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3air weekly AMA, 29th December 2021 @5pm CET
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3air weekly AMA, 29th December 2021 @5pm CET

This is a transcription form the YT live video recorded on 29th December 2021 @5pm CET

Anita Mlakar: 00:28

Hello everybody, and welcome to this year’s last.

00:33

Anita Mlakar is my name and today we will take a journey through a year that is about to end. Of course, from 3Air’s point of view. Sandi Bitenc will be the one doing it and we will have a special guest Hilina Damte coming up, since she was the one that really fascinated you on our last AMA, together with the rest of the team, of course. And it has really been a special Christmas AMA. Thank you, everybody for being with us.

01:03

Now your comments and questions are always welcome. Just write them down in the comment section down below. Do subscribe to our YouTube channel, or become a member of our communities on Twitter, Telegram and on Discord.

01:19

And let’s begin with a short reminder of the project that will change the lives of so many people in Africa, the project of bringing broadband internet to the continent, namely, nearly half of the world’s population has no broadband Internet access. The sad reality is that most of this population is located in Africa.

01:42

According to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, providing universal access to the Internet continues to increase in importance allowing many to access online services in health care, education, and other skills necessary to reduce poverty and sure economic growth and foster inclusion on the global markets.

02:04

With so many brilliant minds in Africa, many believe that the right technology can help support their education and communication with the rest of the world. The team behind 3air beliefs, we have a solution that can make this a reality. 3air blockchain platform with its own Cardenal ADA base token aims to solve this digital divide in Africa by partnering with K3 Telecom, a Swiss broadband provider specializing in infrastructure to solve this issue with Novel technology that can transmit optics, great broadband, internet, digital TV, and IP telephony over the air.

02:46

This technology is set to have the ability to connect millions of people and onboard a 3air blockchain platform caters specifically to the needs of developing countries and telecoms. The beautiful part of this project is that you can also be a part of this solution. And this is what 2021 was all about, for the team working on this project.

03:16

So let me welcome the man who is together with a great team, of course, responsible for this to be happening. Sandi Bitenc is with us.

03:25

Hello, Sandi, and welcome.

Sandi Bitenc: 03:28

Hello! Hi, Anita. How are you?

Anita Mlakar: 03:31

I am great

Sandi Bitenc: 03:32

Looking great today.

Anita Mlakar: 03:33

Thank you very much. Already preparing myself for the next year.

Sandi Bitenc: 03:39

Oh, yeah. Coming in two days.

Anita Mlakar: 03:43

Yes, it is.

Sandi Bitenc: 03:45

You look like you’re having already a rehearsal.

Anita Mlakar: 03:49

Yes. You know, it’s a rehearsal, but not only rehearsal for the New Year’s Eve, but also for this special occasion. It was a nice introduction, you must admit, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 03:59

Oh, yeah. Very well. Very nice. I liked it.

Anita Mlakar: 04:02

Especially, you know this is last AMA and being us together after so many AMAs already been done. So, I think it’s really special. So, I’m really glad to have you here today again. And of course, we won’t be alone later on. But right now, we will be talking of course about the year that is ending and the one that is coming up. Because like you said it’s going to be back here but Sandi, first of all, you’re back in Dubai. I’m happy that you’re there but I was also happy when you were in Slovenia, but you did have some troubles on the way going back. We were reading that in our community. So, what was happening?

Sandi Bitenc: 04:46

Yeah. So, the way to the airport was okay then at the airport, some trouble started. We were having a rental, a rental car there. So, we put it back, nobody was there to check it at that point in time. So, we just, we took some pictures and so on and then immediately once we entered the airport so that we couldn’t go out anymore. I got a charge on my credit card for 711 euros for some damages apparently, and I drove the car all the time, there was nothing wrong. It was just something appeared and now we are having trouble setting this out. And I heard that so many times right now. So, this is also why I took all the pictures, I took the video of the car, of the surroundings, but that’s going to fix, that’s going to take some time.

Anita Mlakar: 05:48

But you’re going to solve the problem, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 05:51

Yeah, I’m a solver. So, I’m a problem solver. I will solve. But I would rather focus on something else, every minute that I need to spend on such stupid things are wasted. So, then the next thing that happened was that they lost Petra’s luggage. So, when we flew into the Dubai airport, or just then standing there, waiting for luggage, mine was there immediately. And we were there then for half an hour, for three quarters of an hour, for an hour, then we started looking where this luggage actually is and then Petra went to the authorities there. And there were saying like, “Yeah, but you actually dropped only one piece of luggage” and we were, “No, we had two”. So, they didn’t have it even in the system. We were kind of a bit concerned that that’s not going to show up but then the next day, they called us, and they said, “Yeah, we found it”. So, we know that you put two pieces of luggage up, so that was good and then the day after that they delivered it to our home. So, everything solved.

Anita Mlakar: 07:13

Solved. And Petra has the luggage and all the presents and everything, that she brought from Slovenia. I’m glad.

Sandi Bitenc: 07:20

Yeah, she had all the presents in really, everything.

Anita Mlakar: 07:25

I know. So, I’m glad that this is solved. Now Sandi, before we continue talking about the year 2021, that it’s about to end. We said we will do something special today at the beginning and then also the end. Namely, we will choose someone who will be with us on our next AMA, in the backstage. Right?

