FEATURE : BLOCKCHAIN
Kirsten Roy-Reid , Co-Founder , Levels
Ventures
used in Lithium-ion batteries ( found in cellphones , electric cars , solar batteries ) has not been mined by children . Companies are under increasing pressure from consumers and investors to show that cobalt has come through supply chains free of rights abuses .”
Dr Pennington added that on a practical level , the common challenges are selecting the right Blockchain protocol , the right implementation partners and sourcing the right skills . “ Strategically , CIOs often face scepticism at board level to adopt Blockchain technology , as it requires a fundamental redesign of business processes . This is becoming less of an issue when boards see the significant business benefits that can and are being delivered ,” he said . “ Managing data protection , bridging the IT skills gap , the sustainability factor of the technology itself are some of the challenges that CIOs will have to navigate .”
Kirsten Roy-Reid , Co-Founder , Levels Ventures , said a lot of challenges will face CIOs in the region especially if they have the same challenge of not being able to think of what is working for their IT infrastructure . “ Most of the challenges would be in getting the right Blockchain engineers to help in implementing projects , budget to get a third party to help them to implement it ,” she said . “ Like any other IT project challenges , the integration capabilities and ability to run a public Blockchain or private Blockchain as part of the organisation infrastructure can be a key challenge as well . One can summarise the key challenges that face CIOs in general when it comes to adopting Blockchain in their organisations to the five points that include : a lack of adoption , skills gap , trust among users , financial resources and Blockchain interoperability .”
Wu added that the main challenge is that CIOs need to change the thoughts of system structures from a centralised system to a decentralised system . “ There are too many differences between Blockchain technology and the traditional IT architecture . Also , added Wu , some of the common challenges that CIOs can face when deploying Blockchain technology are the lack of implementation expertise , skills gap and trust among users ,” he said . “ Since this technology happens to be very broad , not many organisations are taking this step forward . For example , to track and trace , not only will an organisation have to adopt this technology , but its suppliers too .” trust the technology itself and trust the parties on the Blockchain network ,” he said .
Types of Blockchain technology
Idoneus ’ Dr Pennington said there are many different types of Blockchain technologies . He added that some are distinguished for their use cases and some for their smart-contract and consensus technology . “ Bitcoin for example is renowned for its proof of work ( PoW ) consensus algorithm to solve the issue of double-spending in financial transactions , while Ethereum is renowned for being the first to introduce smart contracts ,” he explained . “ Other Blockchains use proof of stake ( PoS ) and proof of authority ( PoA ) to govern the system . For example , a use casedriven technology , Energy Web created a Blockchain technology for global energy markets , Ripple created a Blockchain technology for banks . Other companies utilise core technology to address specific problems . For Idoneus , it uses the Ethereum Blockchain to solve the problem of international high value luxury asset trading using the IDON token .”
Maury G , Managing Partner , Levels Ventures , said Blockchain can easily be implemented in literally any industry and the benefits that come with that are huge . “ Globally , there are key industries that are leading the adoption of the Blockchain like banking , real estate , supply chain , healthcare and government . The banking sector , supply chain and healthcare seem to be the leading sectors to adopt the technology in Africa , plus few governments have started to pilot it . For example , Ethiopian schools plan to use the Cardano Blockchain to track student performance ,” Maury said . “ South Africa , Kenya and Nigeria are leading the Blockchain revolution in Africa with implementations in key business areas in these markets .”
Sage ’ s Mosam agreed with Dr Pennington and said for now , it ’ s primarily start-ups driving Blockchain activity in Africa . “ Some of the emerging use cases include Blockchain offering a potential tamper-proof mechanism to create digital identities for poor citizens who lack formal identification documentation , traceability of pharmaceuticals and other commodities to prevent fraud and counterfeiting and proof of ownership for shares in land , animals and other assets ,” he said . p
Wu reiterated that since Blockchain technology can be considered as fairly new , Blockchain engineers are in short supply and therefore , the market doesn ’ t offer many skilled people in this field . “ A lack of trust is another obstacle that Blockchain technology is facing . For it to be implemented , the organisation needs to
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