The positive-sum game of the encryption ecosystem: The battle for new Web3 users begins in Africa

前言

从常规的投资角度看，市场最先触达的加密用户群体主力一般都出现在欧洲、美国地区，又或者近年来用户量激增的亚太地区。成熟的加密市场基本都有着成熟的金融秩序和体系，以及已经不需要“教育”的用户群体。似乎用户的活跃度总和所处地区的经济发展程度正相关，非洲市场、拉丁美洲又或者东南亚地区往往更缺乏对加密货币的理解和稳定金融体系。与此相辉映的，是新兴市场渴望加密货币为其带来稳定和全新的交易场景。

类似非洲的新兴市场逐渐钟情于加密产品的背后，是交易所和大量传统金融和西方机构逐渐注意到了这块他们从未触及的“未开发大陆”，长期缺乏的渴望最终转化成为飙升的资金和新用户。

Jambo就是基于此将业务开展到了包括巴西、越南和土耳其在内的120多个国家和地区，推出了全球首款 Web3 Earn 手机 JamboPhone，价格仅为 99 美元，截止到今年7 月，全球销售已超过 460,000 台 JamboPhone，用户已激活超过 180 万个非托管钱包，标志着其生态系统的显著增长。以极低的成本价格向用户提供一个崭新的拥抱web3的新路径。此外，Jambo 生态系统目前涵盖了七个主要区块链网络上的 50 多个实时 Web3 项目。

Jambo这个名字源自斯瓦希里语中的“你好”，象征着Jambo正以友好的姿态迎接全球用户。

由Waterdrip Capital出品的加密货币与区块链访谈节目——DripEcho第一期特别邀请了Jambo手机的创始人James。Jambo项目成立于2022年初，总部设在刚果，短短一年内成功完成了750万美元的种子轮融资和3000万美元的A轮融资，几乎囊括了所有西方顶级的加密基金。而James作为Jambo的创始人，拥有丰富的非洲市场经验，他将这种独特的背景转化为创新的Web应用场景，推动了Jambo在加密领域的快速发展。

JamesZ：从刚果到Web3的先行者

James在刚果长大，家族在非洲已历三代。母语是法语，又与父母说中文，他从小就耳濡目染非洲的社会环境，又在后来的学习中去到了美国、中国。从小耳濡目染非洲的社会环境，成长的环境交织着多元文化的冲突和交融，这与我们第一次见到James的印象不谋而合。在纽约大学学习计算机期间，他第一次接触到加密货币，并购买了他的第一个以太坊。毕业后，他在投资领域积累了丰富的经验，最终萌生了创办Jambo的想法。

对于James来说，创业的灵感或许源自于无法被磨灭的成长背景。“在听这个视频的朋友们，你们可以先想一下自己有没有去过非洲。为什么非洲人不在非洲工作？为什么非洲人不做生意？因为任何在非洲做生意的人都会知道，你无法转钱给需要的人，你没有银行账户，这些在新兴市场中常见的问题，在中国、美国几十年前也都有过。

所以当你在这些地方长大，你的父母在这里做生意遇到各种困难，这些问题在你脑海中早已根深蒂固。然后当我去美国，去纽约大学学习计算机和金融，我不需要是天才就能看出美国和非洲之间的差异，这些差异只是因为没有人去解决而已。然后我就抓住机会去做。”

创业的初衷：项目方悬在头上的“达摩克利斯之剑”

谈及创业初衷，“其实开始的时候就是因为无聊，”James笑着说道，“你想做投资，你就要投那些你真正想做的事情，但当时在市场上并没有看到适合新兴市场的项目。”他的目标很明确：解决跨境支付、汇款和无银行账户的问题，这些都是新兴市场普遍存在的痛点。

在2022年初，市场正经历一轮“东南亚GameFi狂潮”，但很少有人关注到非洲市场。“我们看到，很多非洲国家的人民没有银行账户，但他们急需跨境转账的服务。”JamboPhone的推出正是为了解决这一问题。

被新用户选择，或不被旧用户被抛弃，是当下所有web3项目方无法逃避的终极归宿，也是必答考卷。“大家都需要新用户，就是这么简单。”James回答这个问题的时候毫不犹豫。

“说实话，我们构想的人物画像是每一个web3公司都在想的。不管你多牛的项目，你都想上交易所。如果我们现在是个web2的科技项目，你也想上纳斯达克或New York Stock Exchange”

How not to be abandoned by retail investors and exchanges is the "Sword of Damocles" that many project developers hang over their heads. "What does listing need? New users, and new users are in emerging markets." James continued to explain, "They need new people, how can they get new users? They don't even know what web3 is."

