I like to eat. By this I mean I like to make money. I have gone hungry and eaten instant noodles because I couldn't afford anything else. It's not fun, but it's the reality for many people in the Global South. It's a reality that NoOnes plans to change.
I want to make a lot of money and I'm not ashamed to say it. Being very rich would be great, but I wouldn't feel good if everyone around me was poor. I wouldn't even feel good if they were moderately successful. The only way I would feel good would be if everyone around me was also rich. That's why one of our values in Nobody “Everyone eats,” and it’s so important that I’ve made it part of our business model.
There is hunger at NoOnes, but it is hunger to make sure we are doing everything we can to feed everyone. It all started with our promise to give back 50% of the company's profits. You can't take that promise to the bank (who would trust them?), but you can look at my track record and ask yourself if I'm serious.
Since I put the dots together about the financial system and realized how it oppresses people who are powerless, especially those in the Global South, I set out to help create a new system. I have had many obstacles put in my way, but I am confident that we can create a new financial ecosystem, and that is why I get up every morning. I am making a choice, and I am lucky to be able to do so because I have a skill set that allows me to do my job.
My vision of a Global South where everyone eats would have already become a reality if we had not been held back by the disastrous policies of the World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after decolonization. I say decolonization, but the truth is that military regimes have simply been replaced by economic regimes. Now, we have the tools to go to work and defeat that system to give us something better.
We are already doing a lot of things at NoOnes, like our Partner Program and cash back to reward customers who help us grow. For example, our users are our best ambassadors, so we give them jobs to help us with our online and on-the-ground educational programs. All of these initiatives are part of our “everyone eats” mantra, but there’s much more to come.
There’s more to everyone eating than just contributing financially. The vision we’re pursuing is really a new financial architecture, an ecosystem where it’s all about incentivizing people to work. We’re already doing this by creating jobs – by having our citizens generate content for people to engage in cryptocurrencies, for example, by showing others how to make money, by making educational videos on how to buy or trade bitcoin, or by speaking to groups in person and online. The best part about all of this is that it’s organic and circular – a constant cycle that keeps feeding the system.
Cryptocurrency users across Africa are learning how to use what we’ve created and building layers on top of it. They’re hacking it in ways we never imagined and then they’re bringing what they’ve learned back into the ecosystem by teaching it to others. This is how everyone gets a seat at the table and a plate in front of them with some food on it.
We want everyone to grow, so our goal is to expand this ecosystem, to make it a people-driven, trust-free, fully transparent tool that will transform the Global South into a powerhouse. This “everyone eats” philosophy turns the entire Western corporate model on its head. Instead of blocking the potential of millions of people across the Global South, our model is designed to be generative, to build, and it works.
Years ago, when I first started talking to potential users in Africa about bitcoin online, I tried to attract a lot of people by giving away btc because I knew my investment would be returned to me. I went further when I founded the bitcoin/”>Developed with the bitcoin Foundation and we built 13 schools in the Global South to help educate local people. We were on the ground showing people how a peer-to-peer marketplace that uses bitcoin as a universal container for money could not only help them, but transform the livelihoods of future generations.
“Everyone eats” means that we all have food, a great place to live and a job, but it also means that we have free time and that we are going to show the world that this model works. As a P2P platform, we must make a profit because we cannot defend an equitable society without resources. However, it is absolutely essential that we do not become obsessed with profits, except to the extent that we can reinvest them into the ecosystem to generate further growth.
We want everyday people to understand that they have plenty of opportunities to grow, despite the obstacles in front of them – lack of education, resources, or the “right” nationality. I was just a nerd from an immigrant family who failed many times until I learned how to succeed. Now I’m trying to give my brothers and sisters in the Global South a shortcut to prosperity. If that means I have to give away 50% of our income to make sure everyone eats, I’ll do it. We need profit, but we’re driven by people, and that’s what makes NoOnes so special. The task now is to spread the word.
This is a guest post by Ray Youssef. The views expressed are solely his own and do not necessarily reflect those of btc Inc or bitcoin Magazine.
