Convexity targets $100,000 investments as US firm named company for Circle pitch finalist

A Nigerian blockchain company, the Convexity is hoping to draw an investment worth $100,000 in the tech sector in the country as the United States of America (USA) BlackRock Headquarters has named the company as one of the finalists that will be pitching at the Circle’s solutions pitch competition event in New York.

Speaking in Abuja, the Head, Investment and Business Development Partner of Convexity, Uyoyo Ogedegbe said the inaugural pitch competition by Circle seeks to showcase tools that enable rapid humanitarian aid that will tackle one of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

According to him, Convexity will be pitching its humanitarian aid tool, CHATS, to judges from BlackRock, UN, and Circle for a $100, 000 investment.

“Nigerian blockchain solutions company Convexity will be pitching its humanitarian aid solution, CHATS, at the headquarters of a $10 trillion asset management firm, BlackRock, in New York, USA.

“CHATS, stands for Convexity’s humanitarian aid transfer solution, is a solution that helps NGOs track the disbursement of aid in Africa” he said.

Ogedegbe explained that aid in Africa has been largely misappropriated which necessitated the initiative to block leakage.

“The continent has received $1.2 trillion in aid since 1960, however, these funds have had no visible impact on the continent.

“CHATS is currently backed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and has received a grant from the UN body.

“The core themes we hit on were financial inclusion, transparency, technology, and aid distribution,” he added.

Also Speaking, Data and Research Analyst, Sandy Om’Iniabohs, said CHATS solution would promote transparency, streamline aid distribution process and help in reaching people in the most remote part of the world.

“The focus of our work is offline first for the beneficiaries as CHATS is four different applications and two dashboards.

“If you are an NGO, you have your own dashboard, if you are a donor, you also have yours. If you are the vendor or field agent, you also have yours.

“UNFPA reached out to us from New York and connected us to Turkey and Syria at the time of the earthquake early this year, and they wanted us to do the distribution. The issue then was that we wanted to pilot it locally and perfect the craft then before taking it globally.

“We are looking at the demographics of potential beneficiaries. In markets such as Turkey, many of them had iPhones and Smart phones” she said.