Deborah Ojengbede - Afrikan Heroes

Nigerian Crypto Startup, AFEN Group Raise $1million in Token Sales Round

April 23, 2021

Nigeria’s first government backed NFT initiative, AFEN Group, which recently held one of the quickest public sales in the cryptocurrency space has raised over a million dollars in a token sales round. AFEN Group which was launched by Deborah Ojengbede, a 27-year old former banker, has become a leading hub for African blockchain-related collaborations with a focus on decentralized finance, arts, real estate, and education.

Since cryptocurrency and blockchain- the technology driving it- continue to garner more attention than ever before, it’s not out of place to see African women playing a dominant role in the sector, further demystifying blockchain and its impact on education, healthcare and trading, just to mention a few.

For Deborah, formerly a business analyst at Union Bank, her experiences coupled with a desire to explore the world of crypto enabled her to build an enterprise that would provide revolutionary services to its clients. Under Deborah’s leadership, AFEN aims to combine blockchain’s immutable data structure and the support of government bodies to legitimately offer products to its clients.

The Nigerian-based startup is on a mission to educate and expose more people to crypto and support careers in Blockchain technology. To achieve this, the company hopes to enroll newbies and startups to take up training on areas they are interested in.

It’s also set on a path to revolutionize the real estate industry by authenticating homeownership and making peer-to-peer property sales possible on the Blockchain, reducing the overall cost of acquiring property and making it easier to bequeath land after death. According to its roadmap, AFEN Group plans to launch a product beta testing later in May as well as roll out its first batches of NFT sales in the same month.

Kelechi Deca

Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry

Nigerian Female Ex-Banker Defies Central Bank Stance To Raise $1m For Her Crypto Startup

The Central Bank of Nigeria recently blocked banks in Nigeria from hosting crypto-currency trading accounts, but that has not deterred Deborah Ojengbede, a former banker, from raising $1m for her startup AFEN Group. The fund was raised through the non-fungible token (NFT). The 27-year-old CEO resigned from her position as a business analyst at a major Nigerian bank, where she had spent the previous five years.

27-year-old female ex-banker raises 1 million dollars for her tech startup — *Deborah Ojengbede is the CEO of AFEN Group*

Following that, Deborah began pursuing her crypto aspirations, giving birth to AFEN, the groundbreaking platform for the digitization of African arts, real estate, and education. AFEN intends to use blockchain technologies, specifically the Binance smart chain network, to provide a solution to the problems limiting the Industrial African trio. For more details on AFEN’s site to get acquainted with the new crypto revolution.

What Are Non-fungible Tokens And How Do They Work?

Essentially, this is the most recent craze in the cryptocurrency world, and it has exploded in recent months. If something is fungible, it can be exchanged for another good or asset; if something is non-fungible, it cannot. Plane tickets are examples of non-fungible assets in the real world. Although two plane tickets may appear identical, they will each have a different destination, seat number, and airline class, preventing them from being swapped like for like.

Christie’s held the first auction of a piece of art that does not exist in physical form in March.

It was created by digital artist Beeple and sold for $69.3 million (£50.3 million). Earlier this week, Sotheby’s sold a collection of NFTs by digital artist Pak for a total of $16.8 million (£12.2 million), including an image of a single pixel for $1.36 million (£987,000).

“From the creative industry perspective, we believe this is a great opportunity for artists and IPR owners to monetise their existing assets via a new revenue stream. The myth of the starving artist needs to be rewritten. Every creator, artist, influencer has the right to showcase their IP with dignity and on a credible platform with legitimate buyers,” Vishakha Singh, Adviser, NFT Marketplace said.

Nigerian female crypto startup Nigerian female crypto startup

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Charles Rapulu Udoh

Charles Rapulu Udoh is a Lagos-based lawyer who has advised startups across Africa on issues such as startup funding (Venture Capital, Debt financing, private equity, angel investing etc), taxation, strategies, etc. He also has special focus on the protection of business or brands’ intellectual property rights ( such as trademark, patent or design) across Africa and other foreign jurisdictions.
He is well versed on issues of ESG (sustainability), media and entertainment law, corporate finance and governance.
He is also an award-winning writer