Catching up with Sempo: Using Blockchain to Deliver Cash Aid When Crisis Strikes
By: Frank Yu
Tags: Stable Coin, Cryptocurrency, Social Impact, Blockchain, Impact Investing

Nick Williams (left) and Tristan Cole (right) Co-founders of Sempo

Sempo was one of the inaugural companies to participate in cohort 1 of the dlab accelerator program. When I first met them they had already deployed aid to several refugee camps and disaster stricken areas around the globe, and several weeks into the program, Nick Williams, one of the co-founders of Sempo, found himself on a plane to Vanuatu in order to launch their pilot with Oxfam and Australian Aid. I caught up with Nick and Tristan, his co-founder, to get an update on what they’ve been working on…

1) What have you been doing since graduating from dlab?

We’ve been working closely with Oxfam and Australian Aid for a blockchain-enabled cash transfer program in Vanuatu. The team spent over a month in country working alongside the Oxfam team, engaging with vendors and communities to understand their needs and requirements. Our work was featured in Coindesk, Cointelegraph and Yahoo Finance amongst others. The pilot was considered a success by all key stakeholders; recipient enrollment time dropped from one hour to less than 4 minutes, and realtime transactions enabled the Oxfam team unprecedented transparency and insight into their program. Users all reported a preference for the technology, attributing its ease of use, safety and increased levels of choice. The Reserve Bank of Vanuatu even changed their constitution to exclude Humanitarian Aid from their blockchain ban!

We are excited to support Oxfam as they scale Cash Transfers throughout the region.

2) What is the core value that you want to provide your customers and end users?

Our mission is to build open ecosystems that connect financially isolated communities with each other and the global economy.

We do this by working closely with NGOs to run cash transfer programs — by first providing a spending account that works both online and offline.

Our two priorities when we build products are:

Provide the most accessible financial tools Be the most focused on community aspirations

3) What exciting developments in blockchain or cryptocurrency have impressed you recently?

The innovation in DeFi is relentless. Every day new financial products, tools and markets are being shipped to the main net. The traditional financial system is slowly being rebuilt on a transparent, trustless and decentralized platform that minimizes middle-men and bad actors.

A recent example is PoolTogether, a decentralized no-loss lottery, that is a better alternative to gambling. It works by letting users purchase a ‘ticket’ in a lottery for $20. All funds are then locked in Compound, a money market, earning interest on the collateral. At the end of the period (1 week), a user is randomly chosen to receive all of the interest collected. For the first 4 pools this was a prize of between $200-$400.

4) What are your plans and goals in the next 6 months?

We’ve validated that blockchain-enabled cash transfer is an incredibly effective method compared to traditional methods. The Oxfam team increased speed of aid delivery by 96%, compared to their previous cash approaches on the Ambae Volcano response.

The problem remains that cash transfers by themselves are not sustainable — we want to leverage cash transfer programs to build ecosystems that empower communities to be part of the global economy.

To do this, we are shifting to an open wallet ecosystem, meaning anyone can signup and access the Sempo wallet. For our previous pilots, this was restricted to NGO cash transfer recipients only. Our plan is to offer a number of financial services overtime, with the first being a remittance service for consumers.

We believe that working with local communities is critical, so we are currently on a research and scoping mission in Tonga. We’ve spoken to dozens of vendors, from small corner shops to large utility providers, to learn about their payment preferences. We are also collaboratively working with key stakeholders including commercial banks, NGOs and the Reserve Bank, to discuss our Digital Currency and financial inclusion in the region.

Thank you Nick and Tristan for your time! I look forward to hearing more about how Sempo is getting aid to people in their greatest time of need.

https://sempo.ai/