In April of last year, a high-profile figure in the space wrote a piece titled "How to Start a New Country."
The Network State would give millions of people a fresh start without the constraints of the past, he thought. The Network State is a digital nation that was launched first as an online community.
Afropolitan, a community-as-a-service company for the African diaspora, is taking a bold step to bring that vision to life, even though most of what Srinivasan wrote is theoretical. The startup was founded by Eche Emole and Chika Uwazie. Srinivasan is one of its investors.
There are more than 25 angels. Some of them include Elizabeth Yin of Hustle Fund, Shola Akinlade of Paystack, Ian Lee of SyndicateDAO, and Iyinoluwa Aboyeji of Future Africa.
Several venture capital firms participated.
A great way to understand Afropolitan's plans is to break them down into phases.
Afropolitan is a series of community led opportunities for Africans and those in the diaspora. It made a statement when it participated in the " The Year of Return" event in Africa. The number of international travelers to the country went up from 960,000 to 1.13 million.
There were lessons from the year that stuck with Afropolitan, one of which was an Awakening happening among the African diaspora where millions wanted to trace and connect back to their roots on the continent.
Media could be used to meet these needs. Afropolitan gained a huge following thanks to a sensation at the time, and has 50,000 followers. They have a following of over 200,000 between them and their extended brands on the social audio app, as well as their experience in online community building, which is one of the reasons for the growth.
The diaspora movement, which was present in The Year of Return, was also present online as we brought them together on Clubhouse, according to Emole. He said that he wanted to create a country out of it.
The second iteration of the internet made it possible for people to organize around shared values. If it were a country, Facebook would be the largest website in the world.
A refreshed narrative has been created by the advent of a new internet. The next Facebook-like concept could be a full-blown digital republic coordinated by its native currency and a unifying mission according to this school of thought.
The argument is simple. Emole said that the internet has allowed them to connect in ways that were never before possible. We want to build the first internet country that will have its native currency and share purpose. This is what it ends up being.
The middle is occupied by Chika Uwazie and Eche Emole.
Why not make one in the beginning? Afropolitan has a couple of questions. Nine of the ten countries with the highest poverty rates are from Africa. In the U.S., where most of the African diaspora lives, Afropolitan argues that the economic crisis is due to wars and gerontocrats.
Bad governance is the problem that we're trying to solve. The governments in Africa and around the world have failed black people.
The ex-Flutterwave executive mentioned the #EndSARS movement in Nigeria, where thousands of people took to the streets to protest police brutality. During the peak of the protests, contributions poured in from all over the world to help the protesters. The Nigerian government tried to cripple the movement by using its banks to restrict the accounts of platforms that accept contributions.
He said that the only thing they couldn't shut down was the virtual currency. If digital money is a weakness for the government, what more can you do to strengthen it? Is it possible to layer a digital country on top of the one you can't shut down? If we could all tap into a new country, new passport and new currency, what would a new government look like?
The African diaspora is the 10th largest in the world with over 150 million people.
The community would become a significant economic power if it were combined into a unified state. Afropolitan's social layer will allow members to invite new members and share resources, economic opportunity, culture, and media, creating an exponential network effect as more members join the network.
The startup has a four-phase plan for how it wants to grow.
In the first phase, media and events are used to communicate its vision. Afropolitan wants to give its members access to events and physical spaces after that.
Afropolitan will launch a super app in the second phase that will feature all the utilities. Money can be sent across borders, risk capital can be collected, and companies can be incorporated. Emole said the company could either build out these government-as-a-service features or partner with existing platforms that already offer these services.
Afropolitan calls it the minimum viable state. Preparing for the transition from the digital to the virtual is the third phase of the project. We want to build up legitimacy through state capacity. The network will be governed by a network of seed institutions.
After it has reached critical mass, Afropolitan wants full-scale sovereignty. Emole believes that the community should have grown to millions of people in its network so that it could negotiate with partner governments for land space in their countries.
The way to think about that is to think of embassies as territories. There's a Chinatown in major cities around the world. He said that if you combine the two ideas, you have a city that is a sovereign city.
The nation-state of the internet
Young people in Africa are bullish oncryptocurrencies. According to data from Chainalysis, the region is the third-fastest growingcryptocurrencies economy.
As they try to onboard millions of Africans into a "new economy", a handful of blockchain upstarts are playing. MARA and Jambo are two of the ones included.
The diaspora element makes Afropolitan fall into this category. As the real work begins, the web3 upstart hopes to become a major force pushing for this representation. Uwazie, the former CEO of Talent Base, said that they wanted the black diaspora to feel comfortable and have a safe space to get educated. The first year of the project will be devoted to the community, education, and the podcast.
Cultur3 Capital is particular about this representation. Afropolitan is backed by the firm because it addresses the opportunities in the "underappreciated" African and Africa diaspora markets.
It's simple to talk about community. It's difficult to build it. Afropolitan is dedicated to serving the African diaspora's vast and deep talent. Their network of Africa's top entrepreneurs, artists, and creators will be the key to unlocking the region's vast yet underrepresented talent.
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