# Building the NOW of Cosmos Hub in Africa
**URL:** https://forum.cosmos.network/t/building-the-now-of-cosmos-hub-in-africa/15421
**Category:** Conversation
**Created:** [April 17, 2025, 7:04pm UTC](https://forum.cosmos.network/t/building-the-now-of-cosmos-hub-in-africa/15421 "2025-04-17T19:04:56Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Popeblack](https://forum.cosmos.network/u/Popeblack)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2025, 7:04pm UTC](https://forum.cosmos.network/t/building-the-now-of-cosmos-hub-in-africa/15421/1 "2025-04-17T19:04:56Z")
# A Major Leap for Cosmos Technologies, the Hub, and ATOM Adoption, Expansion, and Ecosystem Growth in Africa.
**Hello Cosmonaut,**
I’m excited to share an incredible milestone we’ve just completed, a strategic initiative aimed at **expanding Cosmos and The Hub in Africa** , with a focus on **developer onboarding, Hub growth and expansion, and ATOM adoption** in Africa.
Over the past few months, we executed a full-scale community activation program in **Nigeria** , with the goal of nurturing local talent, driving innovation, and building sustainable developer communities focused on the Cosmos stack. What began as a bold idea to onboard 200 developers became something much bigger, proudly supported by **ATOM Accelerator**.
## tl;dr
### 🎯 Program Overview: A 3-Phase Execution Plan
#### ✅ Phase 1: Developer Activation and IRL Workshops
- **Cosmos’s first-ever IRL events were delivered** in major cities including Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, and Akwa Ibom. Event Videos Highlight: [Lagos](https://x.com/CosmoshubAfrica/status/1882408492683886969), [Abuja](https://x.com/CosmoshubAfrica/status/1888194566987067441) and [Kano](https://x.com/CosmoshubAfrica/status/1885981208267416035)
- Hands-on experience on Cosmos Technologies - Building with Cosmos SDK, CosmWasm, and ICS.
- Deep dive into **AEZ (ATOM Economic Zone)** opportunities
- **Over 500+ total attendees** , including developers, creatives, and cosmonauts
#### ✅ Phase 2: Mentorship Program
- Project ideation, architecture support, and market validation
- Each team paired with experienced Cosmos Tech Stack mentors
#### ✅ Phase 3: Naija HackAtom
- **50+ project submissions** across DeFi, NFTs, AI, Tools/Infrastructure, Social/Community, Freelance/Work, Privacy, Gaming and more
- **18 finalists** , with **7 winners** , now exploring incubation and accelerator programs
# [Project Submission Highlight](https://x.com/CosmoshubAfrica/status/1911848725665743303)
## 🏆 First Place: [Beep](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/24414)
> Beep is a custodial cosmos wallet that allows users to access cosmos chains without access to the Internet using USSD. - Beep provides fiat on-ramping and off-ramping using on-chain intents and solvers. - Users can convert Nigerian naira (NGN) to ATOM and can be extended to support IBC enabled tokens.
**ATOM use cases:**
- Brings **real-world utility** by bridging fiat (Naira) to tATOM, giving ATOM actual monetary entry points in Nigeria — a huge, underbanked population.
- Encourages **onboarding of new users** to the Hub via tATOM.
- Makes ATOM more **globally accessible** , which is in line with the Hub’s goal of democratizing access to DeFi and decentralized infrastructure.
* * *
## 🥈 Second Place: [Padi](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/24251)
> Padi is a permissionless crowd funding platform. - It enables anyone to raise funding from for any cause. Users can create a funding rally on Padi, share links to the donation and get support from the crowd funded via ATOM.
**ATOM use cases:**
- Padi is built using CosmWasm contracts, currently deployed on Neutron, and can be deployed on any IBC chain with support for CosmWasm.
- Promotes **community funding and decentralized fundraising** , a key aspect of growing grassroots projects powered by ATOM.
- Helps highlight Neutron as a chain for dApps, and ATOM utility.
* * *
## 🥉 Third Place: [ATwork](https://dorahacks.io/buidl/24504)
> ATwork @atwork1\_ is a next-generation decentralized freelancing platform powered by ATOM, designed to transform how businesses and freelancers collaborate in a trustless, transparent, and efficient environment.
**ATOM use cases:**
- Practical **Web3 job marketplace** built on Cosmos — adds economic utility powered by ATOM.
- Encourages cross-border, decentralized work while keeping it trustless and transparent.
- Drives user adoption from freelancers and businesses into the Cosmos ecosystem.
**Others**
### 🏦 **DeFi (Decentralized Finance)**
- Tradi—Confidential analytics platform for traders using AI on Secret Network (DeFi, AI, Privacy).
- LendPro—Lending protocol for financial cooperatives on blockchain (DeFi, DAO).
- VaultQuest—No-loss prize-saving protocol (DeFi, gamified finance).
- Woof.Fun—Bonding curve-based cw20 token platform, inspired by Pump.Fun (DeFi, Meme/Token Economy).
* * *
### 🖼 **NFTs / Creator Economy**
- Neutron NFTLaunch Agent—NFT platform with AI and security layers (NFT, AI).
- NFTLaunch Agent (Chihuahua)—Similar NFT-focused platform with AI insights (NFT, AI).
- Prompt Hub—Marketplace for AI-generated prompts (AI, creator tools, NFTs optional).
* * *
### 🧠 **AI-Powered Platforms**
- Secret AI Writer—Privacy-first AI writing platform (AI, Privacy).