Sandi Bitenc: 07:49

Yeah, that was just you know my idea while I was writing in discord, we are going live we are already in the backstage and then the idea hit my why not get some people in the backstage so that they can see what we’re doing, in before and between, and how this is actually happening. So, I don’t know. Let’s see who wants to be next time in our backstage? Who wants a backstage pass?

Anita Mlakar: 08:19

Do comment if you want to be with us just right, yes, yes, me, me. Whoever wants to be with us so that we’re not forcing anybody, to have a chat with us? Next Wednesday. So, if anybody wants to be or can be also has the time to be with us. Not only like that in the comments, but with us live. So, you’re welcome. We have some comments already. So, let’s just wait maybe a second or two to see the interest. And by the way, thank you for being with us. They’re already more than 20 people with us.

Sandi Bitenc: 08:53

What I really like is that people actually are starting to recommend others. It’s like the same things that we had on our Christmas special. So yeah, that really, I like. So, let’s see.

09:11

The Thebigdid. Yeah, let’s see. I think we can give it to the Thebigdid. He’s actually the most active on Discord. So, he has like double the posts that I have. Amazing. Thebigdid, if you want it, you’re getting our backstage pass for the next AMA, and we’ll give away another one by the end of the show.

Anita Mlakar: 09:40

Yeah, looking forward to that and also looking forward to finally meet Thebigdid. He’s really active or maybe she, who knows. Maybe we will be surprised. Who knows? So, Sandi, that was the beginning but now Let’s take a look at the year that is ending, but not starting with this year, but maybe just going a little more far back. Like you said, Let’s maybe go 10 years back and this is the story that I’m handling to you right now. Starting a little further back. So please, Sandi, what was happening 10 years ago?

Sandi Bitenc: 10:24

Yeah, I think the last AMA is probably something that should be a bit more easygoing. And why not tell a bit the story about 3air I don’t, I don’t think that many people actually know it. That this hasn’t really started in the last year or last three years. So, as you said, the story goes back more than 10 years, actually. So, the technology behind it. Now the wireless technology from K3 has been in development for more than a decade.

11:00

A lot, a lot of ups and downs and so on. In the meantime, there were some really good things already happening with the technology and the technology right now is used in nine countries already. And most of it is just being kind of licensed out to some bigger telecom operators There. I won’t be mentioning names, but they’re really the biggest ones that you can imagine are using our technology already, but not as a full-fledged telecom. So, they’re using it just to connect some remote areas and that’s working pretty, pretty nice.

11:42

There’s a nice story I had with one of our investors. So, we had a call, I didn’t know him, he didn’t know me, but he was interested in being part of a telecom in Africa and then then I was explaining him a bit of our technology and how it works. And then he was like he was in Spain somewhere a bit in up in the mountains. And he was saying, you know what this sounds something like similar that we are using something similar already. So, there’s a, the telecom, down in the city, they’re beaming the signal up to me wirelessly. And then we started talking. And in the end, it turned out that actually that he was using our technology just through another Telecom, because we do have our technology also present in Spain. So that was then, it helped doing the deal in the end. So, he became our investor. Afterwards, that was really a nice story. Surprising!

12:50

We then set in 2019. We said, Let’s start our own telecom and we started in Sierra Leone, in Freetown. It’s a small city. So, it’s actually a testing ground and this is the first and up until now the only telecom that is run slowly on this technology. So, we are using only this technology to provide internet to provide digital TV and to provide an IP telephony to our clients. And this is now the time that we said, the technology is right for it, before it wasn’t. So, it needed, and the technology is still developing. So just recently, we actually made it DOCSIS 3.1 compatible, and so on. So, we’re constantly developing it.

13:52

How through 3air actually came to be is that we were running Sierra Leone for about a year and started having some issues scaling because people were coming into our offices all the time, each month because they needed to pay, and we were thinking about how to solve this. And then we got two guys that were just driving around on the moped and collecting money. And then we said like, yeah, for each Monday, each First Monday, in the month, we’ll go around and collect the money but then when we said when we were coming, the guys just got robbed. So now we cannot do that.

14:37

So, they need to just go in blind that nobody knows it. Yeah, that’s kind of Africa. And this is when we also started thinking that this is not working. So, we cannot be a bank. We cannot give people bank accounts. We cannot give them credit cards and so on. So blockchain was kind of the idea to go with and then at that point I actually came into the project and started developing the blockchain platform and from here it actually grew and grew in the idea so that we now really have an idea how to build a telecom, a blockchain based platform built exactly for telecoms, and we actually want to open this up to the world of telecoms, once it’s ready. So, this is kind of a short story around it.

Anita Mlakar: 15:39

Okay. But of course, that was you know what it was like, because you really went through so many stories and things were happening to you and then you came to some conclusions, finding the right solutions because you knew what was the problem? If you’re not there? If you’re not having this information, then you do not know what is awaiting you. And, of course, I think this is the story that you have decided to make something of it, of course, forming a team, I suppose.

