This is an in-person event with limited availability. Sign-Up required. Please follow this Google form link to RSVP.
Date: Thursday, 8th February 2024
Start time: 14:00 PM SAST
Duration: 1 hour
Practitioner: Milan Jandik
Company: Frictionless
Location: Seminar Room, Level 4, School of Economics, Rondebosch, University of Cape Town
The narrative of Frictionless and its founder, Milan Jandik, is intricately interwoven with the challenges they set out to address. Stemming from a background rooted in environmental conservation, Milan perceives blockchain as a pivotal solution to pressing issues within our ecosystem, notably the need for accountability in climate data. His journey led him to assume the role of COO at the SEA Foundation and various other web3 companies. In this capacity, Milan encountered the necessity to liquidate team assets such as tokens or coins on the market to acquire budgetary resources for scaling projects.
This inherent challenge not only posed operational hurdles but also contributed to the proliferation of FUD (Fear, Unrest, Despair) among investors. The confluence of this predicament with the persistent downward pressures coming from institutional vesting schedules by VCs or high-ticket holders further exacerbated the strain on token prices. Web3 teams found themselves entangled in a dual challenge – not only navigating the market perception but also justifying the need for asset liquidation to fund essential development endeavours.
Driven by the ambition to circumvent these detrimental market impacts, Frictionless was born. Over the years, the team diligently cultivated a global ecosystem to fortify the unique standing of their innovation – the Frictionless-Exchange. The upcoming platform stands as a testament to their commitment to providing a frictionless pathway for web3 growth all over the world, reducing any market impact of assets, while providing full blockchain backend protection.
Frictionless, conceived out of necessity, is evolving into a transformative force, empowering web3 teams to transcend market constraints and drive sustainable growth.
This seminar is part of a series which has been created to expose our students to exceptional individuals in the African Fintech space working on innovative solutions to address the large unbanked population on our continent. Fintech in Africa has received the largest share of funding in recent years, and this trend is expected to increase. As the only dedicated Fintech Master's program on the African continent, one of our goals is to connect our students with leading fintech companies across the continent. In the past, we have had speakers from Nala, Stitch Money, Visa, Spoon Money, Consensys, Authentium, Investec and more. Because seminars have attracted interest from students across campus, we have decided to open up attendance to all students interested in fintech and related topics.