeFi aspect. how to make sure that um your phones are secure. You write smart contracts that are um that’s that are like security proof, you understand? And yeah, there will be no stories of oh, you know, based on the whole hackings and all that going on, you understand?

5:29But I hope to I’ve actually like explored Abigoti because we I was given a contract um to review Abigoti’s um alchemical facets. So I’ve actually like reviewed um some things about it and I’m hoping to like do more explor exploration on that. Yeah.

5:46And I know you all have attended some events throughout the cohort. I’m curious what’s your perspective on web 3 adoption and general uh degree to which people know about crypto here in Nigeria.

5:55Okay. I think it’s going to take a lot of time. It’s not something that will like happen once because um one thing I understand about the web three space and all that it is because it’s that um the terms being used it sounds new to the lay man sounds very very very very entirely different you understand so it will take a lot of time I feel we need like more uh it’s not like we should stop building but I feel there should be like more education you understand more um what’s the word you um to sensitize the community, sensitize people, not just stay at the top layer,

6:33go deep, go to the markets like penetrate and actually like teach people to understand this thing so that they will not just think that oh the web three and crypto space ends in tap tap tap tap tap I mean the tap swap. No offense.

6:49Yeah, I got that best though. I uh I think it’s definitely important for people to you know go beyond the tap tap tap. I agree. Yeah. And you know, I’m really excited to bring this kind of content to people because I feel like most African-Americans in the US don’t really have a deep knowledge of crypto, let alone even if they can tap show to make money. Yeah. And so I like hope hopefully people hear stories like yours like your own and feel compelled to learn more to get more involved, you know, and be builders, be investors, be people who are supporting people like yourself, you know, thinking about what

7:13the future of the landscape looks like. Uh my final question, you know, we like to say booya or our content. I’m curious, how do you think we spell here at We Them Media?

7:21Okay. B O Y A H. Then I’ll just add the exclamation. You know, that’s for the fact that you always like Yeah. Say it out loud. Yeah.

7:32I like that. I like that. Nice touch. Okay. Exclamation point. That might be the the the part you got right now. But you want to count us down so we can say it.

7:39All right. All right. In three, two, one. Booyah.

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