Blockchain technology was once synonymous solely with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the like. But it has now transcended its initial limitations to reshape various business sectors. Its decentralized and transparent nature holds immense potential for optimizing processes, enhancing security, and fostering trust.

Let’s look at how blockchain is being applied across different industries to bolster productivity and streamline operations and how forward-thinking businesses are harnessing its power.

First, let’s understand Blockchain Technology

At its core, blockchain is a decentralized digital ledger that records transactions in a secure, transparent, and immutable manner—no wonder it was first associated with just cryptocurrencies. Blockchain consists of a chain of interconnected blocks, each containing a set of transactions. Once a block is added, it cannot be altered, thus ensuring data integrity. The technology operates on a network of computers, where each participant validates and maintains the ledger.

What industries can it be applied to?

Supply Chain Management: The complex web of global supply chains often leads to opacity and inefficiencies. Blockchain brings transparency by recording every step of a product’s journey, from raw material to end consumer. This traceability can help detect and rectify bottlenecks, reduce fraud, and ensure authenticity. Walmart, for instance, employs blockchain to trace the origin of food products and enhance food safety.

Financial Services: Blockchain’s impact on finance is profound. It streamlines cross-border payments by eliminating intermediaries and reducing transaction times and costs. This is quite similar to what it was doing in cryptocurrencies already. Smart contracts, self-executing contracts with predefined rules, automate complex processes like loan approvals and trade settlements. Ripple, a blockchain-based payment protocol, aims to revolutionize real-time gross settlement systems.

Healthcare: Data security and interoperability are critical in healthcare. Blockchain allows the secure sharing of medical records among authorized parties, ensuring accuracy and privacy. Additionally, the technology aids in tracking the supply chain of pharmaceuticals, preventing counterfeit drugs from entering the market.

Real Estate: Property transactions are often marred by time-consuming paperwork and intermediaries. Blockchain simplifies the process by securely recording property ownership and transaction history. This can reduce fraud, accelerate title transfers, and enhance overall transparency.

Energy and Utilities: Blockchain transforms energy trading and management. It enables peer-to-peer energy exchanges, where consumers with excess energy can sell to others in need. This decentralized approach cuts costs, optimizes energy consumption, and promotes using renewable sources.

Retail and E-Commerce: Blockchain enhances consumer trust by validating the authenticity of products and tracking their origin. This is particularly crucial for luxury goods and products with complex supply chains. Retail giants like Overstock and Amazon are exploring blockchain applications to enhance customer experience and supply chain transparency.

Digital Identity: Traditional identity systems are vulnerable to breaches and misuse. Blockchain provides a secure and tamper-proof way to manage digital identities. Individuals can control their data and grant access to specific attributes as needed, reducing identity theft risk.

More Prospects?

This article is in no way exhaustive. The application of blockchain technology extends into a whole lot more than these. I’d say that as long as a transaction involves the exchange of value between the parties, there will be an application for this technology.

Businesses across the globe are recognizing the potential of blockchain and investing in its integration. Consortia and partnerships are being formed to develop industry-specific blockchain solutions. Governments also explore blockchain for public services such as land registration and voting systems.

As blockchain evolves, challenges like scalability and regulatory concerns must be addressed. Moreover, the collaboration between industries, governments, and technology experts will play a pivotal role in unlocking its full potential.

It is an intriguing data from Summer 2023 YCombinator class: of the  218 startups the US-based accelerator is backing, about 159 are broadly AI-anchored companies. The Information wrote: “This year, more than 60% of the group—or 134 startups—are building applications or tools around artificial intelligence, mostly related to large-language models, according to YC’s startup directory. In past YC groups, the percentage of startups bucketed under “AI” has trended below 20%. The huge increase demonstrates the recent fervor from founders and investors alike for this hyped-up industry.” Tekedia Capital Syndicate invested in one of these startups.

Then the shocker: of these 218 companies, only three are coming from Africa (Nigeria, Kenya/Rwanda and Congo/US/Canada)

Finding a native AI-company is challenging in Africa. To balance our portfolio for the next edition of Tekedia Capital investment cycle, as there is just no way we can present the startups to members without an AI company, we resorted to shopping at Silicon Valley, and co-invested with YCombinator.

But what is an AI company? But what is an AI company? In the simplest of terms, a company which applies the wonders of AI in any of the many things we do daily or in company operations, where AI becomes the catalyst to improve performance, reduce cost and accelerate innovation. Yes, you can have an AI application in your agro-business, retail business, ecommerce, etc. It is time for that transformation in Africa. If you are building a really good one, let me know

A man with his son embarked on a journey. They opted to use a horse as their means of transportation. They both mounted on the horse and were riding together when passersby saw them and started complaining and calling them names; accusing them of being wicked to have subjected the horse to such inhuman treatment. The Passersby told them; “How can you both be this wicked, How can two of you sit and ride a horse, Don’t you see that the horse is tired and might collapse, your actions are inhuman and wicked”. 

The man with his son paid attention to what the passersby were saying and decided that only one of them should mount the horse while the other person would trek along the horse. The man asked his son to ride on the horse while he walked alongside them so they wouldn’t be accused of treating the horse harshly. 

Immediately as the journey progressed, they met another set of passersby who severely complained and called the son a prodigal boy and asked him how he was able to comfortably ride on a horse whilst his old and fray-looking father was walking alongside them. The boy was called a series of names and then they decided since it’s like this; they both can’t ride on the horse without being accused of maltreating the horse, only the son cannot ride without people tagging the son as a prodigal, they decided that the father should instead ride on the horse while the son will walk along with them on foot. 

The dad mounted on the horse and the boy trekked alongside as they had decided but immediately the journey progressed they met another set of people who stopped them and asked the father how come he was such an irresponsible man to have mounted himself and ridden on the horse while his young son is walking along on a bare foot. They called the father names, and criticized him for doing that. 

At this point, the father and son decided that they should both walk along on foot with the horse. Since they have met stern criticisms riding the horse together and individually. 

As they were both walking along with the horse, they met another set of people laughing at them and calling them foolish. The people asked them how they had a horse and decided to walk along the horse when they could have ridden on the horse to make their journey smoother and faster.

At this point the father and son have exhausted all their options, having found out that whatever they do there must be people along the way who must murmur, complain or criticize their actions. 

There are many morals and lessons to this story but the most important  moral lesson I want you to pick out today from this  is “Do you”. Do  whatever you feel okay with, don’t be a people pleaser, and don’t pay attention to criticisms. If you do, you will get confused and remain on the spot because people must talk.