Enterprise Adoption & Institutional Collaborations for Kusama in Nigeria
Beneficiary: Polkadot Nigeria
Requested Amount: 2,800 KSM
Introduction
Nigeria, the 6th largest nation in the world and the second-largest adopter of cryptocurrency globally, represents a massive yet underserved frontier for enterprise blockchain adoption. SMEs contribute over 48% to Nigeria’s GDP, but challenges like poor transparency, limited access to global markets, and trust deficits restrict growth.
This proposal seeks to onboard 6 enterprises across diverse sectors into the Kusama ecosystem, leveraging structured collaborations, legal support, and practical onboarding infrastructure. By doing so, we shift from awareness to tangible enterprise adoption.
Objectives
-
Onboard 6 enterprises (SMEs/startups) across agriculture, logistics, healthtech, finance, and creative sectors.
-
Establish legal and institutional collaborations to give enterprises confidence and compliance support.
-
Provide enterprises with onboarding tools, documentation, and training to ensure smooth Web2 → Web3 transition.
-
Deliver measurable outputs such as MVPs, pilots, and enterprise-driven DApps deployed on Kusama.
Track Record (Already Delivered)
The Polkadot Nigeria community have already:
- Onboarded hundreds of users, builders, and founders into the Polkadot ecosystem.
PolkadotNG is a dedicated grassroots community initiative accelerating Polkadot adoption in Nigeria through consistent, measurable, and on-chain-focused activities.
Key Activities:
-
Onboarding & Education: Onboarded 250+ users on-chain within the last quarter through hands-on events, targeted mentorship, and curated educational materials designed for newcomers and builders alike.
-
Polkadot Nigeria onboarded a significant number of users into the Polkadot ecosystem, as evidenced by the recent Polkadot Ambassador Fellowship selection, where over 55% of ambassadors in the Polkadot ecosystem are from the Polkadot Nigeria community.
-
A thriving Telegram community with educational resources & mentorship programs.
-
Regular x spaces, engaging 100s in Web3 discussions.
-
Active participation from Northern Nigeria
-
Incubating Community Projects: Enabled the development of innovative community-led projects, including:
-
Chess on Chain - a gamified chess experience secured on-chain.
-
Food on Chain - a decentralized agricultural and food marketplace empowering local producers.
-
Web3 Freelancing DAO - an open platform matching talent with tasks in a trustless environment.
-
Polkatribe - connecting local builders and creatives through visual storytelling and digital showcases.
-
-
Thought Leadership & Ecosystem Dialogue: Hosts weekly Dot Talks and Twitter Spaces, providing a platform for ecosystem leaders to engage directly with the community, share insights, and drive awareness of key developments.
-
Cross-Community Collaboration: Actively facilitates partnerships and knowledge exchange with other Polkadot communities, such as Polkadot Italia, WUD Community, and more, contributing to a more unified, resilient, and collaborative global ecosystem.
-
Several Meet-ups and Events, On-boarding Hundreds of users and builders into the ecosystem
-
Active ecosystem member activities like Dotbull, which inspires and mobilizes dozens of the ecosystem’s to stay active. [https://x.com/dotvibehub/status/1940349780359786804
](https://x.com/dotvibehub/status/1940349780359786804?t=pj9wdfFwCRmDTNzfZ6jxdQ\&s=19)
-
Enterprise-focused meet-up sessions, enlightening small business owners about the potential of blockchain and specifically Kusama’s strengths.
Enterprise Awareness Activities
-
Hosted enterprise-focused meet-up sessions, directly engaging Nigerian SMEs and enlightening small business owners about blockchain opportunities.
-
These sessions highlighted Kusama’s unique strengths (experimentation, fast deployment, governance), planting the first seeds of enterprise blockchain adoption.
These form a solid foundation to now pivot toward structured enterprise onboarding.
Proven Capacity:
PolkadotNG’s impact demonstrates a consistent ability to plan, execute, and scale high-impact community activities while delivering tangible on-chain results. The initiative serves as a local catalyst aligned with the broader vision of an interconnected, permissionless Web3 world.
Our Core values
- Collaboration.
- Inclusion.
- Innovation.
- Transparency.
- Community-Centricity.
- Education & Empowerment.
Mission Statement:
To onboard Nigerian enterprises into the Polkadot ecosystem by driving targeted awareness, mentorship, and education, while harmonizing existing users to build a more connected and impactful community.
Vision Statement:
To establish a unified and enterprise-driven Polkadot ecosystem in Nigeria, where businesses and contributors collaborate, grow, and lead blockchain innovation globally.
Key Collaborations for this Project
-
SMDAV Nigeria – Legal framework & MoU to back blockchain enterprise pilots.
-
PBA-X – Pipeline of up to 20 founders for training and onboarding.
