Akon Interview - Africa Needs Crypto Right Now! Do

called Acoin and his blockchain fueled city that he is building in Senegal. Acon, welcome to the show. No, thanks for having me, man. Thanks for coming on. I've been tracking your Acoin project for quite a while now, so it's really exciting to actually have the chance to sit down and speak of the river hearing about it last year at some point. I just thought, wow, that's

cool. That's a cool idea. Well, he's got bringing forward here. But before we dive into Acoin and what's going on with that, I want to talk a little bit about some of your work with your philanthropic history. So you've done lighting Africa with solar energy. So you just speak a little bit on what that was and why you decided to spend your energy doing this. Yeah,

so the Acoin lighting Africa project was an initiative where we went into the rural areas of certain parts of Africa, it just gave light to the village is not there. We realized just how much like was there? It was the energy poverty in Africa was just tremendous, you know, like 80% of the continent was black at night. And we wanted to be a do something about

it, but it all stems from me doing a concert. And then the energy went out in the middle of the concert. So it kind of fueled me to say, okay, now something has to be done. But ultimately that started from that. And it eventually turned into a for profit business because of the need being so vast. And now we're not only on Africa doing philanthropic and

for for profit. Energy, material business there, but we're also branched in America as well too. Wow, wow, that's really, really cool. It's an interesting catalyst at a concert like we have an energy problem around here guys. We got a serious conversation about that. And now that's not the only thing you've been up to. You've also been doing a charity for underprivileged children called confidence foundations. You

talk a little bit about that as well. So the confidence foundation is actually ran by my mom. She's like the head one in charge when it comes to that. And that one, what we do, we're going to African areas and villages. We're at same areas when we're doing the lights. And we find the school there. And we remodel the schools, make it a lot more comfortable

for the kids to be able to come and learn, do basic things there. And of course we get a whole new makeover, air conditioning, desks, furniture, you know, we give them school supplies. We give them the the flat screen TVs with the Microsoft, you know, components added to it to where they can do video chat from a university in the United States. At the same time,

given the same course somewhere in the village in Africa. So we created a huge education of infrastructure in the form. And we're also give give out scholarships as well too for the course the highest, you know, scoring students to be able to go abroad for education or even fly students from America to be able to explore over in Africa as well. That's that's amazing. That's absolutely

amazing work. Now I wanted to bring this these these examples up because I really want people to understand that, you know, what you're doing with a coin. This is not just some, I'm going to do a cryptocurrency thing. Like you've actually been doing really amazing on the groundwork, you know, changing people's lives, which is just absolutely amazing stuff. I just want to ask you before we

dive in a little bit more to a coin. What what does the idea of being a social entrepreneur actually mean to you? Well, actually me, my definition of social entrepreneurship is pretty much, I mean, obviously anything entrepreneur you're going to make money. Like the whole idea is to make money because you are a businessman. But my difference is that I don't like to get into business

that don't make an impact or that doesn't help to uplift the empower people in the process of making good money. You want to be able to empower people and also put them in a position where they can go a day, make good money and be able to feed their families and process. Nice. Nice. I love it. It's so much more than just sale. I'm just going

to throw some money at some problems somewhere. It's actually empowering people saying, hey, we're not creative business. You can be part of this business too. I think it has such a greater impact. Now let's talk about a coin a little bit. So can you just give me the basic idea here for anyone who hasn't really heard about a coin. I've talked about it a few times

here on the channel. What is a coin? Well, a coin is pretty much, you could say, it's an alternative to a stable currency and up and coming, I think it's a third world country. You're not going to have a stable currency or a trusted currency for that matter. But Africa in particular, because the continent is so big and it's really, it's filled with, like 80% almost

of the population is under 21. And they're all tech, you know, and scooping tech savvy and very, you could say, for going to the latest technologies when it comes to money transaction and things and that nature. But ultimately we're living within currency that aren't really trusted aren't really stable. And there's a lot of corruption going on through African governments. And we felt like having our own

currency that we can trust, that's going to be stable. And that's running through a blockchain system that gives you that security that can, to lease the currency altogether, will definitely give the tool for the continent to be able to develop in the right way without it being, of course, to extort it in a way. You know what I mean? Yeah. It's Africa is such an interesting

place for crypto currencies because there's more than 50 different countries on the continent. There's two dozen or so. Different fiat currencies, there's a couple bigger ones, but there's all these different fiat currencies. Some of the fiat currencies across the continent have had spectacular failures. But it's in Bobway and currencies, a great example of a currency that just people could not trust it. Just totally just erase

people's life savings. Right. And so the idea of a trans border stable coin. It's very, very interesting and powerful for the continent. Right. And you want to be able to utilize that currency and you leave the continent. You know, I think one of the major turning points that made me say, okay, this has to happen when I took the African friend, which is a CFP. I

went to France and I was trying to get a transfer over into euros. And they said, unfortunately, we can't. I said, why not? I said, well, it's not worth nothing. Well, French made this money for the community. I'm not working. I want to even trade it in France. You know, the main stuff is like, yeah, we've got to create a new one. And that's when crypto

