Grant Proposal: TheGraph_Nigeria

Community Grant Applications
#1

Grant ID: 8669f9bg8

Summary:

TheGraph_Nigeria is a community full of enthusiastic members who are ready to spread the awareness of TheGraph protocol, it’s used case and the network participation, using a generally understandable language (African Pidgin) and the official language (English language) on different social platforms and through campus in-person events.

I have read and agree to the privacy policy:
true

If available, please enter a link to your project below:
Telegram-Telegram: Contact @TheGraph_Nigeria

Are you applying as a team or individual?:
Team

What type of grant are you pursuing?:
Long-term (continuous)

Please select the category your project best fits into:
Regional Community

Please select who you think will benefit from your project?:
Curators, Delegators, Indexers, Subgraph Developers

How much funding are you looking for? (USD):
6000

Provide a breakdown of your requested funding:
Marketing-$3000
Online and in-person events-$2000
Content creation and community management-1000.

Have you applied for (or already received) funding from somewhere else?:
No

If yes, please describe where you’ve received funding from and how much you have, or will, receive:
N/A

What’s your vision for how your project will impact The Graph and/or web3?:
To have a large number of developers, indexers, curators, delegator’s, etc from the Nigerian region, and to continuously grow the Graph protocol community through university events.

What can you share about any past work that is relevant to this grant?:

https://twitter.com/Graph_Nigeria?t=HcoC631qBlAEmyUCkaz7aw&s=09

Can you share any information about current/past web3 experience?:
I have been actively contributing as an advocate since November 2022, taking the role of an event evangelist, content creator, community care and web3 welcomer.
I have hosted events including advocates role chat and community talk/AMA (TheGraph_Nigeria). I have also created contents and assisted community members in our discord server in several ways.
I am currently a member of GRTdataHub community.
I have worked as a community lead in Map Protocol and an ambassador at Apillon.

Why are you interested in contributing to The Graph and/or web3?:
I have always had the desire to participate in building this great ecosystem, onboard new members, educate people about The use case of The Graph Protocol, enlighten people about the network participation and expand the community in Nigerian region.




Primary Community Poll

Do you fundamentally support this grant application, knowing that the final scope and grant amount may differ from the requested proposal?
  • Yes
  • No

0 voters




Grant Committee Vote

Do you recommend this grant to the DAO?
  • Yes
  • No

0 voters

3 Likes
#2

I have seen first hand, the great work being carried out within the Nigeria Telegram group chat and on Twitter. I have been able to attend their community talk, the ambition and community drive really shines through the admins. The GRTDataHub community is a fine group of admins from across a multitude of communities, however, even though Abas Ben is one of the newest members. He is also one of the advocates that stands out as being someone who strives to make him community better and continues to spread the awareness of news, events and he is an asset to the graph ecosystem. Being an English speaking community, it would be great to see him co-hosting other community chats along with Chidubem. I personally think it would be great to see other communities having monthly virtual meet ups outside of the graph advocates. This is a way of them potentially onboarding new advocates within the community and helping out with members who have questions about Delegation, Curation etc the ecosystem as a whole.

I will let the GraphAdvodatesDAO members question about the finances and a breakdown of the expense etc. I just though I would provide some additional support for an advocate who is doing great stuff within their community, as seen from an “outsider”.

7 Likes
#3

Greetings!

Thank you for taking the time to apply to us and for what you do for The Graph. In the process of reading and reviewing the materials, I had a few questions:

  1. How do you plan to realize the goals you have set in terms of recruiting new people to the ecosystem?
  2. For how long do you plan to engage and work with this grant?
  3. I’d love to hear a more detailed breakdown of the budget, let’s say $3,000 for marketing. What does that include and etc.?
  4. You mentioned universities, can you elaborate on that? Where and in what format (online, offline) and things like that?

Thank you!!! And good luck!

9 Likes
#4

I agreed on what @GRTDataHub said ! Abas Ben has been a productive advocate from the start ,attending meetings and participating and interacting in the community on discord.

And already he’s doing a great work in handling the Nigerian community on telegram but a sad thing for me i missed their channel’s first community call that was hosted by Ben few days back :sleepy: , but still more to come :raised_hands:t2:

3 Likes
#5

Hey @TheGraph_Nigeria,

Thank you for your application!

