University of Ibadan Zcash Bootcamp: Privacy, Shielded Finance, and Real Adoption in Ibadan, Nigeria

Community Grants Applications
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@ZcashGrants Hello Zcash community. I am Deborah Chinasa Ochiowon, founder of Co-Own Chains, privacy advocate, and active Zcash user. I am proposing a one-day in-person Zcash education bootcamp at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, open to students and the general public within 5km of campus.

Full grant application: https://github.com/ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants/issues/330

The Problem

Ibadan is Nigeria’s third-largest city, home to one of Africa’s oldest universities, yet has zero organized Zcash education presence. Nigeria ranks near the top globally for Zcash mobile downloads, but downloads without education produce limited adoption. Most crypto education here focuses on speculation. Shielded transactions, financial privacy as a right, and how to actually get started with Zcash safely are topics that simply are not being covered anywhere in this city.

What We Are Doing

A four-hour structured bootcamp covering five sessions: Zcash fundamentals and why privacy matters, ZEC as a financial asset (delivered by Prof. Femi Adebayo, Associate Professor at University Of Ibadan and active ZEC investor), an 18-minute hands-on Zingo wallet setup for every attendee in the room, a practical session on using Zingo and accepting ZEC as payment, and a full Q&A. We close with brochure distribution, 600 branded Zcash T-shirts, and refreshments. Attendees leave with a working shielded wallet, a completed transaction, and a step-by-step take-home guide.

Pre-event outreach runs across two stages: campus flyers and in-person invitation (Days 10 to 14), then street outreach to the surrounding public (Days 15 to 18).

Our Team

Deborah Chinasa Ochiowon - Project Lead, University of Ibadan alumna, Co-Own Chains founder. Leads Zingo onboarding and ZEC payments sessions, co-authors the brochure.

Prof. Femi Adebayo - Guest Lecturer, Associate Professor at University Of Ibadan, active crypto investor with ZEC experience. Delivers the asset education session and co-authors the brochure.

Field team of 6 (Adaora Chibuike, Benedith Ayomide, Godwin Otumba, Praise Okafor, Favour Oghenero, Blessing Akpan) — current and former UI students handling outreach, event-day support, and one-on-one wallet onboarding.

Budget and Milestones

Total requested: $13,780 across 3 milestones.

Milestone 1 - Preparation ($6,700, startup funding): hall reservation, all print materials (brochures, flyers, banners, stickers), T-shirt production (600 units), campus and street outreach. Target: 14 July 2026.

Milestone 2 - Contracting ($4,000): sound and projection, decoration, refreshments, photography and video deposit. Target: 19 July 2026.

Milestone 3 - Event and Close-out ($3,080): event execution, Prof. Adebayo honorarium, team settlement, full photo and video documentation, post-event report published here within 5 days. Target: 22 July 2026.

All receipts documented and submitted to this thread at every milestone.

Expected Outcomes

200+ attendees. 60+ completing live Zingo wallet setup on the day. At least one documented shielded ZEC transaction on the event floor. 600 T-shirts extending Zcash visibility across Ibadan after the event closes.

The semester ends June 26. Students are ready. We want to move as soon as funding is confirmed.

Privacy is normal. Financial privacy is a right. We want Ibadan to experience that firsthand through Zcash.

We welcome all feedback from the community. See the full application at https://github.com/ZcashCommunityGrants/zcashcommunitygrants/issues/330

Zcash Community Grants Meeting Minutes 6/22/2026
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@shawn Please I logged in to find that I had to edit the post don’t know what’s going on please what’s the issue?

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The system auto flagged your account as a sockpuppet because you registered it from the same IP as @Theodemiourgos.

The content of your post doesn’t seem to be an issue.

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@Shawn It was he that referred me. I also connected to his hotspot while signing up at his office in Lagos. He told me about the grant and that I should host an event for zcash. He was the one that told me about zcash and recently introduced me to this community. I haven’t connected to any person outside that. My network was bad that day that was why i connected to him. You can verify my ID

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Nothing more needs to be done. I already cleared the flag so the account is free to post normally.