came on board. And I was like, oh, this is the future right here. And so the eight coin, I guess it's going to be what kind of a stable coin is there any particular currency you're paying at? Who's going to be to euros or to dollars or is it going to have its own kind of free floating value within, you know, the local context? Yes. This

is all free floating value, right? It's all local context. And I think the people who create the value more so than anything because we're not attached is calling to everything that people need on a day to day basis and realize it. Because one thing I realize is the stable. The currency is so unstable. Basically, you know, free currencies throughout Africa, so unstable now when people are

using basic cell phone credits in minutes to be able to trade within the market, you know, they're not even using money anymore. They're using their cell phone minutes to do it, you know, and even within the a coin system, we've created what you call the atomic swap that allowed you to take those cell phone minutes and then turn it into currency. So we've kind of found

out ways to where we can incorporate this currency all throughout the basic, everything larger than people there. That's that's crazy. People are using minutes like currency. I mean, that just that tells you everything you know about how important it is to actually see cryptocurrency coming in in this local context. Now the project that we were just talking about the the swapping of minutes for for money.

That's actually with your new partner bit minutes, right? Well, right. Absolutely. So bit minutes, of course, as you know, they're changing Africa. They've been around for a long time. They're little mean to they're they're connected to billions of phones in Africa. So, you know, the connection with their infrastructure and database along with our technology and our knowledge of what the people need and what could be

valuable to them. I think it makes a great partner for us. Nice. So we're really talking about something that's going to be available for the whole continent. I know that the we're going to get to the city in a couple minutes here, but I know the cities being specifically built in in Senegal, but that you know the a coin project you got this really continental view

for it. Right. So the a coin plot is is continental. Obviously Africa was the best place that we've felt we should cater it towards because if it can survive in Africa, what all the challenges there to survive anywhere in the world, but it also be a great, you can say a product for all the other developing countries as well, you know, but more so anything when

it come to the city itself, Senegal was used because Senegal is the perfect destination for tours, places never been conflicted or ever had any kind of issues and has been stable forever, no conflicts whatsoever. But then it's only six and a half hours from any place in the world where there's Dubai, the UK, France, the United States, Morocco, South Africa, like as a direct, you know,

connecting hub, but we also felt that it could be the perfect, you can say, um, we're going to be running on top of Stellar. So why did you do so many blockchains out there? Right. If you're in the US, all these guys, why did you choose Stellar over the others? Well, Stellar had a lot of great initiative that aligned with ours. You know, Africa was definitely

one of their initiatives to be a, you know, be able to fully engulfed and entertain with the net system there, but we had a lot of the same ideas. We literally was moving along the same lines of what we wanted for a coin and what they were trying to do in the continent. And like, sync immediately, like, you know, he clearly gets it and I feel

like he would be the right partner for us. Nice. Yeah. He's, he's an OG in the space without a doubt, he's been involved in crypto for a very, very long time. And I think Stellar has got a lot of interest from the community, for some of the different projects that they've been launching around the world. And obviously this is, this is a whole next step right

to see a, a currency like this coming, you know, to Africa. So very exciting. Yeah, man. I want to talk on a little bit. What other projects you actually see working with Acoin? I mean, the bit minutes announcement, I think that was very exciting, because this is such a, a big provider of mobile services across Africa. But what other partners are you looking for? What are

the projects do you see, you know, working with Acoin? Well, you know, we're just partnering up with the world food bank. And as you know, there's one of the biggest, you know, agriculture distributors off the walk of the world. And we felt that food obviously is one of the biggest outside of water that we need to basically survive. And with Acoin, we want to attach ourselves

to things that people need and are in necessity every single day. You know, of course, obviously food, agriculture, you know, development and infrastructure, education, you know, healthcare, you know, things that people just need every single day. And of course, once you're basic vitalized, you know, your world is, it's, it's, it's moving naturally. Then of course, all the other things that entertain you and things that all

the accessories that come with life would be attaching ourselves to, but we want to just be able to make sure that people can live a comfortable life. So we want to attach things that actually allow you to live a good life. Cool. Cool. Definitely. Yeah. To see it really just become a currency of use, right? I think that's probably one of the far visions is actually

just get people using it. And they're going to figure out what to use it with. That's it. That's it. Now I want to talk a little bit more about, you know, Acon City. If you will. So you mentioned a little bit about why you're choosing to build it in Senegal. But what is the vision of this city? May describe for me what you see this city

actually, you know, being. Right. I mean, it's, it's to me, it's the futuristic city of the world. Because if you look at all the major cities around the world, you know, I mean, you can go everywhere from Dubai, you can go to Malaysia, all these places where everything is pretty much built out. They're all being built from resources and minerals. And products coming out of Africa.

