There was a time money never got a chance to see a bank because there was no bank to take it to. If your grandmother came back from the market with money in her hands, She had to think about where that money would sleep before she could think about what she would use it for. She could fold the notes carefully into the corner of her wrapper, put some inside an old tin, Hide them underneath the mattress, or find a place in the ground where nobody would think to look. It sounds strange now, but that was simply what keeping money safe looked like. You worked for it, brought it home, and then had to worry about protecting it from the next person who might want to take it from you. Eventually, things started changing. Money found its way into banks, and people no longer had to carry every naira they owned around with them. You could leave your money somewhere safer, get a passbook, make a deposit, and trust that you would still find it there when you needed it. But keeping money was only one part of the problem. Because money is rarely meant to sit still forever. The woman who sold her goods at the market still had school fees to pay. Someone at home still needed food. The electricity bill would still arrive. A relative could still call from another town and say, “Please, I need you to send me something.” So the question slowly changed from where do I keep my money to how do I get it where it needs to go? First, you went to the bank. Then came transfers, and suddenly you could send money without carrying cash across town. Then mobile banking put the whole thing inside a phone, and something that once required a physical journey could happen while you were sitting on your bed. And then money changed again. You could have Bitcoin without holding a single naira note. You could receive USDT without anyone putting an envelope in your hand. You could have value sitting inside a crypto wallet while almost every other part of your daily life was still being paid for in naira. That created a different kind of problem. If your money is in crypto, but your life is happening in naira, how do you bring the two together? That was what made me pay attention to @Monicanigeria . Monica is a crypto-to-naira off-ramp. You deposit supported crypto, it gets converted to naira, and you can withdraw that naira to your Nigerian bank account. And when you think about it, it is interesting how far the story has travelled. A woman who once had to decide whether her market money was safer inside her wrapper or under her mattress Now has a world where money can move from a crypto wallet to a Nigerian bank account through a phone. The technology has changed the process, but the reason behind the process is still something we understand very well: We earn money because there are things we need to do with it, and when the moment comes, we want to be able to use it. Maybe that is why the idea of The Money Story caught my attention. Because this is bigger than one app or one way of moving money. It is a story that keeps changing as the world around us changes, And now Blockfest Africa and Monica are giving creators 30 days to tell their own version of it, With a total prize pool of ₦5,000,000 across the challenge. So this is my first chapter. And I have a feeling the story is only getting more interesting from here. @Monicanigeria @blockfestafrica #TheMoneyStory #AreYouSkillful #monicacash

𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐎𝐋𝐀𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐊𝐀𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐉𝐄𝐊𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐍𝐌𝐈, 𝐀𝐊𝐀 𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐋𝐀. Bringing together AI, Web3, marketing, and content creation, @thegreatola explores the intersection of technology, products, markets, and communities. His work spans marketing, community growth, AI agents, and workflow automation, while documenting his journey of building in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Through his work and content, Ola continues to explore how emerging technologies are changing the way we build, market, and work. This October, he joins us at Blockfest Africa 2026. Meet the people building Africa’s next chapter, onchain. #BlockfestAfrica #BlockfestAfrica2026

For the last 3 decades, the African tech ecosystem and money market have been changing. For every improvement, there are pushbacks. For every solution, challenges. So we created a room to discuss and implement it ALL. Founders, builders, investors, policymakers, corporate execs and creatives , all in ONE ROOM. BLOCKFEST AFRICA! We did it last year, and we’re doing it again. This time, @Monicanigeria is joining us as our headline sponsor, with a ₦5,000,000 creator campaign built around one question: ‘’ARE YOU SKILLFUL?’ Expect workshops, masterclasses, deal rooms, panels and more across two days. Oct 22 — Ibis Hotel, Lekki Phase 1 Oct 23 — National Theatre, Iganmu Link on our BIO to get your ticket The seats are limited !!

𝐌𝐄𝐄𝐓 𝐃𝐑. 𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐉𝐈 𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐒𝐀, 𝐂𝐎𝐍, 𝐇𝐎𝐍𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍, 𝐅𝐄𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐋 𝐑𝐄𝐏𝐔𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐂 𝐎𝐅 𝐍𝐈𝐆𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐀. Dr. Tunji Alausa, CON, brings extensive experience across education, medicine, public service, and policy. As Nigeria’s Honourable Minister of Education, @DrTunjiAlausa is part of the leadership shaping the country’s education system and its response to a rapidly changing world. This October, he joins us at Blockfest Africa 2026. Meet the people building Africa’s next chapter, onchain. #BlockfestAfrica #BlockfestAfrica2026