I would like to ask a few questions:

  1. Will you be working alone or with a team?

  2. How many online and in-person events will you host?

3 Likes
#6

I really appreciate you @GRTDataHub, for taking time to review this application.
Thanks for your recommendation.

2 Likes
#7

Hi @doxe01.eth, first of all I really appreciate the fact that you brought up this question. I believe the answers will give my proposal a clearer view.

Please permit me to present the answers to your question in form of a roadmap, and then I will explain each plan of action in details.

I will begin with your second question.

I am proud to say that this project has already been engaged since November 2022, the community size has grown from 0 to 124 members, and there is no plan to stop building and managing my regional community (TheGraph_Nigeria).

My first plan of action which will commence immediately when the project is funded will be Media House presentation. This will be carried out in two sections.

  1. Nationwide TV station (African Independent Television (AIT)), where I will be given some time to talk about The Graph protocol, Its use case, The Graph Network participants and the need for Nigerians to have a place in this wonderful world of web three.

  2. Nationwide radio station (Wazobia FM), this radio station is included because some Nigerians prefer the use of radio, which is more portable, and is even built in mobile phones. Here, I will also have a presentation about the Graph Protocol, It’s use case, the Graph network participants and the graph advocates program. During this media house presentation, I will also talk about the upcoming campus events that I will be hosting in my university.

My second plan of action will be partnership with Nigerian based tech YouTubers and influencers with the most Nigerian based audience. These YouTubers will create quality videos and talk expansively about the Graph Protocol, using a generally understood Nigerian language (African pidgin).

My next plan of action will be to have an interview session with a well known Nigerian social media influencer. Where I will talk about the graph protocol on his most followed social media handle. This interview will be repeatedly posted on the Influencer’s page for a certain period of time.

As we all know, the importace of influencer marketing in crypto community building can never be overemphasized. These influencer marketing strategy and the Media house presentation will greatly drive the awareness and growth of The Graph Nigeria and The graph protocol as a whole.

The above plans of action are for the marketing section of my proposal.

The University event will take place in my school (Akwa Ibom state University), where I am the financial secretary in the Faculty of Engineering and have held other key offices in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. This event will be will be mainly offline event.

My plans of action for the event are:

  1. I will organize a Google developers club in the university for tech. students, here students will be tested on their experience and expertise in some programming languages, including Rust. Two students who have the best result from the test will be sponsored to take an Advanced Rust Programming learning, indexing and curating. After their training, they will be in charge of training other students who may want to join the tech. aspect of The Graph network participants.

  2. I will organize a social club for the non-tech student. Here, all the students of the institution and students from other institutions will be taught about the The Graph protocol, its use case network participants and how to participate. Prices (swag) will be given to students who are able to answer 10 questions correctly after the ama session. This session will be hosted during the day as a pre-requisite to the night session. The night session will be a talent hunt night, where students will have the chance to showcase their talents. This will come in three categories.

  3. A Rap contest: contestants will be given opportunity to give a free-style rap about The Graph Protocol and all they know about it. The winner will be selected for a cash prize.

  4. Memes, infographics and gifs contest: This set of contestants will be told to make their designs about The Graph protocol before the event. These designs will be posted on their social channels including Twitter, with a unique hash tag (tagging TheGraph_Nigeria and The Graph protocol). On the event night, contestants will display their design on screen for everyone to see. contestant with the higest number of likes will be selected for a cash prize.

  5. Comedy contest: Contestants in this category will have a chance to present their comedy, the winner will be selected for a cash prize.

Students from the four major ethnic groups in Nigeria will be paid to translate selected articles from the Graph academy into different languages In Nigeria (Ibibio, Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa), and one student to translate into the generally spoken and understood Nigerian language (African Pidgin). This translations will be posted on Nigerian social midea platforms.
All these plans will be achieved by the end of the last quarter of 2023.

Now here is the cost breakdown for the project.

