CTW Forum Update #3: Friday May 27, 2022

Ecosystem Connect the World
1

Friday May 27, 2022 - CTW Update #3

Hi Everyone!

I’m back with another Connect the World update. As always we appreciate any questions and feedback that you have on the program.

The summary:

The program is a little over a month old and we’ve been very successful at engaging partners at the top of funnel and getting lots of commitment for CTW. We’ve had less success with partners completing integrations. This is in part because many teams have limited engineering resources and technical bandwidth.

We’re hopeful in the next few weeks we’ll have our first successful integrations coming. And as the program evolves we are learning and adapting in order to make it even easier for partners to integrate (e.g. Getting Started Guide).

Pipeline Status

In the last week we’ve engaged with a few new partners at the top-of-funnel for interest in Connect the World. In total, we have engaged with 28 cash in cash out partners since the project launched last month.

There has not been much change in the later stage of the pipeline - we still have about 5 partners actively integrating with 3 that are nearing completion of the integration process. Another partner will submit their code for review next week and potentially be the first provider to complete the FiatConnect integration.

1600×438 136 KB

Other Updates

  • Getting Started Guide - We wanted to make it as easy as possible for new partners to onboard onto the program without being bottlenecked by the Connect the World / FiatConnect team. Today we launched a public Getting Started Guide with all the relevant links, resources, and program expectations for external partners. Check it out here.
  • New CTW Program Manager starting June 1. We are excited to welcome a new Program Manager focused exclusively on CTW starting June 1. Once onboarded, we believe that we’ll be able to do even more, including outbound BD, and creating additional resources to help partners be even more successful at integrating, maintaining, and promoting their ramps.
  • Technical Support: One of the biggest bottlenecks for partners to start or complete their integrations has been technical bandwidth. Many top tier partners are excited to begin, but don’t have immediate engineering resources. We are exploring new models to unblock the challenge, including engaging with external firms to provide ‘ninja support’ on an ad hoc basis.

Questions for the community

  • In the interest of transparency, we want to do weekly updates about the CTW program. What information would you like to know for future updates?
  • We want to be intentional about prioritizing country ramps. Are there countries we should focus on first? Please let us know below.
1 Like
2

For all links and resources about the program, check out our brand new guide here:

1 Like
3

Hi Will. Thanks for the updates. I was reflecting about Connect the World and Fiat Connect and I have a suggestion: I think we would cover more ground in terms of countries and number of people served if we work collaboratively rather than competitively.

For example, if the knowledge produced by the Celo Jura/Celo Legal Grants announced in last Kuneco could be made Open Source and available to the whole community, it would avoid the time and cost for the legal research for the conditions necessary to operate a CICO provider in said country.

Also, if the potential providers in one country have the willingness to expand to other countries, we should incentivize that and coordinate the countries the providers should expand to in order to cover more ground. If there was a world map with the number, name and contacts of providers, law firms and other partners, such a coordination could be acchieved.

Finally, speaking from a point of view of a firm like Lovecrypto Inc, which was born in the Celo Ecosystem and that is passionate about its mission. More than the potential reward of USD$50k as incentive to incorporate in each country, what we need the most is investment in our companies. To be a CICO provider is good and proven business model. If Celo created a for profit venture fund which invested $50k for selected CICO providers to expand to start its operations or to expanded into new countries, I would not mind about the $50k reward. I would take the $50k per country investment and expand into the 5 most strategic countries of Celo´s preference.

Just a few thoughts that, if we work collaboratively, we can expand faster and cover more ground. I would love to hear the community´s thoughts about it.

1 Like
4

Hi Ed,

Thanks for your thoughts and suggestions. Can we find some time to chat - would love to learn more about how you see this collaborative vs competitive efforts working. Meetings