SGlobal goals for both business and development allow everybody to winHumaniq is looking to forge partnerships with startups that share our wish to support the UN to advance development
Do we have to choose between lofty goals and the bottom line? Between humanitarian aims and capitalist growth targets? Or can we square the circle of achieving a flourishing, entrepreneurial world, whilst ensuring that nobody is left behind?
Humaniq believes the world can, indeed must, have both business and humanitarianism. Business as usual, where 3.5bn people are shut out of the 21st Century economy’s opportunities to earn, save and invest because they have little or no access to banking, is not an option. But international development also falls short on its own, and can benefit from partnering with business to capture innovation and new ideas.
This belief in ‘humanitarian capitalism’ informs everything we do, even our choice of name, reflects a belief in a different kind of entrepreneurialism that puts humanity first, harnessing the power of the Blockchain for good. And it is why we are seeking partners keen to offer services in the Humaniq App ecosystem, a ‘blue ocean’ for apps aimed at the global unbanked. As a startup partnering with us, you would immediately have a relationship with our existing community of users. This is a community that broke the 200,000 mark in our first few months, and which we aim to grow by one million in 2018, every one of whom will have gained access to an online identity and currency with Humaniq.
You would also, crucially, be joining a global mission to end extreme poverty, ensure decent work, and secure access to essential services. Humaniq joined the United Nations’ global drive as we formally endorsed the UN’s Compact with business to become a member of the community of companies around the world signed-up to helping to achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs). This commits us — and our partners — to support worldwide efforts to end poverty, hunger and lack of access to clean water, and secure decent work, healthcare, and other essential services
And since launching our app in the Google Play store in December, we already have a community of over 200,000 users in the African nations of Rwanda, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Each user now is earning HMQ cryptocurrency through interacting with the App and recommending friends. The next stage is to build on this by providing our community with a variety of new services they can easily access with their bio-ID and HMQ coin in their wallet.
With these goals in mind, we launched our Humaniq Challenge, which attracted over 450 applications from startups keen to join our initiative to provide new routes out of poverty. The winners refined their cases on a mission with the Humaniq team in Kenya, and are now three promising partners developing services for our verified, coin-holding community members in the market for services nobody is offering them.
We will be accepting further applications in a second round in the latter half of 2018, and are looking forward to seeing further proposals that not only have a strong business case, but also directly contributing to the SDGs. It could be improving access to clean water, providing new employment opportunities or improving food security by better connecting farmers and consumers.
In signing up to the UN Compact, we have committed to making its principles part of the strategy, culture and operations of our company, and to engaging in collaborative projects which advance the broader development goals of the UN. We will in the autumn set out a description of practical actions we have taken to advance the achievement of the global goals, with measurements of progress.
We share the desire of the UN’s 193 member states when they three years ago decided to define the world we want, to adopt the SDGs and provide measurable targets to track how far we are going in the right direction. Partnering with us, you will also adopt these commitments and also, crucially, get access to the UN network and resources to assist you in your endeavours.
https://blog.humaniq.co/sglobal-goals-for-both-business-and-development-allow-everybody-to-win-7c310918304