Sandi Bitenc: 16:10

Yeah. So then in end of last year. Now it’s more than a year, the end of 2020, the 3air idea formed and, in the beginning of 2021, we started selecting together a team and started working on the project and raised the initial capital and that was raised actually from the core team. So, the core team put their money in to actually kick start everything. And then in Q2, we actually formed a business, a company in DMCC, in Dubai, that is going to take care of all the development and in the meantime, we were rewriting the white paper and doing market analysis and doing the marketing plan and so on.

17:03

So, by q3, the first version of the white paper was done in July and in August, we had a marketing plan and market analysis. And then in September, we actually started working on our marketing and building up the community. And just from September, we started really slowly, September, October, we pushed it a bit more and up until now. So, imagine this is like two three months now, let’s say three months really hard work on the community. And we have almost 2000 People in discord and discord was started a month ago, not more even a bit less than a month ago, really. And we have 500 people in Instagram, but we are not focused on Instagram really. They’re already 1300 YouTube subscribers. That’s amazing. And then Twitter is at 18,000 People already on Twitter, and 7000 on telegram so telegram is still in regards to community and communicating with so we are family. Still telegram is the biggest one, but we are moving to Discord as much as possible because it’s becoming a bit big and big. And it’s going to be easier to manage everything throughout Discord and just in telegram. So, I’m really proud on our on our community, on our 3air family, they’re supporting us so much. And yeah, I this is probably right now the things that actually touches me the most. I’m really happy about this.

Anita Mlakar: 18:50

I remember when we started, when we had our first day in May, then I think there were around 650 people on telegram I really remember let’s say now there are two months and they’re like 10 times more than 7000 and this is just amazing how the community is growing and how help people are really getting involved not only following what anybody’s saying or just being a passive in it, but actively working, commenting, trying to find solutions, asking questions, and it’s really a nice community.

Sandi Bitenc: 19:29

Yeah, it is.

Anita Mlakar: 19:31

Then our AMA is also a way to educate people to get them to participate and to get involved. And I’m really happy because all the time when we have this AMA there are so many comments, so many questions people writing want to be a part or let’s say of the giveaways but not only the giveaways but also the part of the community and also now we are receiving this great comments about how nice it is to know something about the past of how the project was actually made, and the history so I think we’re doing the right thing. Sandi, what do you think?

Sandi Bitenc: 20:09

I’m 100% sure and also the last AMA was something that made me a bit proud and really happy to give away some things and starting to make a difference in Africa. That’s, that’s what 3air is all about, we want to change lives. We want to empower people in Africa. And I think Internet is a basic human right, and everybody should really have a good internet connection. There are so many things that you can do when you have a stable internet connection and I’m not talking about writing on some social media or something like that. I’m talking about really empowering stuff like educating yourself like taking part in the global economy and this is just invaluable. Really.

Anita Mlakar: 21:09

Yeah. Like we said, it’s not only about, of course, about building internet and being a part of this but also being a part of the change that is happening and can make a big difference. It’s like a movement people, being together doing a difference and I think that people are really starting to feel that, not only with the presale, which is very successful, but also being like someone who is changing something in Africa in the continent. We are not living there right now, but we can be a part of a solution and it’s a nice feeling.

21:46

Sandi, the presale. In the meantime, the presale went on of course, first it was private presale, then public presale also still going on until the end of the January, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 22:04

Yeah. So, we started, we filled first the seed sale was filled, I think, I don’t know if it was in August or in September but, I know that when once we opened the seed sale, it was filled within minutes. So that was really crazy and then the first round was filled in the private sale was filled in about a week and the second one took us about a month. Now we are in the third one in about, middle of it. And also, we really started well off with public presale, but then a bit the down-market hit us and it’s progressing. Yeah, it’s not really progressing fast, but we are still on the right track, we not far away from hitting the soft cap. And to be honest, we are right now in talks of with some really amazing partnerships. And I’m really sorry to not being able to tell you about it but if I tell you, it might not work out. So, stay tuned. Of course, right now in December, nothing’s happening right now and, but I hope I’ll have some more info second week of January.

23:19

But when that if that happens, actually, we have filled everything if just with this one partnership, we filled everything. So hopefully I’m really hoping that happens by then. That’s going to be really amazing. And yeah, we formed quite a lot of partnerships. So, we formed partnerships with Iceaddis. for instance, a really good partnerships that we partnerships that we formed is with Crypto Valley and Crypto Oasis and they’re actually also investors in our project so they see really great value in this and I’m talking to a lot of people and also to some VC funds and people that know their stuff, and everybody’s thrilled about the project, what it means and what it can bring.

Anita Mlakar: 24:13

Sandi, you were also invited, all the members of the team to speak at a lot of events, presenting 3air and the project that was also great in 2021, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 24:27

Yeah, we were part of a few blockchain events and a lot that are coming now in the next year and invitations are already coming in. Actually invitation, no that you pay for your speaker slots, and I don’t know them directly right now, off of my head so. So, but it is coming so it’s going to be a busy first part of the year for sure.

Anita Mlakar: 24:57

Also, media showed a lot of interest. Some articles were published and that is also a very important way of promoting such a project. So, yes, it is going the right way in this is great.

