AgentsCove

Blockchain technologies are primarily aimed at solving coordination problems among multilateral agreements between a network of participants. This is done by ensuring transparency, assurance, and enforcement. 

The less represented individuals may have an opportunity to secure property and funds through foreign help but as an unbanked, they might not be readily accessible. They remain unbanked due to demands from banking institutions like utility bill or nature of their environment.

In addition, there is a fundamental coordination problem amongst Traditional payment processors, gateways, and financial institutions. To transfer funds from one bank to other demands a middleman, slowing down payments and increasing cost. 

The AgentsCove platform intends to introduce blockchain and all its avantages to real estate and property acquisition and payment processing to increase the ease of property security. Hence, reaching the unbanked in our society for social inclusion and generate much needed awareness on blockchain real life usage.

Agentscove aim to tackle the difficulties and high costs involved in securing properties like land for agriculture or shelter homes, alongside the fraudulent activities therein due to lack of information. Going house to house and transporting agents in search for properties is too stressful.

We also aim at using the well known to introduce a lesser known but vital technology. There is a huge lag in the knowledge of blockchain and what it can achieve - the common real life usage. Blockchain, in most cases only sounds theoritical to the common man: those that are not technically inclined. In Nigeria as a whole, for instance, the sound of blockchain still feels Utopic and distanced because we don't have its down-to-earth basic application to understand its essence and ease of implementation/ integration.

In Addition, Worldbank in 2018 revealed that not less than 1.7 billion adults remain unbanked, and these sects are mostly under represented individuals, including peasant farmers. This is either due lack of knowledge, inconvenience or lack of necessary credentials e.g. utility bill. Accessibility of these individuals to foreign help is largely difficult. Traditional systems too are marred with high costs, and low transaction speed incurred by middleman.

We Intend to reach everyone around the world, regardless of language barrier, most especially the under represent sects in each country, starting with Nigeria. Statistics from world bank has revealed that there are billions of unbanked individuals who are still suffering and not ready readily accessible for any form of foreign help. 

Our technology is intended to set these individuals up to the use of blockchain technology through what they are familiar with. By so doing, there will higher social inclusion for them, ease of wealth transfers and equal opportunity for everyone.

The technological platform will provide an ease to property acquisition no matter the buyers location and hence facilitate efficiency and low cost of transactions.

AgentsCove is focused on the ease of property acquisition and is introducing payment processing with the help of blockchain technology to facilitate the end goal. It tends to incorporate property security, crypto payments and crypto to fiat conversion, with the intent to proffer an improved social inclusion and shared prosperity in societies. 

AgentsCove encourages the ease of property security by allowing existing property owners to easily upload their properties on the web platform for lease or sale and on the other hand, prospective buyers access the platform to find suitable properties that are tailored to their locality or town in the country, and with the opportunity to secure the property with any form of payment. No need for prospective property buyers to take the tortuous route of searching property, and subjecting themselves to unnecessary expenses by driving around town alone or with a paid agent. This will bring increased convenience and efficiency, cost is reduced and dangers of fraud and harm curbed almost completely.

Understanding the existing limitations for the under-represented in the society to participate in vital functions in the country, the platform is integrating blockchain technology in the form of crypto currency payment processing and will be setting up Agency system that will carter for those without access to banks, internet, or suitable digital devices like phones for access to the web platform. Prospective agents will undergo a strong KYC system setup by AgentsCove and those successful can help these unbanked or under-represented secure money sent from abroad to secure a property or for any other purpose, and be incentivized through commissions gained from the crypto-fiat conversion in the platform. This will ensure that all citizens can overcome barriers to civic participation and inclusion.

The platform inherently encourages equal and inclusive economic growth across geographies and demographics due to the fact that money can now be transferred in the form of cryptocurrency to any user from anywhere within or outside receivers locality. Property acquisition can be, in this case, a means foreign currency is attracted to another country.

Furthermore, the platform will encourage communities to participate in bringing solution on critical services like property security by being the focal point where property Agents and prospective property buyers convene to exchange values. Funds conveying Agents for AgentsCove will be members of communities which are remote and having access difficulties; and they will be incentivised through commissions.

Integration of blockain technology in AgentsCove platform in the forms of cryptocurrency as alternative means of payment, and Smart Contract for  installment payments depending on customer and agent agreement, will only make property acquisition more borderless, seemless and convenient; added to its innate nature of reaching the unbanked in our society. The platform will allow crypto p2p transactions, acting as a wallet and will be working with LUNO APIs and other relative platforms for crypto to fiat conversion. These will ensure social inclusion of the unreachable and increased opportunity for all.

