An Interview Between +SocialGood Connector & Managing Partner at Mission & Co., Shariha Khalid Erichsen and Joseph Thompson of AID:Tech

The Responsible Finance & Investment Summit brings together key stakeholders within responsible finance to build connections to new growth opportunities and more measurable impact. +SocialGood Connector and Managing Partner at Mission & Co., Shariha Khalid Erichsen reported from the forum.

In this interview, Shariha speaks with Joseph Thompson, the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of AID:Tech, an Award-winning company delivering enterprise level Blockchain solutions. They provide enterprise level solutions to international NGOs, governments and corporates to help them tackle some of the most entrenched issues in their fields. By making it possible to deliver digital entitlements through Blockchain technology and Digital Identity, AID:Tech addresses some of the largest obstacles in global development, including legal identity, financial inclusion and corruption.

Meet Joseph Thompson: Joseph combines a background in management consultancy with strategic IT management, boosting a wealth of practical and theoretical knowledge. Previous to founding AID:Tech, he held a number of senior positions at Bearing Point, Ericsson, The Litmus Group and AIB. It is Joseph’s vision to harness cutting-edge technology and build a company that is both profitable and socially responsible.

Shariha: AID:Tech promises to revolutionise how aid money is managed and distributed. Can you tell me about how you are doing this and a bit about how your journey started please?

Joseph: AID:Tech was born in the Sahara Desert when I ran the 151-mile Marathon des Sables in 2009. For the 6-day race across the Sahara Desert, I raised over $120k for a charity I trusted. But the funds did not go where they were intended to. I became disillusioned with charitable giving but solving the problem also became a goal of mine.

I saw the potential of Blockchain technology in 2010 when I was wondering how blockchain could be used to transparently distribute aid. It was clear to me that the technology has huge potential to disrupt sectors and industries, especially when you look at the inadequacies that are coming to light across private, public and even the third sector.

My long-time friend and fellow AID:Tech co-founder, Niall Denney, and I began working on the idea and in December 2014, we worked with the Irish Red Cross to implement the world’s first Blockchain-based aid delivery to Syrian refugees in Lebanon. Since then, we have been growing our technology to work with use cases including welfare, remittance, healthcare and now, p2p donations.

Our innovation harnesses Blockchain technology. It marries access with identity — legal identity is a fundamental component to access to some of the most basic services, whether it is education, healthcare or legal protection. It is so crucial that the UN has made it part of a set of ambitious Sustainable Development Goals, Target 16.9, where everyone should have access to a legal identity by 2030.

With digital identity as key, our Blockchain technology means that any asset, including cash, can be digitised and its transaction recorded securely, efficiently and with traceability.

Not only does this mean that end-users who were previously undocumented become recognised, our technology also makes sure that they receive what they are entitled to. In the process, the development and humanitarian sectors benefit from transparency, accountability, and efficiency which are all basis for cost savings and generally improving service delivery.

Shariha: What are the trends you see within international development and humanitarian action, and the use of blockchain technology?

Joseph: There is a huge demand for greater transparency and accountability. It is true that the sector has been seeing an ongoing push for digital strategy, using data to inform decision-making and so forth, but all of that is really coming to a head in our opinion, especially since we have seen comparatively so little solutions to date.

Although, whatever the trend may be, there are still billions of dollars of funding being circulated every year and the main issue is that they seem to be making little or very intangible impact on the needs that are steadily growing every year..

Now is the time for a solution that can genuinely introduce transparency and traceability and Blockchain can do this. It is a technology that is seeing huge waves of experimental projects in the private sector, and we have no doubt that the same technology can make the same huge waves in the aid and development sectors. Its characteristics — injecting transparency, traceability and therefore enforcing accountability is absolutely necessary for the sake of sustainability. Blockchain offers answers in ways superseding any pre-existing technology.

Shariha: What are you excited about in the future? Especially in the context of responsible finance and investment?

Joseph: There are two areas that I am incredibly excited about for the future. Firsty, in the future, end beneficiaries will have ability for to own and monetize their own data. Think of it being the opposite of how data is currently shared now. A beneficiary who holds a digital ID on the blockchain will be able to decide who they share or sell their data too.

Secondly, I am very excited about a democratisation of financial services tho those who are currently unbanked. This will be most relevant in developing world and in muslim countries that have a growing need for access to these services. The Islamic banking system was more robust during the global financial crises and this allows for less risk being taken with funds and more opportunities to distribute wealth amongst the poor.

A recent (2017), a report by Business & Sustainable Development Commission shows that the SDGs are a US$12 trillion market opportunity. The potential commercial value has really encouraged private, public and other sector collaboration — which means the timing is perfect for us. AID:Tech is a for-profit, but we are driven by the goal of making a difference in some of the world’s largest and most entrenched social problems.

This principle has been crucial in helping us build meaningful relationships with a wide range of industry leaders, with whom we often engage in discussions and activities about how Blockchain can be put to use in the most impactful way. Backed by these relationships, we are also seeing first hand the exciting development and really positive reception of innovative technology in spaces where disruption is going to happen, one way or another. Since we are only at the beginning of this journey, exciting is very much an understatement.

For more on AID:Tech’s work, you can follow them on Twitter @aidtechnology and Facebook @aidtechnologysolutions