  • Cost of 30mins time slot for Television presentation --$500

  • Cost of 30mins time slot for radio presentation --$300

  • Partnership with two Nigerian based YouTubers --$800

  • Cost of 60mins slot for interview with a Nigerian based social media influencer --$1200

  • Transport fare to different states where these stations are located --$200

  • Advanced Rust training program --$800

  • Lights and sound --$50

  • Talent hunt winners --$600

  • Refreshment --$250

  • Flyers and swag --$300

  • Translators --$500

  • Event cordinators --$500

  • Total cost --$6000

4 Likes
#8

Thanks @asadus16 for taking time to review and thanks for your comment.

1 Like
#9

This is a laudable proposal and seeing the contributions you have made these past months, I can only say “yes” to this.

Focusing on Nigerian universities is also commendable because the Nigerian tech ecosystem is being built across universities, towns, and cities. So taking the “gospel of the Graph” to them will help shape the future of the next generation of internet builders.

Best of wishes from me to you and your team.

4 Likes
#10

Hello @Colson, Thanks for reviewing this application, and thanks for your question.

I will be working with a team.

I will have two sessions of presentation live on air, one online interview session and two offline events.

1 Like
#11

Thanks so much @charliecodes for taking time to review this proposal, and thanks for your comment.

#12

Hello Ben, thank you for your application. I like your energy, willingness to always help out, and what you’ve done so far with The Graph_Nigeria community. Regarding your proposal, I’m opposed to several things you listed.

  • Television & Radio presentation, partnership with YouTubers and a social media influencer. Not only do they cover a significant percentage of your budget (50%), I don’t think a high conversion rate i.e more active participants in The Graph ecosystem is possible through these marketing means (I have a background in digital marketing)

However, I would favor events in universities that can onboard more people not just for The Graph_Nigeria but for the wider ecosystem, either as Advocates, Delegators, Curators, Subgraph Developers, etc.

You also mentioned organizing an advanced Rust training program and other technical aspects. Do you or any of your team members have any experience building with Rust or building Subgraphs? I would like to see links if yes. If not, how do you intend to do that?

3 Likes
#13

Hi @Corganize thanks for taking time to read this proposal, and thanks for your question.

Let me start by saying that TV and radio presentation is meant to capture most citizens of the Federation (not limited to university students), including those in the Northern region of the nation. The two media are carefully selected because as we know, they are among the most popular media houses in the country. The reason for their inclusion is because in the case of Wazobia FM, majority of Nigerian youths (including those that are not students) prefer this radio station because it is known as center of entertainment, same as the TV station. I’m fully convinced that it will really capture the minds of listeners, and move them to join the ecosystem. There’ll not only be a session of presentation on the radio station, but a Q&A session will be included, hotline will be open for people to call in and ask whatever questions they may want to ask about the Graph Protocol. There is no how this will not greatly drive the growth of the ecosystem, especially in this era where 98% of Nigerians have 100% believe in crypto.

For the social media and YouTube influencer marketing, it is a surprise for me to hear you say that it will not drive the growth of the ecosystem. I have been in web3 space for a number of years now (even when i was yet to join this ecosystem), i have done some researches, and I know some good projects that have been widely known and have greatly grown as a result of influencer marketing. Personally, I had full understanding of the Graph Protocol, It’s use case and network participants through a YouTube influencer, whose video I still have in my device till date, and it is that understanding that ignited my decision to become a part of this protocol. I will go further to say that this marketing strategy is meant to capture both those who are already in web3 space (including developers), but have very little or no knowledge about the Graph protocol, and also to capture those who are yet to be in the space but are eager to know about this evolving world of web3. So as much as I know, it will significantly drive the growth of the ecosystem.

For your question about my experience in Rust and subgraphing, the answer is “I do not have any experience in the tech aspect of the graph”. The training sponsorship will be as a reward for the two best participants from the Dev club which I will organize in the university. These two best participants will be selected from the test which we will be given to them. For the subgraphing, I plan to organize regular virtual events with TheGrap_Nigeria Dev Club, featuring @pakaliscious (as was already discussed with him) on TheGraph_Nigeria telegram and Discord server. This will be meant to help them get started in subgraphing, and the result will be having more technical advocates.
Thank you.

4 Likes
#14

Thank you for taking out the time to answer my questions. I understand what you mean, but these mediums would require more than one post/broadcast to actually give the kind of coverage or reach you mentioned. I don’t think it’s the most ideal use of resources.