And I know for sure that Africa has the capabilities to build a city that really can be accepted and integrate with all the latest technologies built because it was, it was African resource that was used to build it. So I felt it wouldn't be right to build a city without building it to a most futuristic potential, especially when we have all the resources that can allow

it to happen. And we can cut costs in so many ways as well too. But ultimately it gives the people some pride to look forward to and look at African and different. Like because right now, Africa so always looked at as the historical side of Africa needs mentioning slavery and jungles and things in this nation with Africa so much more beyond that. That's so basically like

the Dubai of Africa is what we're talking about here. This you know, shining city coming up out of out of kind of nothing, right? So that's really exciting. Exactly. That's cool. That's just, you know, the, the, the vision in the, I think the willpower to actually get something like this done is just incredible. I think it just goes back to speak to your overall career of

achievement where, you know, you've gone and just reached the absolute heights of, you know, your music career. And now, you know, you're able to do these amazing things with, you know, the influence and, you know, the willpower and entrepreneurship skills you've gained over time with that. So it's, it's definitely an amazing idea. And now, I want to understand how is a coin, I guess going to

play a role in this futuristic city. Well, I mean, my goal is for that, a coin. It's kind of the epicenter of where it's going to start at and then moves out from there. Nice. I like it. Right. It's kind of the epicenter of where it's going to start at and then moves out from there. Nice. I like it. Right. It's a great idea. But if

you're going to give you a great sense of, you know, the use of it, the power of it, and what, and how much it actually could be beneficial in every day. And now, what's the, what's the progress of the city? Now, how long before I can hop on a plane and come and, you know, hang out at a, acon city and, you know, you spend some

acoin there. Oh, yeah. Well, that'd be a few years. I said, by next two, three years, you should be able to do that. Because we're being staged to by then, by a child who can be stage one, you're definitely going to be able to do that. And then, you know, you're going to be able to come live. You enjoy entertaining yourself in the city. But right

now, we're at, wow, very early stages. We're just acquired the land. We have the technicians there now doing all the feasibility studies. And we're currently completing the master plan of the overall city and how it's going to look and feel once it's complete. But in a few months, towards maybe the end of April, I should have actually the full comp of what the city's going to

fully look like. We have a DVD rendering or in this case, a streaming rendering that we're going to post on YouTube. So you're going to be able to do that. And see it in real time as to how it's going to look when it's finished. Wow. Wow. That's a lot of different skills are coming in to play here. I can only imagine what it takes to

actually, you know, bring together the resources and the people to build a new city just out of scratch, right? Because the land that you got, this is just basically, you know, bank it land that's the president of Senegal said, yep, take that. Use that build build your future city there. Yes, it's straight land. You know, bottom pay for the government is actually sponsoring their services to

make sure the regulation is all there. Make sure we go about all the right, you know, proper, you know, of course, diligence to make sure that everything is done properly within it. And then there'll be there also to help with the basic infrastructure, you know, to make sure that the roads are built within the city itself and things like that. Nice. That's very, very exciting. Now,

what's next for a coin? I know we've got different partners and things you're working with. And obviously the city is a few years out. So, before people can actually start to come and visit it, but what's next for a coin? Where's the going from here? Well, from here, we're launching. You know, white paper just, you know, we're delivering that today. So I'm super, super excited. So

people can really get an idea of what this coin is. What it represents. We'll plan for it to be in a force towards the mid-April. I'll be, you know, doing some very intricate announcements and exclusive announcements and celebrations towards a coin being launched. And eventually, you know, I feel that we announced very smooth files. So I'm super excited about that. That's awesome. That's awesome. Definitely. Definitely.

I'll put the links down below in the in the comment section there in the description for everyone to go and find out more information about a coin. Of course, if you want to read the white paper and stuff and, you know, engage a bit more with actually what they're doing and kind of vision behind to definitely go check that out. But I want to just as

a final question here for you today. You know, you're just you're this amazing entrepreneur who you've done so much and you know, you've reached the heights of music career and done this amazing philanthropic work and stuff like this. So what will be your advice for young entrepreneurs out there who who want to have an impact in the world? I think the impact comes with this starts

with you. You know, you got to first want to see better for other people. You know, I think sometimes we live in a world where we think about ourselves a lot more than we think about others. Not realizing when everything around me was comfortable. It automatically put comfort on yourself. And I thought, you know, if you can just be in a position where every move that

you make empowers or make someone else's life better, it only creates a better and more vibrant yourself. You know, I think it's a it's a way of being selfish, but the opposite version help others and that right there is going to help you no matter where you go. Because I'm in a position now where I feel like helping others allow me to be able to go

anywhere in the world and be treated like a king and all that. But everything I ever wanted. It always came from people that I helped in the past. So it also it always found this way to come back to me. You know, ultimately when you just focus on yourself, you know, when you're in that position, when you're down and out, no one cares because you only

cared about yourself. But I think when you helped empower others and you will never ever fall because the people that you're empowering will always be there to support you. You know, there you go. Guys, that's that's some good life knowledge right there. Acon, thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule. Sit down, talk a little bit about a coin with us.

It's a very exciting project. Again, for everyone out there in the audience, there's more info down below in the descriptions of the Acon. Thank you so much. Wow, thank you, man. I appreciate you, buddy. Thank you.