Nessary: Bitcoin Can Deepen Financial Inclusion, Economic Empowerment of Vulnerable Nigerians

Bitcoin transactions may be forbidden under the current financial regulation over claims that they could endanger financial stability but proceeds realised from its activities are being deployed to build and empower vulnerable communities across Nigeria. In this interview with James Emejo, the Co-Founder, Built With Bitcoin (BWB) Foundation, Mr. Yusuf Nessary, said notwithstanding the seeming apprehension over crypto assets, bitcoin could deepen the government’s financial inclusion drive. He shares the humanitarian impact of bitcoin proceeds, arguing among other things that knowledge was crucial for the economic liberation of the people.

Currently, Nigerian financial regulatory authorities believe bitcoin and other crypto-assets constitute risks to financial stability partly because they are largely unregulated. How would you react to this?

So, we remain apolitical in our foundation and we don’t make comments on any decision-making at all. We try to focus on those communities we service but if we can showcase through action, the positive activities that bitcoin can provide to a small community in Kaduna, what can it do for Nigeria as a whole? What can it do for the diaspora money coming in from overseas? What can it do for the level of transparency like for anti-corruption for the country as well? People want to stay honest but they also want to get what they deserve too. I feel though that if I was leading a country, I want my citizens, my people to have every resource available in their hands to be able to succeed in life. And I think every leader has the same kind of mentality. But there are certain things – diplomatic ties, geo-political issues that circumvent these from happening. It is for us to be able to focus on the optimism of the work. The silver lining of the work we are accomplishing – this will set an example. We have been doing this for over five years now and it’s going to take a long time for us to get where we want to get. But we are committed, we are dedicated to the people of Nigeria, and we are dedicated to Africa and the rest of the world.

What is the vision behind the BWB Foundation?

 About six years ago, I was running another non-profit, it is a fiat traditional NGO called Zamzam and what we were doing was building water wells around the world. We had embarked on a new journey to building an education center in my mother country, and someone saw us on Instagram and wanted to contribute to that school because it was for orphaned children. And the financial platform we were using at that time flagged his transaction and so it required me to have a conversation with him to reach out to him and say – thank you so much for the anticipated contribution – and that there is another form of payment that you can make and at that time.  He responded and said is there Bitcoin in your organisation and I said, “what is Bitcoin?”.

And that was where our relationship began and the other person on the other side making donation was Ray Youssef who is a co-founder of the foundation. So, he and I started a peer-to-peer relationship and friendship, now we call it brotherhood and he said he always had a dream that he wanted to build schools in Africa and the rest of the world and he wanted to use Bitcoin in doing it. He said, can you accomplish this goal? Can we work together and I said I don’t know but let’s start and that’s where it began.

So, the very first school that we built together was in 2017, we started using Bitcoin in the country of Rwanda and since that time we’ve built two schools in Rwanda, two schools in Kenya, two schools in Nigeria and we have repaired and worked on two schools in Salvador and we are currently building worked two schools in South Africa. We’ve done work in India two schools in India, two schools in South Africa; we have done work in India, and Ghana. We are a global humanitarian organisation.

We like to think of ourselves as being as being inclusive as possible, but it all began here in the continent of Africa. Africa is a very special place for me. I came to this continent almost 12-years-ago, and it showed me so much about myself, I learnt so much about myself from the people first and foremost. So, that’s why I keep coming back. It has nothing to do with tribe, has nothing to do with country, it is the African people in general. It is what brings me back to the continent, and want to be able to work with the people. We don’t consider ourselves a charity organization, we are not giving people things for free. People don’t need that, what they need is relationship building, they need understanding, some people just want to be heard and that’s what our foundation does. We listen and we learn from people on the ground.

Here’s a resource that this community doesn’t have, so if we can provide the resource, how can we work together to transform that community? Some communities don’t need schools, but how can we impact their lives in a positive way, and through Bitcoin, we can accomplish this.

What is the nature of your interventions in Nigeria and what do you hope to achieve? 

Well, for us, it’s about access to resources and it all comes down to opportunity and that’s why we want to work with the communities, but you can’t create opportunities or work with opportunity unless there’s trust. There has to be trust, and for us, or me coming into a random community; in Nigeria, people are not going to welcome you with open hands – there has to be a level of engagement…So for us, education is the utmost importance for us. But through education, there are some other resources as well like access to clean water, electricity, internet connectivity – these are all daily issues that everyday Nigerians have. And if we can provide solution for these, the productivity and efficiency of those individuals in those communities will continue to rise.

