Confit

Confit is an African carbon credit marketplace based on blockchain.

With the growing amounts of Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere causing global warming, companies, governments and the masses are doing all that they can to reduce more emissions. This problem is compounded by the fact that there exists massive industries for whom, by their very nature, emission of greenhouse gases is inevitable. This includes airlines and mining companies. At the same time, most Greentech ventures and Carbon sink Projects struggle to find funding and keep afloat. 

Climate change affects Africa the most despite Africa and Africans contributing the least to global warming, mostly due to a lack of industries. Millions of lives are lost from drought and heat waves caused by climate change. Indirectly, it also causes anomalous behavior by animals which leads to locust invasion that has destroyed produce and left many on the verge of starvation. In contrast, climate change has also caused flooding in my native country of Kenya which has killed thousands through the years as well as destroyed farm produce causing food shortage. In the long term, these effects lead to economic regression, food insecurity and stunted growth. It disadvantages already disadvantaged people making it impossible for them to exploit opportunities such as education to advance themselves out of poverty.

Confit is an end-to-end solution that connects climate-conscious companies looking to become carbon-neutral to Ventures that are selling Carbon credits on a secure blockchain-enabled platform. A carbon credit is any tradable certificate or permit representing the right to emit a set amount of carbon dioxide or the equivalent amount of a different greenhouse gas (tCO2e). Carbon credits were established in the 1997 Kyoto protocol as a way to offset carbon emissions in a cap and trade system.

Our mission is to reduce the amount of Greenhouse Gases emitted by providing funding for carbon sinks that will absorb it from the atmosphere, while funding such projects through the trade of carbon credits.

We will segment the carbon credits into two: conservation and progress-based. A conservation carbon credit will have been generated from a conservancy and so will have the added benefit of protecting biodiversity. A progress-based carbon credit will have the added benefit of promoting green technology in Africa. These technologies include solar, Electric vehicles and many more.

We will act as a platform to allow for the buying and selling of the carbon credits. In addition to that we will consult with companies to help them identify how many credits they need to buy, which part of their supply chain has the most emissions and how to cut down on these. On the supply side, we will facilitate the generation of carbon credits by the conservancies and green tech ventures. In the long run, we aim to reduce the carbon footprint of companies while funding green tech ventures and conservancies on the continent.

We have 2 main target markets. One is the companies and organizations seeking to decrease their carbon footprint. These can be located anywhere in the world. The second target is the conservancies and green tech ventures that will generate and sell the carbon credits by offsetting carbon emissions, or preventing the emission. These have to be on the African continent. 

Indirectly, we want to create employment opportunities for millions of people through the funding that will be provided via the sale of the carbon credits. This will not be directly through us but through the ventures and conservancies that will get funded. The ventures will be able to scale and expand operations thus spurring economic growth. The conservancies will be able to remain operational thus attracting tourists who will boost the economy. 

Long term, we hope that these efforts will contribute to the reduction of climate change so that the floods and droughts can cease. We will educate people on resistance farming and the effects of climate change as well.

At the moment, I am alone and I am yet to form a team. Currently, I am a junior at the African Leadership University in Mauritius pursuing Computing. I am a Kenyan native who has experienced the effects of climate change first hand. I have seen the prices of food hike immediately when a flood or drought has been announced. I have slept hungry on numerous occasions and so I understand well the connection between climate change and poverty.

In 2021, I served as a Future Fintech Champion at the Mauritius Africa Fintech Hub. This introduced me to blockchain technology and its numerous uses within and outside fintech. In 2022, I was fortunate enough to serve as a Circular Economy Champion at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation in England. This introduced me to sustainability and the effects of climate change. These two experiences have paved the way for Confit.

I am being mentored by Rchard Vigne, who served as the conservancy director for Ol Pejeta conservancy for over 2 decades. He also served as the director of the ALU School of Wildlife conservation.

I have reached out to several conservancies but they are yet to get back to me. I am looking to start cold emailing companies that may be interested in offsetting their carbon emissions.

1. Confit Carbon credits have an added value of either helping in the conservation of biodiversity or funding new innovative green projects that reduce carbon emissions (e.g., EV manufacturers, carbon-enhanced concrete)

2. The selling and buying will be blockchain-enabled platform which allows tracking back to the source, automating the retirement of a carbon credit to avoid reselling

3. We will assist the sellers to get verification and mine their credits into blockchain tokens for a small fee. We will also automate the process of buying credits for subscribers as well as make it easy for those buying manually to do so in a matter of seconds.

At the moment, I am conducting in-depth desktop research. When I go back to Kenya over Summer, I will personally visit conservancies and greentech ventures and try to put them in a waitlist for Confit.

I will then use this waitlist to apply for funding from Angel investors, incubators and accelerators. I will try as much as possible to get investors who are involved in this space so that they can also act as mentors and an accountability mechanism.

With the funding, I will hire blockchain and software developers to build the platform in anticipation of the launch. I will leverage my mentors and investors for advice on this.

 I will then launch the product then iterate towards product-market fit.

Confit leverages Blockchain technology to make the carbon credits traceable. It is delivered through a desktop application.

We are yet to launch. In the next year, we plan to serve at least 50 climate-conscious organizations looking to offset their emissions and at least 10 carbon credit generators.

I am a college student and therefore lack both the experience and the connections that may be needed.

I have a business plan with timelines on fundraising and launch as well as a pitch deck but I lack traction since Confit is sort of a moonshot. Due to this, I suspect fundraising may be a little difficult. 

At the moment, there are no laws in Kenya and even East Africa regulating carbon markets. As a pioneer, we will have to work in the absence of laws and maybe even help draft them.

I am not a blockchain developer and so I cannot build the product myself. I have, however, made the website and hosted it. 

None

We will explore a B2B business model where we approach a large number of corporations as the first stage in our sales funnel. In terms of viability, feasibility and desirability: 

User Desirability – The development of a 50-company waitlist will act as social proof of market validation and user desirability 

Business Viability – The climate conservation and Greentech industry has been growing exponentially in the last few years. It is, thus, very possible to keep overhead costs below our revenues if we adopt the listed pricing strategy

Technology Feasibility – The blockchain technology as well as web development and software development have become commonplace in recent years and it is thus very possible to find competent, experienced Software Engineers who would charge a relatively standard price

1. Commissions on each sale. We will take a percentage of the amount the carbon credit tokens are sold for. This will be on the side of the seller for we will provide value-added services such as connection to a carbon credit project verifier, minting the verified carbon credits into tokens and enabling them sell their minted tokens over our platform.

2. A subscription fee for the buyers as they will be able to obtain the carbon credits stress free. This amount will however be a small one and will be dynamically priced depending on the needs of the buyer

3. In later stages, we are looking forward to introducing ESG consultancy services that will be pay-per-session. This will promote our brand as well as feed the carbon credit trading platform as we will be able to use consultancy to explain the need of any company to buy carbon credits as well as other segments of ESG.