CeLatam Season 0 Report

[CeLatam]

Explore the Foundation, First Achievements, and Future Pathways of CeLatam in Our Latest Release.

CeLatam is a pioneering initiative focused on leveraging the Celo blockchain to empower and transform Latin America’s Web3 landscape. A beacon of innovation, a hub for ideas, and a launchpad for groundbreaking projects throughout Latin America and beyond. As we launch our Medium blog, we aim to provide valuable insights, updates, and stories from the heart of our vibrant ecosystem.

We are excited to get started by sharing the Season 0 Report of CeLatam, offering an in-depth look into the origins, evolution, and forward direction of our initiative. This report is not just a collection of achievements and milestones; it’s a testament to our commitment to transparency, accountability, and the collective journey toward empowering Latin America through the Celo Ecosystem. From our foundational vision and mission to the detailed road map guiding our strategic pillars and OKRs, the report lays bare our efforts and the impactful strides we’ve made thus far.

Moreover, this publication acts as a guidepost for the exciting developments on the horizon, highlighting the areas of focus and opportunities that lie ahead. Whether you’re deeply involved in the Web3 space or simply curious about the transformative potential of blockchain in Latin America, this report is an open invitation to be part of the conversation and action. Download the full report now and join us in shaping a regenerative and inclusive future.

> Download the full report here

Your feedback and engagement are crucial as we forge ahead, together.
We’re looking forward to your feedback and engagement below!

[MilaRioja]

Extra happy to see this!

[pcbo]

Great job amigos

I read the detailed report, some comments and questions:

• Can you add a start date for Season 0 there? I only saw the end date (March 2024).

• Was there one project who had extra impact compared to others?

• Any recommendations / plans for a follow up Season?

• I didn’t fully understand if you transferred back the remaining funds? Can you clarify pls

[cristpereirag]

Yey!! A lot of work has been done and a lot more to do! Let’s go Latam!

[merlo]

Congratulations! you’re doing a great job

[apmarin87]

Hello everyone,

I’m Alejandra Pacheco, and I lead Celo Incuba program, an initiative conducted in collaboration with Colledge and Celatam. It’s truly remarkable to witness the incredible work being done by Celatam in this space.

To date, we’ve successfully completed two incubation programs, providing support to 12 startups. Currently, we’re in our third cohort, where we offer mentorship and specialized workshops to help entrepreneurs design their business models, craft marketing strategies, and develop their technical and product capabilities, culminating in pitch preparation for our Demo Day.

Our focus extends beyond the incubation period. We aim to build strategic networking opportunities among participants, mentors, and VCs involved in our program. We continue to provide ongoing support through mentorship and workshops to refine business proposals even after the incubation process.

It’s a privilege for me to coordinate these activities as we continue to collaborate from incubation to ideation, nurturing web3 entrepreneurship in Latin America.

#WAGMI LATAM!

[szapelao]

Having contributed as a mentor for the last two cohorts at Celo Incuba, I’m truly impressed by the phenomenal work being done at the incubator. Ale, you are a rock star!!!
The selection of startups features a dynamic mix of innovative businesses led by passionate founders. Coupled with the superb curation of knowledge and experiences, Celo Incuba is clearly poised to make an increasingly significant impact on the Web3 ecosystem in Latin America!

[szapelao]

So exciting to see what has been done in this first year of CeLatam! And even more for what is coming in this new season!

[CeLatam]

Gracias/ Obrigado, @pcbo !
We are happy to answer your questions below:

• Our Season 0 Report marks our 1st year of operation - first as Knkt DAO and now as CeLatam, which we kicked off in April 2023. We celebrated this initial key moment in this post here at the Celo Forum: KnktDAO born from CGP-096. Since then, we have had an average of one project/launch per month and are super proud.

• We are stunned to look back to all the achievements we had in this past year, the events we supported, and all the people impacted However, we are particularly proud of Celo Incuba (highlighted on page 15 of the report), the successful incubator program we are running with Colledge, by understanding the great potential of this initiative for the development and growth of the Celo Ecosystem in Latam. Stay tuned to Colledge (@SomosColledge) and CeLatam ( @CeLatamOrg) on X to follow all updates of Celo Incuba - Soon we will launch the final report.

• In terms of learnings, we understand that event sponsoring is not the most effective strategy to focus on and that we can leverage events and meet-ups to engage the Latam Web3 community in a more relevant way. About our plans, each of the 3 pillars that are part of CeLatam’s strategy - Marketing & Research, Partnerships & Activations, and the Venture Studio - are oriented by a North Star (a guiding metric or principle that aligns all efforts and decisions toward achieving the most important long-term goal) and OKRs (Objectives and Key Results). This being said, the projects we are developing and implementing aim to achieve the established OKRs per pillar. See an example in the screenshot below:

• Can you clarify what you mean by “remaining funds”? All funds will be fully executed according to the vision herein. As disclosed on page 21, the budget is allocated per vertical to fund CeLatam’s operations and our initiatives in the coming months.