25:08

Now Sandi, I saw that people are really writing a lot of comments, asking some questions. It’s good that you’re doing that, because what we forgot to tell, but I think it’s like, something they’re used to that we will also give away this time, three-time 1000 tokens at the end of this AMA, so everybody who was also commenting, participating, being active on our maybe I don’t know what we’ll do on telegram or discord, or here could be the next winner. So, this is what we’re doing every time. So do comment, do ask questions. Sandi is here, now is the opportunity to ask questions and of course to get the answer from the right person. It’s great looking at all of these comments,

Sandi Bitenc: 25:56

I already saw two comments and two questions from Mau Camacho, we will address that, no worry. And I think that Hilina also can say something about it, and I think that it’s time actually to bring Hilina in, right?

Anita Mlakar: 26:16

Yeah, absolutely. It’s time to bring Hilina he’s already with us waiting just to be called in. So, hello dear Hilina, welcome to our AMA.

Sandi Bitenc: 26:30

Hi, hello our 3air.

Hilina Damte: 26:34

Hey Anita, hey Sandi. Thank you for having me on last AMA of the year. Excited to be with you guys.

Sandi Bitenc: 26:42

Thanks for joining, let me remove the logo from your head.

Anita Mlakar: 26:50

Hilina Damte, we have met you and of course you have met her on a Christmas special. And you’re the one who organized most of the school connections and giveaways. So Hilina, welcome back. It’s really nice to have you here. Please do tell me Hilina, what were your impressions about our Christmas Special? How did you feel after it?

Hilina Damte: 27:18

Wow! Because also, I think it’s very important to give back to the community and especially for students and young upcoming developers. So, it was really amazing, and it was one of my highlights of the Christmas day that day. So really great job, guys.

Sandi Bitenc: 27:38

I need to say that you did really great job. Thank you. A big thank you from your side, we wouldn’t be able to pull it off without you. So, you did all the work there.

Anita Mlakar: 27:52

Yes, really.

Hilina Damte: 27:53

You’re welcome. It’s my pleasure.

Anita Mlakar: 27:58

Hilina, you have organized so many things and have so many connections also helping in Africa. Could you tell us a little bit more about your work?

Hilina Damte: 28:09

Yeah, sure. So, as I mentioned, last time, I’m the managing partner of PayWay Ethiopia. PayWay is an instant payments company, which emerged in Uganda in 2009 and we are now in five other countries. And basically, we are employing high innovative technology to basically meet the needs of customers trying to pay their bills, and just kind of making it easier for them to make everyday payments. For example, for like airtime top ups, tax payments, utilities, we also do event ticketing. basically, our most important thing is to make the inefficient payments ecosystem efficient in Africa but also, we do create many jobs, because we have agents everywhere. So, these are our two main goals is to simplify payments and job creation to enable people to be entrepreneurs and be able to make income.

Anita Mlakar: 29:12

Very important role and a very important mission Hilina. It’s really great seeing you connecting the dots so that at the end, it’s like something beautiful happening. Hilina, you have a lot of experience or a lot of contact with schools, you know what is going on in schools? Could you tell us a little bit more about that about the school system, how it works and in what way also this project can help?

Hilina Damte: 29:42

Yeah. So, with PayWay, as I said, we are a payments company, so we do work with schools to be able to collect their payments. So, we are working with many schools, but just also living in this region because you guys are working on connectivity. That is one thing, many of the schools lack connectivity, especially if you’re going to the rural areas in many of the African countries, because there are young, smart people that actually want to make it and learn and really grow but I think one of the most enabling factors is definitely internet connectivity. So that would be very important. Yeah, but there are many kids from different countries that are actually making it and getting scholarships to schools like Harvard but imagine if could be like, hundreds and millions more of people like that and I think, especially with internet connectivity, it could be one way to enable these kids.

Anita Mlakar: 30:53

Yes, absolutely. I agree with you and just making such thing possible. This is what matters.

31:01

Hilina, after our AMA, and we did have some schools receiving also help in giving away them something, what was the reaction? Do you already have some information about that?

Hilina Damte: 31:19

Yeah, so, school was closed. So, we will be giving them all of the notebooks and pencils, the next week and we will definitely be sharing pictures and videos with you guys. So, I think you’ll be able to see the reactions yourself as well.

Anita Mlakar: 31:38

That will be amazing, I’m sure. And the right people receiving also, students receiving this laptops and other things. This is so important. So really thank you Hilina for doing that. We have a lot of comments. If you’re following them. Everybody is so happy to have you here. They say great future for Africa countries becoming a reality. There are also some questions. Someone said Hilina looks like a really good person. Of course. Hilina is a great person that is not questionable at all. There is a question also maybe, I don’t know if Sandi or Hilina you can answer what will you do to help payment to be more secure? Sandi? Hilina?

Sandi Bitenc: 32:28

Well, in regards to security, I don’t think that you can go above blockchain actually, to be honest. So, putting the payments on the blockchain is probably the most secure things that you can do.

Anita Mlakar: 32:42

Yeah. Sandi, just talking about the project. There are some questions coming about the project and the years that were already behind us. And were very important to the project. Someone is asking, we did already explained it but still, what is the 3air logo mean? And how did it come to be?

Sandi Bitenc: 33:06

Let me try and answer this. I’ll show you. I’ll show you but I need a few minutes. Just maybe you two take another question. In the meantime, I’ll find the explanation of the logo.