AgentsCove is utilizing various technologies for its web platform including PHP and Python backends and APIs. For the mobile Application, React Native was used. At the moment, crypto payments are only available in the mobile android application and only KIN SDKs where implemented at the moment. Platform is currently Live, hosted on a linux cloud server for easy management and maintenance.

AgentsCove will be incorporating relevant APIs like from LUNO Wallets and Crypto exchanges to implement an automated crypto-fiat conversions.

In explaining how our work will solve the problems we proposed: blockchain technology applications or value awareness and social inclusion for under represented, it is best to visualize our solution in two ways.

1) A user or customer who only has a cyptocurrency we have integrated, or user who lives abroad and needs an easy mean to secure a property within the countries we operate. They send these funds to their AgentsCove Wallet, makes the payment and convert the fund to Agents preferred currency and delivers to Agents local bank account or Crypto wallet. The Agent in his/her part will provide the buyer with the necessary property documents and proof of ownership.

2) User as an unbanked or under represented, has family abroad or an NGO that need to send fund for property acquisition or just to provide funding to the user. AgentsCove processes the payment from fiat to crypto and fund the unbanked user's account in the platform, and when needed, the user initiates withdrawal request which is provided in Cash to the user via one of our agents if necessary.

The platform is two months old and already serving more than 500 unique visitor, ~5 visitors daily. It is still young and no marketing campaign has been initiated except sms broadcast to known Agents in Nigeria. We believe that we will be garnering more interest with our new payment option which is being tested on our mobile application. By the end of the year, we looking to reaching at least 100,000 - 500,000 Nigerians. In 5 year, we look forward to positively affecting at least 5 Million - 10 Million lives all over the globe.

By next year, AgentsCove should have fully integrated 3 or more alternate payment methods and fiat conversion at least in Nigerian Naira so that those agents interested in being paid in fiats alone gets what they want regardless the payment method the customer uses. We look into expanding to other English speaking countries like Ghana, Australia and any other country in North America and Europe that favours cryptocurrency by next year.

In the next 5 years, AgentsCove should have integrated a smart contract system in the platform for use by customers and agents who would prefer payments to be made on installments. In addition more alternative payment methods in cryptocurrency should have been implement. We also believe that in 5 years time, we will should have expanded into all parts of the continent, rendering our full service to at least a country in each continent regardless of the language spoken there. More Specifically we are looking at Spanish and French speaking countries. We also look forward to adding at least 7 language translation of AgentsCove platform for people who wish to use at least the basic services from AgentsCove.

At the moment AgentsCove will be needing funding to recruit experts in security, technical and legal fronts and to carry out much needed marketing campaign. Most importantly, AgentsCove is in need of necessary International networks of experts and companies who are into a similar service for advice.

To address our two major barriers: funding and International networks, AgentCove believes that succeeding in the solve grant will go a long way in addressing the funding aspect. By wining solve grants, we are also availed the opportunity of securing the much needed international network being part of solve hence addressing the second problem.

1 full time staff

2 contract staffs

We are a team with minimum of 4 years in web and mobile application development. Two of the contractors are currently at Tenece a very big software company in Nigeria with branches in major of Nigerian States. The full time developer works with KierianTech, another software  company in Nigeria as a Senior Developer since 2017. We are well vast in many programing languages and skills.

AgentsCove looks to attract property owners or agents and linking them to prospective property buyers around the globe. Revenue can then be gained with sponsored ad placed by property owners or commissions from crypto payments processed to other cryto currencies or fiat.

AgentsCove needs traffic, increased and continuous usage to provide its value, hence the bulk of the work relies on generating awareness and having a good user interface. To achieve these, we will:

• Create Awareness: We will have an incentivized referral system where users gains points from their referrals, uploads, sharing and liking social media handles of the platform. Top 100 participants will be selected for cash rewards, and the top 20 having higher rewards. 100 Million KIN (a reward availed to us from KIN Company for integrating KIN) will be shared amongst all participants.
• Keep Visitors: Promotion will continue, repeated every 2-3 months and the primary focus being on those that upload properties to the platform. User Interface for the platform will continually be improved.

To measure the impact of our approach, we record the number of unique visitors to the platform and their nationality. We also access the rate at which old visitors access the platform online.