- Prompt Hub—AI prompt marketplace (AI, Creator Economy).
- Jarvis AI—Voice-controlled cloud resource manager (AI, DevOps/Infrastructure).
- Delegated Staking Agent (DSA)—Integrates Secret AI SDK for governance & staking behavior tracking (AI, Governance, Privacy).
* * *
### The Value We’ve Delivered to Cosmos Hub & ATOM
#### 🔹 Massive Ecosystem Onboarding
- 2.5x our original developer activation goal
- Over 50 teams building with **Cosmos-native tools**
#### 🔹 Real Use Cases for Real Needs. Many teams focused on **local market challenges** like
- Mobile-first DeFi solutions
- On-chain identity and cooperatives
- Social/Community
- These projects drive **new ATOM integrations and usage** in high-growth regions
#### 🔹 Community Infrastructure
- We’ve kickstarted **6+ local Cosmos developer communities**
- Providing the foundation for a **sustained grassroots ecosystem in Africa**
#### 🔹 Direct Pipeline to Cosmos Hub
- Winning projects are ready for **continued incubation and accelerator programs**
- Several are already exploring testnet-mainnet deployment
* * *
### 📈 Why This Matters for the Cosmos, Hub and ATOM Community
This program proves that **with the right support, Cosmos, The Hub, and ATOM are the ideal ecosystem for Africa.**
The modularity of the Cosmos SDK, the Hub, the power of IBC, and the ethos of sovereignty deeply **resonate with African developers, creatives, and entrepreneurs** building for real-world problems. Through this initiative, we’ve not only unlocked new talent —we’ve unlocked **new markets, new use cases, and new demand for ATOM**.
* * *
### 📌 What’s Next?
- Expansion and ecosystem development strategy for Africa, focused on growing adoption through education, local innovation, community building, and strategic partnerships—laying the groundwork for a long-term presence and impact on the continent.
- We’re preparing **project submissions for grants and incubation** with a full **impact report** in the works to document results, use cases, and testimonials
- Plans are underway to **replicate this model across Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Africa**
* * *
A huge thank you to the **Atom Accelerator DAO** , our judges, ecosystem partners, and everyone who believed in this vision. What we’ve started here isn’t just an initiative— it’s a ATOM Aligned!
Africa is not just the future of blockchain. With Cosmos, we’re building the **NOW**.
With interchain love,
**Popeblack**
Founder, Cosmos Hub Africa
* * *
---
### Author:  [@anonscode](https://forum.cosmos.network/u/anonscode)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2025, 10:59am UTC](https://forum.cosmos.network/t/building-the-now-of-cosmos-hub-in-africa/15421/2 "2025-04-18T10:59:14Z")
The just concluded hackathon was a smooth one from having cool and amazing project in participation and finally having some of them emerges as winners
Kudos to the brain behind the team
👏👏👏
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### Author:  [@cenwadike](https://forum.cosmos.network/u/cenwadike)
#### Post date: [April 19, 2025, 2:49pm UTC](https://forum.cosmos.network/t/building-the-now-of-cosmos-hub-in-africa/15421/3 "2025-04-19T14:49:18Z")
The Naija HackATOM was a delightful experience.
Working with a diverse set of devs across different interchain tech stacks, empowering devs and their team to ship an innovative product that solves real problems, was a wonderful experience.
I continue to eagerly work with these engineers as they build out their product and launch on the Interchain and Cosmos ecosystem, especially as native smart contract on Cosmos Hub gets released.
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### Author:  [@Joseph\_Toba](https://forum.cosmos.network/u/Joseph_Toba)
#### Post date: [April 21, 2025, 6:13pm UTC](https://forum.cosmos.network/t/building-the-now-of-cosmos-hub-in-africa/15421/4 "2025-04-21T18:13:20Z")
Kudos to the team behind the hackathon. More of this is needed going forward. Grassroot builders building $ATOM aligned Dapps.
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### Author:  [@Syed](https://forum.cosmos.network/u/Syed)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2025, 12:10pm UTC](https://forum.cosmos.network/t/building-the-now-of-cosmos-hub-in-africa/15421/5 "2025-04-24T12:10:55Z")
Congrats @Popeblack and @ATOMAcceleratorDAO on delivering this ~5-month program.
The number of attendees at the events (500+) and the fact that 10% of them followed through with an actual project (~50), definitely exceeded my personal expectations.
I’m glad to see Beep, Padi and Atwork win the hackathon, and even more so to see Beep make it to the AEZ QF round ([vote for them, for free, with your ATOM stake](https://dorahacks.io/aez/maci-voting))
I hope you find a way to keep the newly formed ATOM community in Nigeria active and engaged.
* * *
p.s. @Popeblack recommend reaching out to [one of the mods](https://forum.cosmos.network/about) to bump up your forum trust level so that you can fix the hyperlinks
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### Author:  [@Popeblack](https://forum.cosmos.network/u/Popeblack)
#### Post date: [April 24, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://forum.cosmos.network/t/building-the-now-of-cosmos-hub-in-africa/15421/6 "2025-04-24T12:48:07Z")
Thank you @Syed! Seeing the turnout and the quality of projects made it all worth it. Huge credit to you ser for setting everything up and for the support!
We’re definitely thinking about how to keep the Nigerian community engaged—it’s just the beginning!
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### Author:  [@system](https://forum.cosmos.network/u/system)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2025, 12:48pm UTC](https://forum.cosmos.network/t/building-the-now-of-cosmos-hub-in-africa/15421/7 "2025-06-23T12:48:55Z")
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