Anita Mlakar: 33:21

Thank you, Sandi, you always do find the answers. This is great. So Hilina, could we talk more about your connection with 3air, you know you’re doing important job there in Africa but all of a sudden, in this way, when this project started, you felt like you want to be a part of this project. So, what were the main things that attracted you? And what is it that you can do also make people more I don’t know, to learn more about the circumstances and the things that are happening in Africa and how they can help.

Hilina Damte: 34:02

For one, when I found out about 3air as I said, for me, connectivity is very important that I’m in line with the mission of what 3air is trying to do and I also want it to be part of the community because I joined the telegram group and really see how active all the community members are and it was super cool. And when Sandi contacted me last time to help him do the giveaway, I was more than happy. I also met Sandi when he was in Addis, so it was super great.

34:43

I think so I can only speak as a business in Africa because if K3 is in one of the countries that we are in. Definitely like we will be the number one customer for sure because we do need it. from a perspective of business, internet connectivity is important, because like the digital divide, that you see in this region, basically, it’s classified in three different areas, I would say, access, so having access is super important and for sure, with K3 technology, where you don’t have to dig any cables, I think you could definitely give access to many people very quickly. And having access to ICT in the first instance, especially in the rural areas, quickly would be very great.

35:38

Another one is obviously usage. So, for people to be able to use internet and grow themselves, whether it is for schools, or even businesses usage is important, but for you to be able to use it, you have to have access to it and as I think also, we spoke about this last time, the internet penetration in Africa, is super low and this is something I think K3 can fix. And definitely, I think K3 and 3air will be super successful and I think we really need it. And even as a business, like, I really see the shortcomings of not having internet connectivity, especially when I said, because with PayWay, we go deep in the rural areas, to make sure to give payments, access to people and it’s a big challenge, when for one, if internet is super expensive, then it really kind of eats up all of our profit. And also, you have to do digital marketing, which is very important, you do need access to internet, but also need the people to have access to internet to be able for it to get to them.

36:55

Another thing is also awareness. I think it’s important that people in Africa are aware, I think I liked what Sandi said before that internet as a basic right and but awareness in many ways. Also, to get awareness, I think you do need access to internet and to be able to get much information. So yeah, I really, I’m excited about 3air and K3. And as I said, pay would be definitely the number one customer when you guys are in any of the countries.

Anita Mlakar: 37:30

That’s nice to hear, right Sandi?

Sandi Bitenc: 37:33

Yeah, we were coming to Ethiopia speaking already about it, and so on. So, I think we’ll just need to move it up on our roadmap to be there faster. Yeah. I also like Ethiopia.

Hilina Damte: 37:49

We have 120 million plus people of population.

Sandi Bitenc: 37:55

I and I’ve been there, and I know how bad the conductivity actually is so.

Anita Mlakar: 38:02

Okay, before we continue, Sandi, do you have the logo ready to just explain?

Sandi Bitenc: 38:08

I do, let me try and put it on. So, this is what Laura, our designer that you also met, came up with. So, it’s a 3 from 3air and then you have the connection sign in. And the communication or also like, you could say share sign and then there’s the smiley. And so, she puts, I cannot say we because she did it, actually and she did a really good. So, she put it all together and then just deleted a bit and that we have a 3air logo like this and I think that’s really awesome.

Anita Mlakar: 38:49

It really is. She is awesome. Doing crazy things, really. There is another question here Sandi. Let me show it. Do you work on gaining political support on the project in the different countries? Is there a lobbying service which could push things forward in terms of administrative barriers?

Sandi Bitenc: 39:15

Yeah, we are doing this for a few years already. So, the team, the team is present on our in Africa for quite some years already. And we have also been onboarding some, some advisors that are helping us with this. We need to bring on Oliver I want to bring on Oliver in the next few weeks. He can tell you a lot about lobbying in Africa, because he is amazing in that and of course we have our own internal lobbying team you cannot do business at all. And you cannot do business at all in Africa right now without this, so it is an important part of moving into Africa with a telecom that actually needs to have governmental level licenses and so on, we do understand this.

Anita Mlakar: 40:14

Okay, so maybe we should also answer this question. So PayWay will be selling 3air telecom service plans into suite of offered services, or is PayWay a payment processor that will process payments for 3air telecom plans?

Hilina Damte: 40:35

So, as I said, we are a payment company. We do work with many different providers, like, for example, MTN, and other internet service providers as well to collect payments. Sandi, obviously, we would definitely be happy to have K3 as a service provider, but we haven’t gotten to this discussion yet because we are not in the countries that K3is in currently but absolutely, it would make sense and we would love to have K3 as a service provider on our platform.

Sandi Bitenc: 41:14

Yeah. And we would love to work with you for sure. So, there is a collaboration coming, that’s for sure.

Hilina Damte: 41:22

Yeah.

Anita Mlakar: 41:24

Here’s another question, why the internet in Africa has such a low penetration. What’s the reason?

Sandi Bitenc: 41:31

Well, there’s actually no infrastructure there present at this moment in time, and I can speak to you about broadband. And they’re just no cables there for the last mile solution. So, Africa has a lot of the big cables that are going all around the Africa, and connecting it like, the backbone connecting it to the to the rest of the world and those cables also penetrate the continents pretty well, but then they stopped when they reach to big cities. And that right now is just impossible to cover. Hilina, I can tell you probably it won’t be- you cannot go and stop the traffic and just start digging trenches and laying cables there, right Hilina?

