Kicker: Africa Digital Assets is exploring tokenisation as a way to expand local participation in resource wealth and infrastructure investment.
Africa Digital Assets (ADA) is expanding its digital finance ambitions across East and Southern Africa with the pre-launch of the Kenya Token and the opening of its Africa hub at Mwanzo Gardens in Nairobi.
The initiative follows the pre-launch of the Namibia Token in Windhoek on October 5, 2026, as the organisation seeks to develop digital assets that prioritise local participation in economic growth.
ADA founder Professor Fredrick Onyango Ogola said African economies needed mechanisms that enabled citizens to benefit more directly from the value generated by their resources and businesses.
“First and foremost, Africans’ wealth should work for Africans, and that includes those most in need,” Ogola said.
He described tokenisation as a potential means of broadening ownership and participation in economic activity, particularly among people who have limited access to conventional investment opportunities.
Namibia’s infrastructure opportunity
Namibia is central to ADA’s regional expansion strategy because of its strategic position in Southern African trade.
The country has a population of approximately three million, while its ports and transport corridors serve six countries and more than 300 million people.
ADA has identified opportunities associated with the development of roads, energy, water systems, fuel storage facilities and port infrastructure. It also sees potential in the country’s mineral resources, renewable energy sector and recent oil discoveries.
The organisation is exploring how assets and projects along the Walvis Bay-Windhoek-Cape Town corridor could be tokenised to encourage participation in the value generated by regional trade and investment.
“Namibia can become Southern Africa’s ethical tokenization gateway, creating opportunities for Namibians to participate in, own, and benefit from the wealth generated by their country,” Ogola said.
The Windhoek briefing was led by ADA’s country ambassador, Dr Ambrosius Hinanentu Iipinge.
Kenya’s digital finance market
In Kenya, ADA is targeting a market where mobile money has become an integral part of financial transactions.
The organisation cited approximately US$321 billion in M-PESA transactions last year, contrasting this with about 84,000 active share traders among Safaricom’s roughly 33 million M-PESA users.
The Kenya Token is designed to extend participation into digital assets, with a proposed price of US$1 per token.
ADA’s proposed model allocates 70 per cent of revenue to token buybacks held in a 30-year vault and 30 per cent to staking rewards for holders. The organisation also intends to support real-economy projects and set aside five per cent towards establishing a university for training African blockchain engineers.
The organisation says the model is intended to combine digital finance with an emphasis on social responsibility and local economic development.
Ethics at the centre
The Kenya and Namibia initiatives draw on Catholic social teaching, particularly the principle that the needs of poor and disadvantaged people should receive priority in economic decisions.
The same principle informed the Africa Digital Asset Summit 2026, which took place at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in Nairobi on April 29 and 30.
The summit attracted participants from government, academia, the financial sector, industry associations and faith-based organisations.
ADA’s Nairobi launch also brought together stakeholders from Kenya, Namibia and the wider continent, including university professors, prospective distributors, banking and pension representatives, investors and advisers.
Regulatory debate
ADA is urging Kenyan authorities to delay the implementation of the virtual asset licensing transition by approximately eight months, proposing August 2027 as the new timeline.
Ogola argues that regulators should develop a deeper understanding of how digital assets operate in local markets while investing in public financial literacy.
“Traffic should come before traffic lights,” he said.
The organisation’s Africa Digital Assets Academy offers an 11-course programme covering digital asset fundamentals, fraud prevention and safer participation, with the first courses available free of charge.
Public sale timeline
ADA has opened its whitelist and invited interested buyers to submit non-binding letters of interest specifying how many tokens they intend to purchase at US$1 each.
Registered participants will receive a private-sale link. Public sales are scheduled for December 16 to 25, 2026.
Interested participants can register at https://www.catholictoken.com/.