Our reports will be produced quarterly to show the progress of CeLatam’s activities and budget allocation. They will be posted on CeLatam Blog, on the Celo Forum, and shared on our social media channels.

Also, besides all the efforts mentioned here, we will hold bi-weekly Office Hours open calls.

[CeLatam]

@merlo we are thankful for the energy you put in this project in the early days and are humbled to have you as Alumni! Doors always open to contribute in the future!

[pcbo]

Thanks for clarifying @CeLatam ! You have been doing an amazing job!

I got confused because of this (see red underline):

.

So, if I understood correctly, Season 0 funds were already fully executed and there will be a follow-up Season 1?

I think we’ve been learning on other regional DAOs that focus should be king. If Celo Incuba has been your best take so far, why not double down on that instead of dispersing efforts? Instead of 3 Objectives, I’d try to focus on just 1, maximum 2. Take this with a massive pinch of salt as I’m lacking a lot of context.

Thanks again for clarifying

[masha]

Love seeing the progress in supporting LATAM builders. I mentored this years ETHDenver hackathon and was impressed with how many builders were from LATAM. Many mentioned having exposure to building with Celo during the government hackathon and having interacted with Mila!

[CeLatam]

Hi Pedro! TY for your engagement and for highlighting. We will address the topics below!

Budget Strategy

We believe we were able to be cost-effective while being flexible and adjusting pace. Periodically assessing wins/learnings with the community before deploying the budget is one of our strategies to fine-tune deliverables — especially as we are doing our best to be here and contributing in the long run. Thus, we are managing our funds in order to achieve our goals.

Next Seasons

As for the next seasons, you can expect them to roll out and be notified of the reporting schedule, as highlighted below:

Celo Incuba

As for your comment about doubling down on this strategy, we are happy to say that are currently assessing the best ways to grow Celo Incuba into a perene program, with at least 2 editions yearly. You can find preliminary information about Celo Incuba here and information about this first cohort in partnership with CeLatam in this Cointelegraph article.

It is worth mentioning that Celo Incuba kick-off was on February 12, 2024, and it is currently running until of May (it’s a 12-week program!). The next quarterly report will consolidate the results and continued strategy.

Other Celo Ecosystem Initiatives

While is worth mentioning that CeLatam has a unique scope, we see as a positive ripple effect the news Celo Africa is also pursuing an Incubator strategy.

KPI’s

We agree with you that focus is essential, and some predictability certainly helps us navigate scenarios and opportunity costs. After the section where we state the KPIs, we have a summary of what was achieved per OKR and what are the next steps. As regards Partnerships & Activations for instance, you can confirm that 100% of Objective #1 KPIs were already accomplished, and 50% of Objective #2 as well.

Thus, we understand the OKRs are working well for now as, in a predictable fashion, we can attest they are paving the outcomes we want to achieve.

Lastly, we dearly appreciate the feedback and see pathways for contributing with Talent Protocol on the mission. We have been inviting Celo Ecosystem Founders and relevant key stakeholders to act as mentors, hosting workshops and others on Celo Incuba, and can think of more creative ways to build together based on our mission above. Please let us know if you want to jump on a call to assess ways to engage.

It’s a pleasure to have you brainstorming with us!

[CeLatam]

Hey Masha, thanks for the feedback. The hackathon organized in partnership with the Government of Brazil was truly a special case as the challenge was the tokenization of more than $400bi USD worth of assets. How was your experience with the teams from LatAm? Are there some highlights worth mentioning?

We’re discussing a Twitter Space with Celo incubators (CeloAfricaDAO, KohCelo, and maybe Celo Camp) to share our experiences and learn from each other, would you be interested in joining?

Thanks again!

[fodisi]

Wow, great to see such amazing progress from CeLatam. Lot’s of work so far and I’m sure there’s a lot more that will be accomplished by CeLatam team. Keep you the great work

[pcbo]

Hey, thanks for your reply. I’m available to jump on a call and see how we can collab for sure! Feel free to book a slot here. Let’s do this!

[therealstone]

Hi @CeLatam

Wonderful work, and so encouraging to see so many different leaders across the Celo community and wider blockchain for impact ecosystem partnering together to make this effort excel.

As for feedback on the report, I think that this is a very effective initial reporting mechanism. Job well done on the budget transparency, and overall efficiency of money spent Season 0.

One thing I’d love to see as the work continues is the partnership & activation roadmap for how Celo-based projects can work directly with the CeLatam DAO to partner on activations, research, and community building. It seems like with such a robust and multi-talented team there is a lot that could be done, and many valuable collaborations for Celo-based projects that are limited in their research, marketing, and community building capacity!

To make it practical, I know GoodDollar would love to engage CeLatam for an upcoming initiative focused on (likely) Colombia to plan, implement and analyze the efficacy of a women’s universal basic income program, and to help the core team overall build a strong pilot and Colombia-based implementation program (adding localized and personalized payment rails on top of the GoodDollar UBI protocol is the next layer of protocol functionality).

Keep up the great work team and looking foward to learning how we can work more closely with you!