Dash has made significant inroads in Africa, with teams across a half-dozen countries working hard at promotion.

Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Morocco are now home to teams promoting education and use of Dash. A dedicated site, Dash Africa, aims to list these teams and keep track of their activity across the continent. Many of these local chapters distribute giveaways to meetup participants in order to get new users for Dash, and several have listed donation portals and goals on the GreenCandle.io paywall page to fundraise for additional tips to distribute.

Three different teams operating in Ghana

Ghana is a particular stronghold for Dash, with three separate teams
Mahamdu Abdul-Salam first came to prominence heading up Dash meetups in Ghana. Since then, he has submitted a proposal to embark on a road trip across all of Ghana to promote Dash at as many locations as possible. He anticipates a great turnout as Dash goes for a strong foothold in Ghana’s investment and cryptocurrency communities:

“I expect it to to highly influence the investment decisions of most Ghanaians towards traditional investment, that’s is investing in banks, micro financial institutions and physical commodities. The roadshow will expose participants to the varied investment opportunities Dash presents and the safest and time saving way of performing transactions with Dash. As a general hypothesis, I envision the roadshow to win about 80% of the Ghanaian cryptocurrency community members both existing and future members who will be influenced by the roadshow to actively trade, invest, share and donate through Dash. The roadshow expects massive attendance across regions of not less than 50 participants to every conference. Not to be over anticipatory, 14th October, marking the first event will set the records.”

Abdul Kudus Mutaru has been active in holding meetups to promote Dash, conducting one by himself in August as well as four jointly organized meetups during the September/October period. Each September meetup garnered over 40 attendees, the first 10 of whom received $5 worth of Dash if they installed the wallet, and 12 for the joint meetup in October. Mutaru also appeared on a local radio show to promote Dash. He sees Ghana as a special place for Dash adoption:

“Yes of course, that is something I am certain about. Ghana has been one of the top African countries that has shown a greater percentage of Dash Adoption. In all the meet ups I held so far, the testimonies of participants alone have set the basis of which I can drive the justifications. What I do, I am using the smart phone approach to explain to them because, out of ten people, seven are likely to have with them smart phones and once they are able to install Dash wallet into their phones, it becomes easier to use and most of them even recommend Dash to their colleagues. As at now, day in day out, I receive a number of calls and messages from people who are so eager to know what Dash Digital Currency is all about. This indicates that the message we are delivering has gone down to the people and our community base is augmenting every second.”

Mohammad Awal Sani, who ran two meetups himself in August totalling 13 attendees and helped Mutaru for the September/October meetups, sees Dash’s speed and low cost as particularly attractive to those seeking to send and receive remittances:

“Absolutely! The rate at which people embrace Dash is amazing but this is base on the group I have interacted with so far and people are taking keen interest because of the opportunities it presents. Most of these people love Dash because of it’s low transaction cost and the time it takes to effect payment confirmation. People who receive remittances abroad feel dash is the best option for them as compared to MoneyGram and Western Union.”

Mutaru sees Dash’s unique features, especially the ability to transact both instantly and privately, as a unique selling point that will help the coin take hold in Ghana, including merchant adoption:

“Also, with the instantaneous and privacy features that Dash posses, anyone who has cone into contact with it always hold firmly and most of them have started to transact with Dash. During our activities of Soldiering for Dash, my self and Mohammad Awal Sani in our September meet ups have come into contact with one of the stores that is into the sale of mobile accessories and they have accepted to take Dash as a means of payment. This one alone is an indication that, the adoption is going well with the Ghanaian people. I believe with rigorous education on Dash Digital Currency, Ghana shall soon be a hub of Dash digital currency.”

Nigeria slowly but surely embracing Dash

A few countries over from Ghana, Nathaniel Luz has conducted two larger meetups in Nigeria of 22 and 24 attendees respectively, as well as many small groups with 2-3 participants. He also conducted a joint meetup with Abdul-Salam from Ghana. According to Luz, Dash is well-positioned for strong growth in Nigeria, especially due to favorable policy by the central bank:

“Dash is being embraced in Nigeria. The Central Bank of Nigeria has endorsed cryptocurrency which has positively influenced the people on their views regarding cryptocurrency. Nigeria, having the largest economy in west Africa, makes it a fertile ground for Dash to sprout and expand throughout Africa. Dash has been accepted by individuals. The next step is to work towards merchants’ adoption and also as a means of receiving funds oversees.”

Of particular use in Nigeria is the remittance application, which is both in high demand and affords Dash a strong advantage over more slow and expensive means of transfer, according to Luz:

“Several Nigerians do businesses that require them to pay in foreign currencies, (usually the dollar), and also, some individuals work overseas and send money home periodically.

If only we can get individuals to send money into the country through Dash, then we’re at the top already. And this should be workable as Dash had better speed, extremely low fees and a general excellent efficiency when compared with traditional banking.”

Kuva Cash and Dash Morocco

In Zimbabwe, the Kuva Cash project, headed by Andreiko Kerdemelidis, seeks to bring an easy gateway for converting cash into Dash and vice versa. Although how well Dash’s growth may go in the area may not be easy to estimate at this point, Kerdemelidis sees this project as a first step before moving on to more general adoption in the region:

“Difficult to answer, but if we do our work well, it will be a lot easier to obtain and use Dash. People need convenient on and off-ramps between Dash and USD or local currency. It may take time to establish Dash and supporting services to a point where even early adopters can easily use it.”

Meanwhile in Morocco, a Dash team for local promotion was funded this last proposal cycle. The project aims to create a series of “Dash 101” videos in Arabic, and use them for promotions at meetups, where there will be swag giveaways, contests to earn Dash, and other promotional activities. The goal is to establish a community in Morocco as well as a firm platform for promoting Dash to the rest of the Arabic-speaking world.

South Africa a strong case for Dash remittances

Finally, South Africa has a promotional team that has witnessed the growth and energy of Dash taking hold. Slottle Addams, who operates the Dash Africa website, has seen a very positive and high rate of adoption in South Africa:

“Right now, people are getting addicted. First of all, they are skeptical. They ask “is this real money?” Two weeks later, they become converts. The adoption is very rapid.”

Addams sees the remittance industry as a particularly strong use case for Dash in South Africa, as well as serving the unbanked, who may not have any avenues open to them for banking services:

“South Africa has the strongest economy in Africa. Despite our troubles, people from all over Africa travel here to find work and earn money. These people send their money home, to their families. They typically pay 10% in fees for the transfer to family.

Second thing: Many of the people are illegal immigrants. They do not have the documentation that is required to open a bank-account (proof of residence plus South African ID document).”