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In episode 171, which is part 1 of a 2-part series, we’re excited to welcome five amazing guests: Njeri Muhia and Abeera Akhtar from Mercy Corps Ventures, Greg Schneider and Marie-Odile Zanders from Empowa, and Irthu Suresh from Atlantis. We explore the pilot projects that Empowa and Atlantis recently completed with the help of Mercy Corps Ventures which leverage Web3 to scale climate-resilient housing in Mozambique and improve clean water access in India. We discuss the key findings, challenges, and impacts of these projects.

Key Takeaways

• In Mozambique, it is very difficult for the average individual to purchase a home. This is especially true as many individuals in Africa have informal or inconsistent incomes, making it difficult to get a mortgage. Empowa addresses this through their unique on-chain Rent-to-own project where individuals contribute capital over time to the principle as they pay their rent.
• When it comes to climate resilience, access to clean water is essential. Currently, access to energy and water is highly centralized in India. However, these centralized networks can be susceptible to climate shocks. To address this, Atlantis explored how decentralized networks can help communities coordinate around clean water access and build greater resiliency to climate shocks.
• There is a misperception that individuals with low or inconsistent incomes in emerging markets cannot be trusted with loans. However, research has consistently shown that these individuals are highly effective at managing their finances and have very high repayment rates on loans. The important lesson here is that these individuals are bankable if the systems are designed to work for them.
• When designing Web3 interventions, especially in traditionally underserved and excluded communities, it is important to focus on building solutions that are easy to use and don’t require the user to have knowledge of Web3. Blockchain is simply the plumbing behind the initiative.
• When designing and implementing innovations that disrupt traditional systems, you will encounter and be challenged by incumbent power structures. It is hard to predict what challenges these will pose, so it’s important to remain agile and adaptable to the unique context in which you are working, and to engage the community and local stakeholders in the design of the project.

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Follow & Learn More

Website - Mercy Corps Ventures

Website - Empowa

Website - Atlantis

LinkedIn - Abeera

LinkedIn - Greg

LinkedIn - Irthu

LinkedIn - Marie

LinkedIn - Njeri

Pilot Report - Empowa

Pilot Report - Atlantis

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Episode Time Stamps:

02:40 - Tell me about yourself and the project you’re working on.

06:45 - For the next two episodes, we’re going to dive into the Atlantis and Empowa pilot projects through Mercy Corps’ Venture Lab. To lay the groundwork, do you mind giving an intro to Mercy Corps Ventures and the Venture Lab?

09:45 - Let’s dive into the pilot projects! First off, do you mind giving an intro to the mission of Empowa and your pilot project?

21:40 - Tell me more about how blockchain is implemented in Empowa’s pilot project?

25:45 - Why did Mercy Corps Ventures decide to support this project?

27:35 - I’d love to now learn about Atlantis’ mission and the pilot project implemented in India to improve access to clean water.

32:05 - Tell me why Mercy Corps decided to support Atlantis’ pilot project.

34:30 - What were the key findings that emerged from the pilots? Were there any surprises?

49:45 - To wrap up part one of our conversation on a note of inspiration, I was wondering if you could each share a story of impact from participants in the pilot project.

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