-
Virto Network – Providing onboarding tools and integration support.
Problem Statement
Nigeria, with a population exceeding 240 million, is the 6th largest country globally and Africa’s largest economy. It also has one of the most vibrant small business sectors, with over 39.7 million SMEs 3rd globally:
-
Representing 96% of total businesses
-
Contributing 46–50% to GDP
-
Employing 84% of the workforce
Despite this:
-
Less than 1% of these businesses are utilizing blockchain or Web3 tools
-
A major gap exists in awareness, onboarding, and accessible technical support
-
SMEs face persistent challenges in payments, compliance, logistics, and data records, all solvable via Kusama-powered tools
Nigeria is a massive but underserved frontier for enterprise blockchain adoption.
Graphical Insight:
Nigerian SMEs by industry sectors with highest Web3 potential: Agriculture, Logistics, Healthtech, Finance.
| Sector | Estimated Share |
|---|---|
| Agriculture | 30% |
| Logistics | 25% |
| Healthtech | 20% |
| Finance | 25% |
Why Nigeria’s SMEs?
-
3rd largest SME cluster globally (after China & Brazil) -
40M+ businesses stuck on legacy systems
-
Low blockchain integration despite massive mobile & digital penetration
-
Huge appetite for digital transformation in supply chain, payments & record-keeping
-
The 6th most populous country in the world, with an estimated population of over 223 million people and the continent’s largest economy by GDP. -
Second Adapters of Crypto currency Globally
Why Nigerian Enterprises Need Blockchain"
-
Trustless Payments
-
Digital Certificates
-
Trackable Supply Chains
-
Transparent Records
from "Five Essential Benefits of Blockchain for Business" The Nation Newspaper+10Tesseract Academy+10Vanguard News+10
-
Trustless Payments - blockchain enables peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries, ideal for Nigeria’s high remittance and cross-border payment needs.[ The Nation Newspaper
-
Digital Certificates - immutable credentials for education, business, and identity that eliminate fraud and streamline verification. Crypto Blog | Busha[The Nation Newspaper
-
Trackable Supply Chains - granular transparency for logistics, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals helps combat counterfeit and inefficiencies.[ PlanetWeb Solutions
-
Transparent Records - tamper-proof data storage across transactions, procurement, and public systems to enhance trust and accountability. Crypto Blog | Busha+5Business Day+5PlanetWeb Solutions+5
Proposal Objectives
-
Onboard 6 Enterprises across Agriculture, Logistics, FinTech, HealthTech, Education, and Creative Industry.
-
Sign an MoU with SMEDAN (Small & Medium Enterprise Development Agency of Nigeria) to provide legal and institutional backing for enterprise adoption.
-
Collaborate with PBA-X, giving up to 20 founders access to Kusama infrastructure during incubation.
-
Leverage Virto Network onboarding tools to provide enterprises with a plug-and-play Kusama integration framework.
-
Deliver enterprise-grade MVPs/dApps integrated with Kusama by the end of the pilot.
Budget (2,800 KSM ≈ $37,128 USD)
-
Enterprise building & Pilots – $12,000
-
Documentation & Onboarding Tools – $7,000
-
Institutional Collaborations & Legal Agreements – $8,000
-
Enterprise Training & Developer Support – $5,000
-
Operational Logistics (venue, travel, reporting) – $5,128
The budget is lean and milestone-based. No incentives to the team all funds are allocated to delivery.
Comments (1)
Comments are restricted to accounts with an on-chain verified identity.
Thank to all the DVs and community members who engaged with our earlier draft and provided thoughtful feedback. We have taken these concerns seriously and have fully revised the proposal to address them:
We’ve considered the limited resources available for the Kusama Treasury in 2025 and have taken a conservative approach to executing this project, limiting our impact on the treasury to medium spender. Meanwhile, the rest of our team has been financing itself by building and on boarding hundreds of users and builders over the years. marking our team as both result-driven and cost-efficient for the ecosystem, and committed to continuing to pursue sustainability in the long term.
Clarity on Community Activities: Past activities and track record (user onboarding, builders supported, and enterprise meet-ups) are clearly outlined
We have narrowed the scope to 6 enterprises across sectors, providing more focus, measurable outcomes, and realistic execution within the timeframe, with no contents activities.
Partnerships Strengthened:
Virto Network - to provide onboarding tools and technical support for SMEs.
SMEDAN collaboration (MoU in progress) to ensure legal backing and institutional recognition.
PBA-X -to connect with up to 20 startup founders for pipeline development.
This ensures that concerns around feasibility, focus, and proof of d delivery have been addressed, while building on our already-delivered track record of onboarding, awareness, and project incubation.
We remain available to clarify any details further.
With gratitude,
Polkadot Nigeria Team