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Michael Kimani: Multitalented Entrepreneur Who’s Making Cryptocurrencies Easy to Access for African Youth

“My major drive in life is that I don’t want to just pass through the earth. I want to leave an indelible mark.”

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“My major drive in life is that I don’t want to just pass through the earth. I want to leave an indelible mark.”

To understand Michael Kimani’s journey, you have to start at the famous Starehe Boys’ Centre which is one of Kenya’s national high schools.

He is the co-founder of Fonbnk, an app that eases the process of accessing blockchain through airtime. It’s a global marketplace enabling you to convert your airtime into digital money like crypto and virtual cards.

Starehe Boys is known for having exceptionally talented and brilliant young minds in Kenya, and Michael was one of them.

Michael’s interest in media and love for writing dates back to his high school days when he joined the school newspaper - Scan (Starehe Comments and News), as a writer. He rose through the ranks till he became the Chief Editor.

While pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering at Jomo Kenyatta University College of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), The Fonbnk Co-Founder’s passion for writing helped him earn a writing gig in his second year of study. “I was writing for US graduates and doing research papers for them. That is where I honed my research and writing skills and started interacting with the digital world,” says Michael.

His writing would earn him some good $500 a month as a campus student. In a bid to enrich and diversify his skills, he pursued a certification course in accounting and became a certified public accountant (CPA-K). Additionally, he pursued a Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (ICIFA) certification course at KCA University by the KASNEB-owned Institute of Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (ICIFA).

That’s how his writing & research skills, his finance analysis & accounting knowledge, and his degree in technology became an unshakeable foundation for his career. This strong foundation would later set Kimani up to become one of the thought leaders in  Crypto and Blockchain in Africa.

Immediately after graduating from JKUAT, luck was smiling at him. Michael met a mentor of his who was working on a research project that sought to examine the African informal industry. “When I started writing about the findings of the research we were doing, my interest in Fintech was born. The company he was working for later grew to work with startups and landed other projects,” narrates Michael.

 

Interaction with crypto

Michael first came across cryptocurrency and the concept of blockchain while at university. He was writing crypto price analysis articles for a trading platform that would pay him $60 a month. This is when he started learning about international financial instruments.

 

What is cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency is a digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralized governance system using cryptography rather than a centralized authority. On the other hand, a blockchain is a distributed database that stores information electronically in digital format. Blockchains maintain a secure and decentralized record of transactions.

That means that there is trust without the need for a third party because blockchains guarantee fidelity, transparency, and security.

Michael emphasized and re-emphasized how blockchain would be a game-changer in Africa because of transparency, for example in governments. 

“African citizens would be able to track and monitor if national, regional and county governments are prudently using taxpayers’ resources. One of my hopes and dreams is to ensure that African administrations take up  blockchain and distributed technology because it would solve the problem of lack of transparency in governance,” notes Michael.

 

Road to fame

Michael Kimani started gaining notoriety when he consistently started curating content on Twitter. His handle @pesa_africa became his megaphone. It helped him gain the status of a market shaper in crypto and fintech, particularly in Africa.

“I would write about fintech and cryptocurrency and show how they’re shaping the future of money in Kenya. Later on, riding on that fame I founded the Blockchain Association of Kenya in 2017. We went on to make it grow to a network of more than 100,000 people. Thereafter, we helped Uganda and Rwanda set up similar initiatives,” reveals an enthusiastic Kioneki.

 

Why is he so passionate about crypto?

Throughout the conversation, it prominently emerged that Michael is deeply concerned about young people not having money in their pockets. Economists refer to it as disposable income that one can spend on personal uses.

He also doesn’t like the fact that we spend significant portions of our time online on various platforms such as social media and we don’t earn a penny from that. “People spend lots of hours on Facebook, yet Facebook makes billions of dollars from them. My passion is to turn that around such that people graduate from customers to stakeholders. Crypto facilitates young people earning money from their online activity,” says Michael.

On Fonbnk, different agents enable these transactions to be made similar to M-Pesa agents. These agents are referred to as verified market makers. Simply put, a Fonbnk verified market maker is a digital micro-entrepreneur, similar to mobile money agents and airtime dealers, facilitating the exchange of prepaid airtime into a stable dollar-backed currency called MIN currently traded by nearly 100,000 users across Sub Saharan Africa. 100 MIN=$1 USD.

The amazing thing about Fonbnk, unlike other platforms, is that you don’t have to possess a lot of information about cryptocurrency. You can also do it as a side gig, and it doesn’t require much to get started.

Michael and fellow Founder of Fonbnk Chris Duffus want to help young people earn money easily without going through the hustle of a bank.

“Blockchain technology has democratized money in such a way that Fonbnk is now helping young people access blockchain through airtime and converting it to US dollars. Originally, this should have been happening in a bank. But Fonbnk has created business models that enable other people to participate in this value exchange,” says Michael.

 

Conclusion: It’s about leaving a mark

The reason why Michael has embraced crypto so well is that it resonates with his maverick nature. “I was drawn into crypto because it was very radical. Naturally, I'm anti-establishment and I challenge the status quo. Crypto married very well into my philosophy because it’s intellectually established. I saw a big opportunity in crypto for myself,” reveals Michael who is also the Head of Growth, Africa at Fonbnk.

Michael says that he took at least a year to understand the world of Crypto and Web3. “I spent a lot of time with crypto communities online with Americans, Europeans, Asians to learn about this thing because I needed to convince myself. Later on, I grew in my knowledge, applied my knowledge to gain work experience and my conviction waxed stronger. I became a crypto preacher,” he jokes.

He firmly believes that people don’t buy the product you sell but they buy into your conviction and your why. He’s excited about the 100,000 users that Fonbnk has and the 10,000 new users they add each week.

He is confident that Fonbnk shall have attained unicorn status (start-up worth $1 billion) by 2024. He has the strong belief and conviction that the Fonbnk will be the app of choice for getting paid and cashing out.

“My major drive in life is that I don’t want to just pass through the earth. I want to leave an indelible mark.”

 

Psst! Fonbnk is hiring. Click here to view their jobs.

Written by

Wahome Ngatia

Peter Wahome Ngatia is an all rounded Marketing Specialist who deals in Graphic Design, Social Media, SEO and Content Writing. My passion is to use my skills and knowledge to help African businesses grow and thrive so that we can create employment for the youth. I also want to churn helpful content that inspires millennials to go hard after their dreams. Mantra: You learn more from failure than success.


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