Define Opportunity: Solution Exploration

Objective

Identify and document multiple feasible solutions that address the discovered problems before selecting a final project path.

Problem Recap

Our Problem Statement:

Nigeria’s informal economy employs millions of traders, drivers, artisans, and gig workers. Yet, they remain financially invisible because they lack digital identity, verifiable payment records, and traceable economic activity.

This invisibility leads to:

Corrupt and opaque cash-based levy/tax collection
Ghost beneficiaries and fraud in relief distribution
Exclusion from credit and insurance
Revenue leakage for governments
Zero financial reputation or creditworthiness
High-risk perception by banks

Despite contributing massively to GDP, informal workers cannot prove their legitimacy, earnings, or consistency.

Without identity and traceability, they remain excluded from the formal economy.

Link to Hypothesis

Solution Brainstorming

Brainstorming Session Notes

Date: 18 October 2025
Participants: Ismail Suleiman, Safiya Muhammad and Sheriff Alih
Duration: 2 hours

Ideas Generated: 3 total

Solution Options

Solution Option 1: Decentralized Identity + Transparent Payment Verification System

Description:

A Cardano-powered decentralized identity and payment verification system that gives every citizen a verifiable Decentralized Identity (DID) and ensures that every levy, tax, permit, or relief fund payment is stored immutably on-chain.

The system integrates:

Atala PRISM for DID creation and credential issuance
Cardano metadata for tamper-proof payment receipts
QR-verifiable receipts for instant audit
Dashboards for government, NGOs, and associations
Credit-building mechanisms for users based on DID-linked payment history

This solution transforms invisible, untraceable financial activity into a transparent, verifiable identity-payment network.

How It Addresses the Problem:

Solves identity invisibility: Every informal worker receives a DID tied to their economic activity.
Fixes opaque cash-based collections: All levies and payments generate on-chain, QR-verifiable receipts.
Closes corruption gaps: Eliminates fake collectors, ghost payments, and non-auditable revenue.
Builds financial reputation: Payment history becomes credit data for banks and microfinance institutions.
Prevents aid diversion: Relief funds go directly to verified DIDs with full transparency.
Bridges informal to formal: Creates a unified trust layer connecting citizens, government, NGOs, and lenders.

Key Features:

Decentralized Identity (DID) Creation
- Citizens own their identity
- Supports multiple verifiable credentials
- Independent of centralized databases (e.g., BVN)
Transparent Revenue Verification
- Digital levy/permit payments
- QR-verifiable receipts
- All payments anchored on Cardano
Verifiable Credentials from Institutions
- Cooperative membership
- Business type
- Transaction consistency
- KYC validation
Aid Distribution Transparency
- Relief funds sent directly to verified beneficiaries
- Fraud-proof distribution
- Public audit trails
Financial Inclusion Layer
- On-chain creditworthiness
- Microloan eligibility
- Insurance onboarding
Bonus Utility: Staking-as-Collateral
- Users can stake ADA to improve loan eligibility
- Replaces traditional collateral systems

Technology Stack:

Blockchain:

Cardano
Atala PRISM (DID)
Metadata transactions
Smart contracts for staking / receipts

Frontend:

Next.js
TailwindCSS
PRISM wallet integration

Backend:

Node.js (Express)
Payment verification logic
Credential issuer endpoints

Integrations:

Microfinance APIs
NGO/government dashboards
Cooperative/market union issuer interfaces

Pros:

✅ Solves identity + payments + inclusion holistically
✅ Strong alignment with Cardano infrastructure
✅ High scalability for millions of citizens
✅ Built-in transparency eliminates corruption
✅ Enables credit access for underserved communities
✅ Suitable for government, NGO, and private sector adoption

Cons:

❌ Requires onboarding of low-digital-literacy users
❌ Initial adoption depends on market unions and local gov’t cooperation
❌ Integration with microfinance and NGOs may take time
❌ Infrastructure setup takes longer than a simple MVP

Feasibility Score: 7/10
Impact Score: 10/10
Innovation Score: 10/10

High complexity but key modules can be prototyped. Directly affects millions of informal workers and institutions. Combines DID + on-chain receipts + verifiable aid at national scale—no existing solution offers this.