Hilina Damte: 42:24

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, Sandi answered it correctly. it was, it’s definitely lack infrastructure. why that is? Obviously, there are many problems in Africa and it’s, we’re still a developing one country but the main thing is that there were no companies that came to Africa, and basically laid infrastructure down. And then at this point where people are, there are roads and everything is already fast moving, I think it would one be tough to, like Sandi said to kind of like dig everywhere and kind of lay infrastructure down but also, I think that now Africa is really growing. And now is when you see many businesses coming and up and coming even with startups, especially with, for example, M-PESA came to Kenya by 2007 and I think then many companies kind of started seeing the potential in Africa, because there are millions, billions of people here. And yeah, we just were not able to have this access. This could be talked about, for many different reasons could be that it is a poor continent. We’re kind of left behind, but I think with kind of now we need to have like, fast, easy solutions. So, K3 being one, I think special when you can, kind of like, switch a country on in six months, that would be very great by putting up towers. So, really looking forward to you guys coming and helping many countries.

Sandi Bitenc: 44:12

Yeah, sure. We’d love to and you mentioned that Africa is a poor continent, and it shouldn’t be it really shouldn’t be. It’s a continent with the most natural resources. It doesn’t make sense that it’s for, it’s just it has been exploited all the time. And I think you cannot exploit a continent and all the people that are educated, I think with the education, the exploitation will slow down, and it will be gone. And I really do hope that Africa just holds on to what this serves. And yeah, I do hope that Internet will, and we will be providing the internet can help with this?

Hilina Damte: 45:02

Yeah, exactly. And also, when you look at countries like, Nigeria, South Africa, Egypt many things are happening. I think we could get there in time.

Anita Mlakar: 45:17

We were talking to Marcos, he said, there are so many great ideas and startups in Africa also high-tech companies having this great ideas and how really this solution or bringing internet that it’s really good broadband internet to Africa will help them to be more successful, and to work better. And I was asking Marcos, where do people when they have a great idea, go and he also explained about the hubs. So, healing people are also I think, trying to find someone to connect to in schools, not only later on when they’re trying to make opportunities as the companies but also in schools, when they’re researching. I think they need this contact and internet is surely a very important thing.

Hilina Damte: 46:13

Yeah, exactly. You definitely need to invest in your human capital and, like I said, infrastructure, access to connectivity power are one of the main important ones that you need to focus on but yeah, Marcos is right, we do have now a lot of these hubs and co working spaces, and these communities, we’re helping all the startups are helping each other working together and it is very important, you do need to work together and even in most universities, they kind of now are having small incubation hubs there. So, yeah, I think in due time, we will get there.

Anita Mlakar: 46:59

Yes, I’m sure. There’s a question where can we follow this magnificent of Hilina’s work?

Hilina Damte: 47:09

So yeah, I think I gave the website last time, you can go to www.payway.et but you can also follow PayWay on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, as well.

Anita Mlakar: 47:26

Yeah, so here are the contexts and of course, you can connect there also questions how they can help Hilina also explained something about it the last time but of course, you have a bit available for all the information Hilina, and this is great that people feel that they want to be a part of this. Really nice.

Hilina Damte: 47:43

Yeah. Community is amazing.

Anita Mlakar: 47:47

Yeah. It makes a difference, connecting people and being together, making a change. You know what Sandi, Hilina should also be helping us with the giveaways today, right?

Sandi Bitenc: 48:03

Yes. Let’s give away some tokens again.

Anita Mlakar: 48:08

Let’s do that because I think they’re already waiting also for that. So, what way with it will be okay. It will be this time, Sandi.

Sandi Bitenc: 48:22

Hilina, I don’t know. Do you have any of either discord or telegram open?

Hilina Damte: 48:33

Yeah. I can open telegram now actually.

Sandi Bitenc: 48:38

Okay, then you pick somebody from telegram and in the meantime, there was also a question about the codes. I’m going to give you a code for the gleam giveaway. So, I’ll tell you the only one. So, the code is 52877. That’s it.

Anita Mlakar: 49:02

I hope you have remember that you have a better memory than I do. Sandi, there are a lot of questions and of course, people are just going crazy about all these codes all around. Also talking about in the communities. So how many have you revealed so far?

Sandi Bitenc: 49:24

Yeah. I think I lost count a bit because I’m not the only one sharing them, but I can tell you that there are now over 30 for sure out. No, that are over 35 out. So at least 35 You should have if you have all of them and tomorrow, I’ll make sure that they’re all shared by end of the day tomorrow. So, by end of the day tomorrow, there’ll be 50 codes shared and then you’ll have another one day to get them all and if somebody finds 50 of them, then Just let me know send me over all the 50 codes and if you have all 50, I’ll give you another code for 502 points.

Anita Mlakar: 50:11

Wow. Please do write down how many codes have you found so far? I really would like to know, and someone is asking what is the code for? Sandi, will you explain again.