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Great concept

Love the idea of bringing in a professor but I have a couple of questions

  1. What is the proof that you or any of your team members understands zcash enough to educate others about it
  2. Are you sure there has been no zcash presence in ibadan?
1 Like
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@Dre_Nesthub thanks for the question

Proof of Zcash understanding:I’ve been using Zcash for about three years now, after a friend first introduced me to it, and I’ve spent that time going deeper into how it actually works rather than just holding it. Zcash is a cryptocurrency that gives you a choice about transaction privacy. Most blockchains (Bitcoin, Ethereum) are fully transparent — anyone can see every wallet’s balance and history forever. Zcash lets you transact through “shielded” addresses, where the sender, receiver, and amount are encrypted on-chain using zero-knowledge proofs. The network can still verify the transaction is valid without revealing the details to the public. That’s the core innovation. Financial privacy is a norm everywhere else in life. You dont publish your bank statement but most crypto strips that away by default. In a place like Nigeria, where bank transfer fees, surveillance-prone payment rails, and informal financial systems are daily realities, that’s not an abstract feature, it’s directly useful.The bootcamp curriculum (laid out in the full application) reflects exactly this structure: Session 1 covers shielded vs. transparent transactions and zero-knowledge proofs at an accessible level, and Sessions 3-4 are hands-on: every attendee actually generates a shielded address in Zingo and completes a real transaction, not just a slide deck. I’m leading the Zingo onboarding and ZEC-payments sessions myself. Prof. Adebayo, who has his own track record investing in ZEC, is covering the asset/market side, which is a different skill set from mine and is why we split the curriculum that way rather than having one person try to cover everything.

If it would help build confidence, I’m happy to do a quick AMA-style thread here, or answer a few technical questions live, before any funding decision whatever gives the community a way to actually verify this rather than just take my word for it.

Zcash Ibadan: You’re right about this, and I want to be precise rather than overclaim. Zcash isn’t unknown in Ibadan — there are individuals here, myself included, who hold and use ZEC, and people like you may have encountered it through friends or online, same as I did, there are also meetups sometime ago. What doesn’t exist is an organized, recurring educational presence: no structured onboarding process that converts curiosity into actual shieldedwallet usage. That’s the gap this bootcamp targets specifically not introducing Zcash to a city that’s never heard of it, but giving University of Ibadan students and the surrounding community their first structured, in-person, hands-on pathway into it, while the semester is still running and people are reachable on campus.

As a UI alumna, I know the student community and how to move within it which is part of why this is structured as a campus-anchored event with a field team of current and former students rather than a generic outreach campaign. My friend actually encouraged me to make a bootcamp targeting this these audience and I think myself and my team can handle it. I called prof adebayo also a friend I knows deals on zcash if he’ll come onboard and he agreed. If there’s already an existing structure for this please let me know so I can withdraw this proposal thanks.

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Truth be told, you really need to.prove you know how to teach zcash

Firstly when I asked for proof I expected posts, video or articles showing that you have showed a level of education. To me all you wrote doesn’t prove anything. I can easily go to an AI model to answer the question. Do you even know about zechub which will even help to ease your onboarding process.

Also why are you onboarding to zingo and not ZODL (I don’t have any issue with your preference) but I’m concerned you don’t know much about the ecosystem

Also you said no zcash presence in ibadan (funny you said that :joy:), well I’ll have you know that zcash contributors like @elzz-ux and myself have organized a total of 3 events in ibadan this year alone.

Mind you I’m also a university of Ibadan alumnus

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@Dre_Nesthub That’s very good I truly appreciate that. Yeah I know about ZODL but I was going to use Zingo. Also it’s good you already have a structure for it, I’d like to ask if this contribution is still necessary seeing you’ve said there’s already 3 events this year alone in Ibadan (I’d be happy to join the next meetup despite the outcome of this proposal) it appears there’s already a strong presence at the school also how do I drop this proposal (there are two of you already) but am happy :blush: to join the next meetup just message me here for updates. If it will help like you said I can make a 5mins YouTube video on zcash as proof of my knowledge. Thank you

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sure
mind you i didn’t say your proposal won’t be approved
i just shared my concerns also you can make content on x and youtube and share with the zechub community on discord

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@Dre_Nesthub It’s okay we’re not talking about approval or not here my idea was to make impact I didn’t know someone was already working on it. Please do message me anytime an event is available here at Ibadan I’d love to be part of it. Thanks

1 Like
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@Shawn Please how do I delete this proposal I can’t find the option. I think @Dre_Nesthub is already doing something similar already.

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You should withdraw your proposal on ZCG GitHub if you no longer wish to apply for the grant. CC @ZCG

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@Shawn how do I do that? Also how do I do it here? @Dre_Nesthub Please also ensure to inform me on the next meetup I’d like to be part of it thanks

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@Debbx we’ll remove your request from GitHub. Consider it done :white_check_mark:

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Okay thanks please how do I remove it here?

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@Shawn please how do I remove this one?

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Not necessary, grant is closed, thread will go dark as users stop commenting.