We are excited to introduce Index Africa’s team in this week’s “ Know Your Indexer ” segment in its 17th edition.
Index Africa is the only Indexer node in Africa. Their long term vision is to establish other nodes around the continent in addition to their community building efforts.
Index Africa team interview
Ghostym:
- How did you get into Blockchain? How long have you been running nodes or participating in the blockchain ecosystem?
Index Africa team: I had an early interest in Bitcoin, however started to see broader potential around blockchains in 2017 when Ethereum smart contracts started gaining traction. After experimenting with multiple ideas for dApps, I got involved with the Graph in August 2020 and then we started running our node shortly thereafter at the beginning of 2021.
Zuni:
- What was your first experience with The Graph and why did you choose to participate in The Graph ecosystem?
Index Africa team: My first experience with the Graph was being a part of the Curator program. What appealed to me was the potential reach of the protocol to support almost all aspects of the Web 3.0 ecosystem across a variety of other protocols and chains. Secondly was the feeling I received when interacting with the Graph community. It is not just the Why and the What which are so clearly crafted towards a common mission of shared purpose, but as important is the How of getting there. The values of inclusivity, selflessness and determination make it so appealing to participate in and contribute to.
Ghostym:
- Did you participate in the Mission Control testnet? How would you describe the experience?
Index Africa team: Only as a curator and it was an amazing experience.
Zuni:
- How many indexers do you currently have in mainnet? Have you thought about adding more indexers in the future?
Index Africa team: We currently have 1 Indexer on mainnet, however we are in the process of establishing 3 more nodes across Africa so that we contribute to greater regional diversification of the network on the continent. The exact areas are related to where the general expansion and adoption of crypto in those markets is occurring.
Ghostym:
- Are you currently participating in the current testnet? (If your answer is yes, tell us what is your favorite part of participating in the testnet)
Index Africa team: Yes we are, our favorite part is the pretesting it affords us to evaluate and confirm software updates.
Zuni:
- How do you stay connected with your delegator community?
Index Africa team: We stay connected through our Telegram channel as the majority of our delegators are individuals who believe in our mission. We are actively working towards finding institutional crypto funds who see value in our closed loop funding model and bring them onto the Graph network to delegate with us on our existing and future nodes.
Our other primary means of connection is through the Graphrica (Graph in Africa) community where we are working to drive awareness and adoption of the Graph Protocol amongst developers in Africa.
Ghostym:
- How many people from your team are participating in The Graph’s community? Can you share their profiles and give us a brief introduction about their background?
Index Africa team: There are 3 people in our team and we each play unique roles in participating in The Graph’s community.
My background (Richie) has been in digital transformation, media and systems development for the past 15 years. I’m a lifelong learner who loves technology and the philosophies of Web 3.0. In addition to running the Index-Africa node, I also run the Graphrica Telegram & Discord community.
IanBZA is our technical lead on the Indexer Node and has been involved in computery things since he was a young kid. Ian tries to be active on the Graph Discord and involves himself in many of the regular Indexer activities that take place.
Boyd is our philanthropy lead and drives the storytelling around our mission to a broader audience of potential delegators. Boyd is also a keynote speaker and lion tracker.
Zuni:
- What are you excited about the future of The Graph?
Index Africa team: Progressive decentralization and new economic incentive structures for the internet are very exciting to be a part of. It feels like history in the making. But perhaps most importantly is the burgeoning Graph community and ecosystem which feels somewhat akin to the Homebrew Computer Club in 1976, except this time with far greater network effects. The level of innovation and ideas are unparalleled. The Graph’s ability to embody a Teal Organisation is inspired and inspiring the next stage of human consciousness made manifest through technological progression.
Ghostym:
- Which blockchain networks are you excited to index for The Graph?
Index Africa team: Certainly networks like Ethereum, Polygon & Polkadot as they have so much being built off them and are experiencing rapid growth with very functional utility for real world adoption. I think this will be key to ongoing growth of the Graph protocol. However personally I’m also very excited to Index CELO as I see massive potential for this network within an African financial context.
Zuni:
- Why should delegators choose you?
Index Africa team: Delegators should choose us because we are pioneering a unique idea which is having an impact on the betterment of society whilst still providing them with an annual percentage yield which we actively work to optimise.
As a social enterprise the Index Africa node contributes 10% percent of Indexing rewards to its non-profit partner (https://goodworkfoundation.org) so that it can continue to teach digital literacy and STEM education in the most rural parts of South Africa.
We see this funding model as a classic example of how innovations in this space can travel and start to uplift the lives of many people in unexpected ways, thereby reshaping how the world works.
For every 100k tokens that are delegated to the Index Africa node, 10 children get a year of tuition funded through the Good Work Foundation’s Open Learning Academy (OLA).
Currently the Index Africa model is on track to fund a year of tuition for 350 young learners.
But more delegation to the Indexing node results in more learners receiving their year of tuition funded:
100k GRT Delegated to Index Africa = 10 learners per year
1m GRT Delegated to Index Africa = 100 learners per year
10m GRT Delegated to Index Africa = 1000 learners per year
A Delegator to the Index Africa node can support the sustainability of the Graph network in a new geographic area, earn a consistent APY and educate previously disadvantaged rural African learners and as a result radically change their lives. We believe this will be the future of decentralised philanthropy (DePhil) as Web 3.0 grows.
INFORMATION ABOUT THE INDEXER
Social Networks
Telegram
Website
Wallet address: 0x0b751463e07d90f465573d3b5dd45e1afafd4cd0
If you want to participate in this segment, follow the next steps:
1 . Ask your questions in this post by leaving a comment
2 . You can review the other comments and see the answers directly from the Indexer
3 . Don’t forget to share this with your friends and colleagues to learn about the exciting ecosystem of The Graph ! 