Profits gained from the platform will be invested in facilities that will help us expand our business to other countries/nationalities and to hire experts that will help the company grow.

AgentsCove works as a market linkage enterprise by facilitating trade relationships between property owners and prospective property buyers. 

Funds will be gained from Ads placement by property agents to prioritize their properties to be easily seen by visitors. Hence, AgentsCove relies on its popularity to become self sustained. The more the platform is known and used by people, the more property owners use the platform also. This will ensure the willingness of property agents/owners to place a sponsored Ad when the time comes. We can take maximum of 5 different posts per property categories at ~$100 per week.

Another fund source will be commissions from crypto-payment processing. 

We will remain open to other sources of funding like equity and grants throughout the lifetime of the project.

AgentsCove has two barriers: Funding and International Network, and the solution completely lies in succeeding in the Solve grant program. Solve grant will provide the needed funding and succeeding will ultimately provide Agentscove with network to special International partners that can help us advance our work and reach for the heavens.

Community-Driven  Innovation is concerned with how citizens and communities create and improve social inclusion and shared prosperity.

Agentscove effectively fills up this gap in its plan to p2p transfer of value with the help of blockchain technology. This system has now been put in place and tested on our mobile application. It provides the needed and more efficient means to support the under represented and unbanked in the society. No more are they inaccessible and cut-off due to absence in using traditional banking systems. Now anybody can secure funds for their services or in the forms of gift without necessarily having a traditional bank account. Ultimately ensuring equal opportunity for all and a shared prosperity.

Hence, securing this fund will help us in recruiting more developers and necessary staffs and focus more on delivering in the shortest time possible and ensuring process maintenance.

AgentsCove Platform is open to all and doesn't have any gender restrictions. It is especially important in areas or countries that segregate women from basic social privileges due to religion or believes and denying them access to socioeconomic privileges. With the AgentsCove platform, women are open to equal opportunities like equity, easy funding, easy and equal distribution of properties and higher social inclusion.

This funding will help us in securing facilities and experts in security and technical areas of the platform, helping us deliver in the shortest time possible, and having a strong global reach.

AgentsCove will help easily integrate users into use of blockchain and due to the power of blockchain, people from war turn communities or countries can transfer their money to the platform and re-convert to fiat currencies of the country in which they seek refuge inside. In addition, Families and NGOs can also transfer money to the refugees with the help of the platform facilities; helping the refugees resettle in the countries they seek refuge till everything turn for the better.

This funding will help us in securing facilities and experts in security and technical areas of the platform, helping us deliver in the shortest time possible, and having a strong global reach.

Community-Driven Innovation is concerned with how citizens and communities create and improve social inclusion and shared prosperity.

Agentscove effectively fills up this gap in its plan to p2p transfer of value with the help of blockchain technology. This system has now been put in place and tested on our mobile application. It provides the needed and more efficient means to support the under represented and unbanked in the society. No more are they inaccessible and cut-off due to absence in using traditional banking systems. Now anybody can secure funds for their services or in the forms of gift without necessarily having a traditional bank account. Ultimately ensuring equal opportunity for all and a shared prosperity.

Hence, securing this fund will help us in recruiting more developers and necessary staffs and focus more on delivering in the shortest time possible and ensuring process maintenance.

Poverty and Crimes are positively correlated. Research has shown that those living in communities with big disparities in wealth experience high levels of relative deprivation, creating an environment rife with anger, frustration, resentment and hostility (1). When a community finds it is difficult to achieve socioeconomic success, things quickly deteriorate, leading to higher rates of crime and violence (2), including gun violence.

An instance is a case of Militants from Niger-Delter in Nigeria. It initially started from protest on uncontrolled destruction of their agricultural land by the oil companies and wealthy individual in the state. Not having much say, connections or enough wealth to file a lawsuit against these people, plus government turning a deaf ear, they turn to gun violence.

The introduction of blockchain payment processing in AgentsCove alongside rural money transfer Agents will help narrow this gap between the wealthy and the poor in a society by opening up access to equity, easy funding, easy and equal distribution of properties and higher social inclusion.

This funding will help us in securing facilities and experts in security and technical areas of the platform, helping us deliver in the shortest time possible, and having a strong global reach.

References:

1. Merton R.K. (1968). Social theory and Social Structure. New York, NY: Free Press.
2. Dollard J, Miller NE, Doob LW, Mowrer OH, Sears R.R. (1939). Frustration and Aggression. New Haven, NJ: Yale University Press.