I love the idea and application of blockchains. In Africa, there’s plenty of inefficiencies that can be addressed by implementing blockchain systems. I’m particularly interested on blockchains in financial lending and supply chains.
Pharmaceutical companies and distributors across the continent would benefit tremendously from a transparent, more efficient supply chain. Blockchains are a potential solution in this space, and Barclays even took notice, and <a href=”http://bravenewcoin.com/news/barclays-africa-supply-chain-challenge-highlights-bitcoin-technology/”>announced a blockchain centered supply chain contest</a>. Using the blockchain in supply chains would allow companies to transparently track the good until its final destination. At each point in the supply chain, a hash is added to the block. Once the good reaches it’s final destination, the end user can check the hash by using their phone to check with the original sender, thus verifying it’s authenticity. If it didn’t match, they would know that the product was faked, or some malicious middleman had altered it. <a href=”http://www.everledger.io/”>Everledger</a> is a great example of a company making this work, albeit with diamond’s supply chains in Europe.
Blockchains certainly wouldn’t work for all products in a supply chain, but blockchains are a huge leap forward in bringing transparency to supply chains. I hope to see their application across different industries in Africa. Let me know if you know of companies implementing them.