For the advanced Rust training program/training sponsorship, maybe I don’t understand what you’re saying clearly, but if Paka already hosts training for this publicly, wouldn’t it be better if you onboard more people and they all get an equal opportunity to learn instead of doing a test and reducing their numbers?

I think playing to your strengths i.e community management for TheGraph_Nigeria (which I think you’re doing an amazing job) and hosting events in the university would give better outcomes in this instance.

Good luck, and I wish you success!

3 Likes
#15

Thanks for your suggestion!

3 Likes
#16

Hello

I think what Ben is trying to do is create more opportunities to Nigerians to be part of WEB 3 and enjoy the benefits that comes with it

The university is the best place to catch several young talented and hungry individuals who have interest in crypto
The university students are aware of crypto
Several crypto events are hosted in the university and I have hosted close to 9 university events

But the question is
What bout Nigerians in other sector how do we bring them into the system
What bout that young talented boy who sells at the market because there is no money for school but he is willing to learn bout new opportunities and develop some skills

What bout that young taxi driver who have Interest for tech

What bout the farmers

We all know the story of MM crypto a well known crypto influencer he was a taxi driver but now his into crypto

What bout moon carl another Bitcoin influencer he was working in a super market

What Ben And the graph Nigeria team is trying to do is create opportunities to everyone in different sector

The media house is one of the places to capture attention fr different sector

We need to try an approach that has not been use before

Believe me this is a nice idea

In graph Nigeria we don’t want to onboard only student
We want to onboard people from different sector

The university event will cover two aspect
Event to onboard non technical individuals
And event with technical individuals (developers)
We will reach out to several developers group in campus like the Google developers club akwa Ibom state university
Computer science developers society akwa Ibom state university and others

1 Like
#17

Hello again @TheGraph_Nigeria,

I would vote against nationwide TV and Radio presentations with the current costs. I would also vote against working with crypto influencers for the proposed costs.

My main argument for this is the following:

Even if people are onboarded by this broad approach, what value would they bring to the ecosystem? I would think these people would mostly become investors/holders of the GRT token, which is (in my opinion) not the audience we should be targeting.

I would love to see more focused targeting on developers, that could much more easily join the ecosystem in various roles. I therefore think the current number, or more, of university events would be the way to go here.

I do not support the 50/50 split on marketing/events, and I will therefore be voting no the current proposal.

As you know I am a fan of your work and would love to support you, but I do not think this is the right way to spend our budget.

5 Likes
#18

Thanks for your vote @Colson!

2 Likes
#19

Greetings!

The presentation of the project will be in the public-voice-chat channel on the Graph AdvocatesDAO Discord server on February 28 at 18:00 UTC. Entrance is open and everyone is welcome to come in and ask their questions during the presentation!

Thank everyone for your attention!

4 Likes
#20

Thank you for your participation in today’s meeting guys! As I mentioned in the call, I would like to support community building in Nigeria, as I believe that there is great potential in the people there.

Your initiative is ambitious and aims very high, it tries to tackle all the big world’s problems at once, and you should rather start with some groundwork, and slowly but surely include the next society groups to help people with limited access to education in the long run.

The first and the most intuitional choice is to start with students and address your educational content to them and then with help of these students when they’re fully onboarded to web3, try to reach people their age, who are willing to learn but don’t have the resources to do that. You don’t need a big group, you can start with 5 people to check what is their level of knowledge and practical skills, how advanced they are when it comes to computer science in general and what would you need to teach them and how much time you need to level up their skills to be able to introduce web3 to them. Only with that information you would be able to draft a real plan with which you could submit another grant application.

And if you would be successful with that group, they all have friends and families who will spread the word and people’s interests will grow naturally so that you will have more and more people joining your groups. And maybe you won’t need to pay the television to promote your initiative, but eventually, they would be the ones who will ask for an interview with you guys, who knows?

That is one scenario I imagine, and this is how I would plan it, but this is your call.

Disclaimer: I’ve never been to Nigeria, this is all based on my general knowledge about building communities.

For now, I’m voting YES for building community in Nigeria, and I’m voting NO in the Grant Committee pool as the proposal in its current form is not tangible enough and I would like to see a change in your strategy and a clear plan with solid milestones :slightly_smiling_face:

I’m keeping fingers crossed for you! :crossed_fingers: :crossed_fingers:

2 Likes