The Kuoka Project has partnered with objkt.com to raise 60,000 XTZ (approximately $75,000 at the time of this writing) to fund the first 10 self-sustaining independent public bakers (Tezos validator nodes) across sub-Saharan Africa.

Tezos baking is the act of validating Tezos network transactions by signing and publishing blocks to the Tezos blockchain. This is a crucial component of the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism to ensure no double-spending occurs. 

The Kuoka Project was set up by Nelly Chatue Diop (CEO and Co-Founder of Ejara), Mike Radin (Cryptonomic & Galleon wallet), Kevin Mehrabi (Founder of Stabletech) and numerous other volunteers. 

The project was founded as a non-profit organization to assist new Tezos bakers in Africa in learning the ins and outs of setting up a Tezos node and beginning to bake.

All baker candidates who want to get funding to launch a node are to be screened and vetted. They must have public identities and must demonstrate their ability to maintain technicals, distribute payouts, and communicate with their delegators via social media.

A Kuoka fundraiser wallet will collect the funds and distribute them to the bakers as they demonstrate their ability and their readiness to bake.

At the start, only the bond amount (600 XTZ) will be transferred to the baker’s wallet, and the remaining funds to reach the 6,000 XTZ roll that allows you to fully run a node will be delegated to bakers by Kuoka Project.

The funds delegated to the Kuoka Project will be stored in a multi-signature wallet for additional security. 

Eventually, the bakers should have access to all 6,000 XTZ so that they can delegate to others and advance their position in the network.

Bakers must sign a prior commitment for continuity and submit a contingency plan in the event that they are unable to continue. All of this will be reviewed by the Kuoka Project team.

The fundraiser for the project will officially begin on July 11th 2022.