Solution Option 2: Cardano Memecoin Launchpad

Description:

A DApp powered by Cardano that launches memecoins and NFT for no cost apart from cardano blockchain gas fee.

How It Addresses the Problem:

Gives Cardano Ecosystem Developers the opportunity to participate in Memecoin launches, thereby bringing more tractions in users, TVL and transaction volumes to the Cardano ecosystem.

Key Features:

Memecoin launchpad
NFT launchpad
Developer guide on how to launch memecoins and NFT’s on cardano in 60 seconds
Memecoin Trading terminal

Technology Stack:

Cardano blockchain
Smart contracts for token launches
Trading terminal interface

Pros:

✅ Increased on-chain metrics and blockchain growth
✅ Exponential increase in blockchain Total Value locked
✅ More opportunity to onboard retailers

Cons:

❌ It doesn’t have any real world impact
❌ Insufficient time and resources to build

Feasibility Score: 3/10
Impact Score: 9/10
Innovation Score: 7/10

Solution Option 3: Preserving Our Cultural Heritage

Description:

A blockchain powered platform that allows communities to digitize, verify and preserve their cultural heritage (stories, lullaby, crafts, proverbs) as NFT’s on cardano.

How It Addresses the Problem:

Protects heritage, empowers local creators, creates a cultural database for schools and tourism.

Key Features:

Diverse Nigerian tradition and their traditional attire
Nigerian idioms and proverbs
Lullaby, bed time stories and tales by moonlight
Cultural greetings and and some important cultural items (calabash, local fishing nets, skin paintings and hunting tools)

Technology Stack:

A mobile app
IPFS for storage
Cardano NFT’s

Pros:

✅ Protects heritage
✅ Empowers local creators
✅ Creates a local Database for schools and tourism

Cons:

❌ Very difficult to monetize

Feasibility Score: 5/10
Impact Score: 10/10
Innovation Score: 8/10

Evaluation Criteria

Scoring Matrix

Solution	Feasibility	Impact	Innovation	Total
Option 1	8/10	8/10	7/10	27/30
Option 2	3/10	9/10	7/10	19/30
Option 3	5/10	10/10	8/10	23/30

Evaluation Factors

Feasibility - Can we build this in the hackathon timeframe?
Impact - How many people will benefit? How significant is the benefit?
Innovation - How novel is this approach? Does it use emerging tech effectively?

Selected Solution

Our Choice: Decentralized Identity + Transparent Payment Verification System (Option 1)

Reason for Selection:

This solution balances hackathon feasibility with high real-world impact, allowing us to deliver a functional MVP within the timeframe while still addressing the core need for verifiable transaction records.

Key Decision Factors:

Fast implementation
Immediate value to traders
Strong foundation for future expansion
Simple onboarding for low-tech users

Trade-Offs Accepted:

Identity layer postponed
Advanced taxation engine excluded for MVP

Mitigation Strategies:

Use expandable architecture to add identity in Phase 2
Build receipt formats compatible with future tax modules

Implementation Roadmap

Phase 1: MVP (Hackathon Delivery)

Timeline: Hackathon duration
Features:

Digital receipt generator
Local transaction storage
Basic blockchain anchoring

Phase 2: Enhancement (If time permits)

Features:

Full trader profile
Exportable receipts (PDF/CSV)
QR receipt generator

Phase 3: Future Vision (Post-Hackathon)

Features:

Decentralized Identity (DID) integration
AI-based fraud detection
Government dashboard for tax policy oversight
Credit scoring and microfinance integrations

Next Steps

Document the journey and reflections: Journey Stories
Build and document final solution: Final Solution

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