Sandi Bitenc: 50:24

So, it’s a gleam giveaway we are giving away an iPhone and a lot of 3air tokens and the draw will be on first of January and you should just go best is to go to our Discord channel and look into the giveaway section and read all about it there.

Anita Mlakar: 50:45

Okay, so we have explained that a lot of giveaways in these festive days.

50:52

Hilina, have you managed to find someone?

Hilina Damte: 50:55

Yeah, I found someone actually. So, it’s Richard because I think someone posted about the sticker sets and he said it would make a cool NFT. So, let’s give it to Richard.

Sandi Bitenc: 51:12

Richard, congratulations. You are a lucky man again.

Anita Mlakar: 51:18

Congratulations.

Sandi Bitenc: 51:21

No, no, Richard deserves it. I am chatting a lot with him also privately. So, he’s a good guy. Yeah, he is a good guy.

Anita Mlakar: 51:29

Yes. Now we have another one. Sandi, where would we pick them from?

Sandi Bitenc: 51:36

I like discord. Let me pick somebody from discord. Let’s see. I see somebody bit new and let’s see you. WisdomJudge. I pick WisdomJudge.

Anita Mlakar: 51:55

Okay. 1000 tokens, the Wisdom Jude 1000s to Richard, and we need a third one.

Sandi Bitenc: 52:05

Or its WisdomJude. Yeah, not judge. Sorry. The third one, you pick the third one.

Anita Mlakar: 52:14

I’m going to pick the third one. Okay. Then let’s I will do that here in the chat. Yes. In our AMA, someone who hasn’t received tokens yet? Maybe, Kitty.

Sandi Bitenc: 52:34

Kitty.

Anita Mlakar: 52:35

Yeah.

Sandi Bitenc: 52:36

Congratulations, Kitty.

Anita Mlakar: 52:38

Congratulations, Kitty. And we will need some more information from you. Here in the chat. We’ll need a telegram or twitter handle, right Sandi?

Sandi Bitenc: 52:52

Yes, somewhere, something that we can contact you. It can also be an email what you’re feeling good to share with us here in the chat. So just write it again in chat, Kitty.

Anita Mlakar: 53:04

Yeah. There was a question, Sandi. Look, there it is. I would love to have the possibility to buy 3air tokens with credit card. Is this going to happen? Or is the option abandoned?

Sandi Bitenc: 53:19

No, it’s not abandoned. So right now, the payment provider is not enabling the credit card payments. So, we need to integrate with another provider and then we need to integrate that one with the previous provider. And we need to integrate everything then in our app. So, it’s a lot of cross integrations, we are still looking into it, and we were kind of hoping that our first internet provider would enable again, credit card payments but all they give us is like no ETA on that. So, we are looking into something else and for sure. We will do it.

Anita Mlakar: 54:09

Okay. Now Sandi, there was a lot of talk also in some AMA’s that we had about the merchandise 3air’s merchandise people would like to have, like, T shirts and cups and someone is saying, Mike is saying here that you should sell a glass, 3air glasses because they’re all going to need it after looking for 50 codes.

Sandi Bitenc: 54:38

Yeah, about the merchandise. We actually are going to have a T shirt contest in beginning of January. So, we are doing a T-shirt contest. You will be able to provide some designs for the T shirts and we’ll pick one together as a community, two or three, I don’t know and then we’ll do some T shirts. And with time for sure, though, also, we’ll also get some additional merchandise. And I think that our three robot is coming alive pretty soon. You’ve already seen it almost finished. So, I think this is going to be the way that we are going into with the merchandise and the designs in the next time and we also started writing some stories and I just received our first story today into review. And I think we’ll be sharing this together with our three robots. A lot of stuff is coming.

Anita Mlakar: 55:56

Yeah. So, talking about the year that is about to come 2022. Sandi, could you just make some prediction?

Sandi Bitenc: 56:09

Prediction about what? I cannot make any predictions in regards to token because everybody wants to know about that one, but I really think that we will close everything down in January, I do think that. So, the pre-sell is going to be closed down. And I think in 2022, we’ll be covering Nigeria in DRC with internet. So, I really do think in the next year, we’ll be able to connect already people in those two countries, kind of bit of my prediction.

Anita Mlakar: 56:56

It’s a nice one. Hilina, what are your New Year’s wishes?

Hilina Damte: 57:04

I’m just looking for a happy and prosperous and successful new year and just filled with love from friends, family, everyone.

Sandi Bitenc: 57:21

Anita, I need to ask you also about your wishes.

Anita Mlakar: 57:26

Okay, because this is the end of the year, and we are talking about the wishes. And the plans, I don’t know, I think I will also go with Hilina, I would really like everybody to be healthy, especially the family and all the people around me, of course. But also, to be I don’t know, successful in what we’re doing, connected also with 3air and the project and my business, just developing and making this opportunity also for other people like in Africa to happen and to have the same possibilities as we do, let’s say here in Europe, in Slovenia, and that would be really nice. And I really believe in this project. And I’m looking forward to everything that will be happening in 2022 and in the years to come.

Hilina Damte: 58:19

it’s great and I just want to add one more thing, actually, because people were asking how to contact me. Also, if you guys want to contact me on Twitter, my DMs are always open. My Twitter handle is @decentralizeEA, like East Africa.