The rise of Jambo in Africa: The acquisition of trust

In 2022, Jambo successfully completed a US$7.5 million seed round and a US$30 million Series A financing, including almost all the top Western crypto funds. Talking about difficulties, "The initial challenges we encountered in the African market were huge," James recalled, "no one knew what crypto was there."

In order to break this dilemma, James and his team took the most Original promotion method. "Two words: ground push." ​​James started his story with a concise and powerful answer. This kind of promotion method is not unfamiliar to the Chinese, but it is unheard of in the Western market. Alibaba led hundreds of thousands of people to sweep the streets and promote it, and it was only then that it achieved what it has today. "James recalled, "We also use this method to develop the African market. "Over and over again, they explained the advantages of JamboPhone to users and helped them earn money on the platform. The initial promotion was not easy. In Congo, no one knew what cryptocurrency was, and residents were full of doubts about new things." You have to convince them that you can change their lives, but they've been lied to so many times. "James said, "Help them make a lot of money. Only when the money really reaches their pockets can they trust you. "

"Our users are mainly young people. Imagine that a 20-year-old boy in Nigeria buys our mobile phone and you will see 15 pre-installed software. And Jambo is just your wallet. "This precise user positioning allows Jambo to quickly occupy the market in a short period of time.

Our goal is to create new Crypto users for the market

Perhaps shaped by a lucky growth background, Africa is generally considered to be in the market" While "a backward" continent, James saw the huge potential of this land. Africa's population is very young, with an average age of only 18 years old, which means that there are a large number of young people who are full of curiosity and acceptance of new technologies and applications. James explained Said, “The same goes for our entire user base. Help these young people make money and they will become our loyal users. He said frankly: "I think any founder who wants to do this needs to grow up in several different countries to really know what is happening in that country." Growing up in Africa, I saw a lot of different problems and needs than in developed countries. This background allows me to more keenly capture the pain points of emerging markets. "

In a region that lacks a modern banking system, crypto payments and blockchain technology have found unique application scenarios. "4G users in Africa are growing rapidly and are expected to reach 300 million in 2025. "James mentioned, "This huge user base provides huge room for development of our business. ”

James said: “Our goal is to create new crypto users for the market, rather than just duplicating existing users. ”

The following is an excerpt from the interview:

JoyChen: Why did you first come into contact with crypto?

JamesZ: Because I grew up in Congo. The environment in Congo has allowed me to see a lot of injustice and difficulties. In After growing up in Africa, I went to school in New York, where I studied computer science. All my friends studied finance. At first, I felt that finance was not something to learn, and then I started learning computer science for the first time in 2015. I thought it represented the future, so I bought some Ethereum and made a little money. It didn’t matter if it fell. If I had been bolder, I would have started a business in 2017. , but maybe no one would recognize it because I was too young, so I am very grateful to my sister, who suggested that I start a fund first, and she is now my co-founder. I joined this industry as an investor as soon as I graduated. Before I went to college, I had never heard of crypto in Africa. At that time, the atmosphere in Africa was not strong until crypto became popular in 2016 and 2017. At that time, Bitcoin rose a lot and retail investors started to pay attention.

Looking back, we are now in 2024, and no one really knew what crypto was. Digital currencies were only accepted by retail investors in 2016 and 2017 because of the rise of Bitcoin, because you had to make money. Only then can you believe in something.

JoyChen: During this period, have you considered working in other industries? For example, traditional finance?

JamesZ: Because I was at New York University and most of my friends went to business school and worked in the finance industry. But because I grew up in Africa, I have no interest in the financial industry. I think that if I didn’t do what I am doing now, I would probably play professional basketball.

