Hakiki

Inspiration

Our inspiration for Hakiki stems from the realization that while digital transformation is sweeping across Africa, the bridge between education and employment remains fractured by slow and expensive verification processes. We witnessed a systemic failure where students often wait up for weeks and pay over $150 just to prove their academic credentials are legitimate when moving between countries like Ethiopia and Rwanda. This creates a "weeks-long barrier" that leads to missed enrollment deadlines and lost income opportunities. We were inspired to build a "trust chain" that makes a student's hard-earned credentials as mobile as they are, empowering them with data privacy and control over their own information.

How We will Build

To build this solution, we plan to leverage existing infrastructure like the MOSIP Digital ID framework, which is already operational in over 15 African countries. Our approach involves connecting students' verified credentials directly to their government Digital ID through an ecosystem that includes a digital wallet for students and verification tools for employers. We plan to start with pilot programs in a few countries involving a small group of universities to gather user feedback and refine the experience. By focusing on accessibility, we intend to ensure the platform works on basic phones with 2G connectivity, allowing students from all economic backgrounds to instantly share and verify their credentials via simple QR codes.