Anita Mlakar: 58:41

Okay, great, because I think it’s important that we also give the contact to people to be able to participate to help to get involved. So, thank you, Hilina for sharing this information.

Sandi Bitenc: 58:54

Hilina, there was one question that I saw, and I think you can answer it is, there was a question when we were talking about providing schools with internet and so on, there was a question if teachers are ready to take that step and to change it. So how are the teachers already looking forward to it? Or are they’re scared of it, it will make a big difference for them.

Hilina Damte: 59:24

I think I definitely think teachers are of course up for it, especially now at this age where everyone is digitally connected with on Facebook. But also, teachers are there to help students. So, I think Internet will make their lives easier. So, they’re definitely up for it. I haven’t seen any teachers that have been against connectivity. They want to actually make it easier for them to reach their students to be able to teach them also with COVID, you have to make it easier to be able to do distance learning. So, I think that teachers will be up for it for sure.

Sandi Bitenc: 1:00:11

I agree with you, I really think it’s something that you cannot go without anymore while providing education.

Hilina Damte: 1:00:23

Exactly!

Anita Mlakar: 1:00:25

So, we have come, let’s say to the end of the year, like here on AMA, of course, we have also a lot of wishes coming up in the comments. So, thank you very much for all of them. Sandi, we said, we will choose another one to be with us on our next AMA, will we do this here or in the community?

Sandi Bitenc: 1:00:50

I think we can do it here but there is also one question that I said that I’m going to answer. And there, there are a lot of questions coming in that we just are not answering, but not really, because we don’t want to, it’s just it’s too many of them. And I think that one of the next upcoming AMAs we should maybe focus just on questions. What do you think?

Anita Mlakar: 1:01:17

That would be a great idea, just from the beginning till the end, just giving you the opportunity to ask anything you want to ask, ask me anything.

Sandi Bitenc: 1:01:28

Exactly. This one was, it was this one because I saw, I kind of felt a bit of passion or frustration behind it. So, there was Mau Camacho, the team is predominantly white men. That hasn’t gone well for Africa before. How do you gain the trust of the local people that you’re not just another foreign company, who will take the advantage, and that we work always with local people? And also on the team, there are not only white men, but we are also looking for women. We have some African people already on the 3air team but if I show you the team that’s working on the grounds, you can see, look, it looks like this. So, it’s not that we are just white men. So, that’s the team that’s working in Sierra Leone right now and will always work with the locals as just possible, always. And we are looking for more people from Africa and that’s our base station. Just I found the image. I said, let’s put it in a bit, you know how it looks like a bit.

Anita Mlakar: 1:02:56

So, you did give the answer and also showed a picture, which is great and really, we’re all here just working with our hearts on this project, local people. We from Europe, whoever it is, it’s the cause, but what counts is what we’re doing this for, and I think this is very important. So, Sandi, will you be the one choosing the next one to be with us on the AMA in the backstage?

Sandi Bitenc: 1:03:30

Yes. So, who wants to be in our backstage? Let me know in the chat here.

Anita Mlakar: 1:03:39

Just write a comment. Yes-Yes-Yes.

Sandi Bitenc: 1:03:50

There’s so many really nice comments.

Anita Mlakar: 1:03:53

Yeah. Mau said, “thanks for addressing the question.”

Sandi Bitenc: 1:03:58

Yeah, we won’t be putting you on air. No worries. So, if you’re in the backstage, you can stay in the backstage, but I guess they’re not ready yet. So now, let’s say we’re not giving away that one, today. Maybe next time.

Anita Mlakar: 1:04:16

Okay, we do have although two suggestions for the same person if you so but okay, we’ll do it the next time.

Sandi Bitenc: 1:04:23

We can ask him I know Seyhan and so I’ll ask him. If you really want to join, you’ll be able to join.

Anita Mlakar: 1:04:31

Okay! Please let us know Seyhan, if you want to be with us on our next AMA that is in the next year. Oh my God, because this one is ending in two days. So next Wednesday in the year 2022. We will be together again. It’s just amazing but that was our last AMA in 2021 and we had such a great time. With all of you looking forward to the upcoming year, because it is going to be big, right Sandi?

Sandi Bitenc: 1:05:06

It is. it’s going to be the year of 3air. I’m pretty sure.

Anita Mlakar: 1:05:12

Thank you, Hilina. Thank you, Sandi.

Sandi Bitenc: 1:05:14

Thanks, Hilina.

Anita Mlakar: 1:05:15

Thanks for being with us and wishing you all the best in 2022. Let this be a great jump to the next year and then we will continue this in the next one. Thank you very much.

Sandi Bitenc: 1:05:33

Enjoy these last two days and I don’t know do you say happy new year already now or are we saying this the next time.

Anita Mlakar: 1:05:45

There is no harm in saying it.

Sandi Bitenc: 1:05:48

Yeah.

Anita Mlakar: 1:05:49

So Happy New Year.

Sandi Bitenc: 1:05:50

Happy New Year.

Hilina Damte: 1:05:54

Happy New Year, everyone.

Anita Mlakar: 1:05:54

To everybody and thank you for being with us.

1:05:56

Yeah, 3. bye

Hilina Damte: 1:06:00

Bye

Sandi Bitenc: 1:06:01

Bye


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