JoyChen: It was based on my first thought. Did you choose to start with the African market when making a mobile phone? Or did your experience in Africa make you want to do something in Africa first, and then you found that mobile phones or infrastructure were a good place to start? What kind?

James Z: Let’s first talk about the problem we want to solve, then why and how we do it. The problem we want to solve is very simple, which is the problem of cross-border payments, especially in emerging markets such as South America, Africa and Southeast Asia. A common problem in these markets is that most people use mobile phones directly and skip the computer stage.

We focus on how to acquire users through device distribution. VC usually does not invest in hardware because hardware is not as scalable as software, but we choose to make hardware to achieve the goal of distributing software to users. Our mobile phone sells for US$99 in emerging markets, and the cost is the same as the selling price, making no profit or loss. Our goal is to distribute as many phones as possible to have Web3 software pre-installed on them.

We knew from the beginning that to truly enter these markets, we needed hardware support. But starting a hardware business is very difficult and requires supply chains and distribution channels. Our software is pre-installed in the hardware to better promote Web3 applications, and we have reached cooperation and incentives with multiple companies so that after users purchase a mobile phone, they can earn coins in the pre-installed software and then redeem them through the Jambo platform. Fiat currency. The strength of our platform lies in our ability to provide distribution channels for users in emerging markets and to work with strong partners to provide high-quality content.

JoyChen: In the process of expanding the African market, you still have a lot of difficult moments. Because I have never been to Africa, I don’t know whether the market there can be like the North American, Asian or Southeast Asian markets. Promotion, at the very beginning, how did you sell your first mobile phone?

James Z: Two words. Ground push. It's that simple. When Chinese people listen to it now, they think it is normal to push the ground, but Westerners don’t understand how deep the word ground pushing is. For example, not only Jambo, but also web2, Alibaba, Meituan, and Dianping also register users through local promotion and motivate users. This is local promotion, from first-tier cities in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen to second-tier cities, and then to third-tier cities. City. There are no such people to promote web3, because web3 is very close to money. It is possible that you have issued coins and done many things, but no one has really promoted it to bring these users to web2 real business model.

If you go to our website, you will see that we have three key data. First, in which countries do we sell mobile phones? Now we sell mobile phones in more than 120 countries, which means global coverage. Second, how many mobile phones have been sold, currently about 500,000 units, although the target is more. Third, how many new wallets are created.

We first promoted it in Congo, and no one knew what crypto was. Congo has a population of 150 million. If you look at the map, Congo is one of the largest areas in Africa, but it is very backward. Two countries in Africa are at the forefront of science and technology, one is Nigeria and the other is Kenya. Other countries are very far behind.

In Africa, the problem we encountered at the beginning is that no one cares about you. If you tell them it can change their life, they will say they have heard it ten times because they have been lied to so many times. Anyone in emerging markets has been scammed many times. I've been scammed many times myself. It's easy to get scammed when you really need money.

Our marketing strategy is that it doesn’t require you to do anything, it only requires your time. You give me a chance to spend time on our platform, whether it's mobile or software. Even without our mobile phone, you can download our software and make money. We attracted a lot of people through this strategy. You have to be very good to your initial users, help them make a lot of money, and make them trust you. Unfortunately, they only believe how much money you help them make. If you don't help them make money, they won't trust you.

JoyChen: You just mentioned that you will fly to some markets where you are concentrated every once in a while, so where are you going to go next? Why was the first offline store opened in Brazil?

James Z: Our biggest markets now are Africa, South America and Southeast Asia. Our first offline store was opened in Brazil, not just to sell mobile phones, but more for publicity, to let people know about our existence and how many users we have, and to promote our partners.

We chose Brazil because it has the most users there. Although the languages ​​in these places are different, Portuguese is spoken in Brazil, Spanish is spoken in other South American countries, and French or English is spoken in some countries in Africa, but this does not affect us because the main problem we want to solve is cross-border payments and remittances. These issues are common to all emerging markets.

Although these markets have different languages, the main problems they face are the same: insufficient banking services, difficulties in cross-border payments, and remittance issues. These problems need to be solved by both individual users and enterprise users. Digital currency and Web3 technology can help us solve these problems.