So, for us, it is about access to natural resources, education as well as community engagement. If we can create or foster this positive environment for communities, there would be security, that would bring stability and that also brings inclusion. So that’s what we are working on in Nigeria.

Specifically, we are working on two school campuses in Kaduna and there we have provided access to electricity through solar, we have built a football pitch for the students and the community members and have a Nursery School and a Primary School.

The infrastructure here is able to accommodate up to 400 students eventually, we are not there yet, so it is a process as you can imagine, but it is an investment in the Nigerian people, why? Because we believe in them, because I believe in Nigeria, and Ray Youssef, believes in the Nigerian people and if we can tell the story of the real Nigerian, not the one that other part of the world are creating, that’s why it is important for me to have my feet in the soil and to speak to everyday Nigerians. This is the difference with our foundation, we want to understand the real people on the ground but not what the media creates because that’s false. Because I know the people in Kaduna State, every time we come to their community, they say is it that the guy that brought us to the school? Let’s show him African’s hospitality, that’s that, unless you are here on this continent, living and breathing its air, you truly won’t understand. That’s why I try welcome as many people possible to come to the Kenyans, the Ethiopians, the Nigerians, the Ghanaians, the South Africans, the Rwandans because until you are there and meet with the real people, you won’t truly understand.

Why are you focused on building schools when there are other sectors in need of attention?

Because that’s what I know: I am not going to venture into a sector I don’t understand – I am an educator, and I’ve educated pre-school children in the United States, and so sociology, medicine, public health, and education are all my background. These are all the things I have invested my entire life in and the missing piece is the people, and that’s why Ray and I always love to be on the ground in these communities to learn from them directly. So when it comes to education, education is very near and dear to my heart. In 1980, my parents migrated to the United States from Afghanistan due to war. And my family and I, grew up in a very low-income neighbourhood in South Central Los Angeles.

And the nursery and primary schools weren’t easily accessible for us. So, I grew up not having the fundamental educational skills that I deserved. And so, that’s why I am so passionate about creating a mechanism for grassroots education for all. I love when these students at youngest of age are able to come to my school because you have to set a very solid and stable foundation. And so at our foundation we focus on four solid pillars namely mental health, physical health, environmental health and financial health. Those four pillars make a very solid sound and robust foundation. Without a solid foundation, you can’t build, right? It doesn’t make any sense, so unless we have those four attributes, solid on the foundation, we cannot continue to build.

It is clearly indicated on all your projects that they were accomplished using the proceeds from bitcoin transactions. Is this a calculated effort to attract people into the cryptocurrency activities?

 All moral and value system within our organisation is that nothing is involuntary. You don’t force any technology, any information on any community. Yes, everything is voluntary. First, we want to introduce Bitcoin to communities like Kaduna because they are unfortunately very under-banked. They may not have access to the financial institutions you and I may have here in Abuja, and that’s not right. Financial system should be made for the 100 per cent, not the 1 per cent.

That’s why Ray and I truly believe in Bitcoin- because it can provide inclusion for all. So if we can provide the resources, working together with the community with education, we also have financial literacy education – at a very early stage, we teach children what money is, what is the value behind money and then we also establish that for the parents of the community as well for them to get a better understanding to become more financial literate, for them to get a better understanding of how money truly works, so that maybe, they can preserve their wealth overtime.

And we also believe in the technology of bitcoin for its transparency.  When it comes to foundations, everyone asks where is the money going? When it comes to bitcoin and blockchain technology, you can actually see funds coming in, funds being able to go out, but we go above and beyond at the Bitcoin foundation, and I’ll tell you why.

We created something called the ‘Blockchain and Philanthropy’ which is you visually being able to see the work being done. With multiple visits, the contents that we have, the media that we have in the stories that we have of the community members. We want people to have a real connection, what is in the visuals…We want to create a relationship, mutual respect. So that’s why we don’t go round singing that we are handing out money, but we take the time to understand this people, to understand their needs to see if we can provide some of the solutions so they can continue to thrive.  That’s the real essence of what bitcoin can provide; it has intrinsic value, as well as tangible value. The intrinsic value is the transparency, the honesty, the genuineness, and the tangible is obviously the blockchain, the currency as expected of having the financial inclusion that we yearn for and deserve.