We did not invent digital currency, but use it to help users. Educating users is very difficult because people don’t want to admit that they don’t understand new concepts, so we need to start courses in all universities to teach people what digital currencies are and let them know that learning these can help them make money. Therefore, no matter where the market is, what users need is probably the same. This is the service we want to provide.

JoyChen: What is the biggest difference between the living environment in Africa and the environment where you grew up in China or later in college in the United States? Is there anything that made you feel that if you had not come to Africa, you might never have thought or thought this way?

James Z: There are so many things like this. What Africa is like. Why can't I be born in Africa, even if my family has been there for three generations? Because if you are bitten by a mosquito, you may die from malaria. In addition to mosquitoes, there are many invisible viruses. You may die before you are three years old. Very dangerous in Africa. Why don’t Africans work in Africa? People doing business in Africa know that digital currencies can help them solve their pain points. Anyone who does business in Africa will know that you can't transfer money to the people who need it, you don't have a bank account, all the problems in emerging markets that existed in China and the United States decades ago. So when you grow up in these places and your parents do business here and face these difficulties, these things are already in your head.

Then I went to school in New York to study computer and finance. In a place as developed as the United States, you don't have to be a genius to see the gap between the United States and Africa, but no one does it.

JoyChen: Without the experience in Africa, would Jambo still be successful? Or if Jambo didn't have a founder with your background, would it still have the number of users it has today?

James Z: I often think that if it were not me who was doing it, but my friends or others, it might have been more successful. This may be a problem for founders. They always feel that there is something they haven’t seen or done well. A lot of things happen every day. For example, if I didn’t check Twitter and crypto this weekend, I missed a lot. So I think if it wasn't me doing this, but other people with similar backgrounds, it might be more successful. It takes one to grow up in different countries to truly understand what is going on in those countries. For example, when we raised funds in Africa, we raised 7.5 million in the first round and 30 million in the second round. Tiger Management and Coinbase both participated. When I was raising funds, I increased my weight from 95 kilograms to 125 kilograms. The reason was huge pressure. No one has ever done this, so how do you convince investors to invest tens of millions of dollars in you? When you are 26 years old, no one believes you can do this.

JoyChen: If you were asked to choose a city to live in right now, where would you choose?

James Z: I may not choose to live in a certain country, but the place I definitely won’t live in is the Congo. I grew up in the Congo, lived through two civil wars, and were evacuated overnight, so a lot of people ask me if it was easy to start a company with my sister. We have been through life and death together, so our trust is always there.

JoyChen: Did you create Jambo because you wanted to change the status quo?

James Z: I’m just an ordinary guy who sees an opportunity. There are many inequities and disparities in the world, especially in the financial system. I just saw an opportunity to potentially change something. Otherwise, you can buy digital currency and don’t move, and you may earn several times or dozens of times in ten years. But starting a business can fail.

JoyChen: Share a word I learned from a friend, called "within value". If you want to be responsible to LPs and investors and make money, this matter is actually within the value. But part of it is beyond value. If you can really make some changes, what is the highest level you hope to reach in the future?

James Z: The changes any crypto founder wants to make are the same. The Bitcoin market is less than one-tenth of the gold market. I feel like we're all very early right now. If someone, listening to this video now, says I don’t like what James said so much, but I will just buy digital currency and hoard it. Then you go do this, you don’t need to buy Jambo. I'm not trying to get people to buy my product. I started a company in this industry to solve problems.

If you ask me if I will continue to start a business, I will probably never do it again because it is too difficult. We now have dozens of developers working on programming alone, in three different countries. I am in Asia, and I am fine from 3 to 6 pm, but I am very busy from 6 am to 3 pm, and then I am also very busy communicating with people in Europe, the United States, and Africa from 6 pm to evening. Being a founder in crypto is much more difficult than in web2, because if you are in web2, your time is American time, and you work from nine in the morning to five in the evening. If you work in China, you may have social activities in the evening.

But there is no such time limit in web3. I have not listened to some of my partners, founders who are much smarter and more workaholic than me, saying that they are very tired because they work from 6 am to 11 pm. , this is the norm. So we all want to do the same thing. If you're listening to this video, you probably already know what we're trying to do. I believe in digital currency and hope more people can come in to understand and participate.

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