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A hotly tipped blockchain startup has appointed a former Apprentice winner to its board

Blockchain startup Humaniq has appointed former Apprentice winner, Tim Campbell, to its advisory board as it lays the groundwork for its expansion into the African market.

The company, which is developing technology to help plug the world’s 2bn unbanked people into the global financial system, recently raised $4m as part of its initial coin offering (ICO) and has announced a string of partnerships with the likes of Deloitte.

Launched in 2016, the startup is utilising cheap and readily available smartphone technology to develop means for the secure transfer of payments and other services using its app and ethereum-powered blockchain currency.

Facial and voice recognition technology will help to solve issues of identification, while its bitcoin-style cryptocurrency will allow users to send and receive payment, both from other users and from third party services such as insurance and pensions which can plug in to the technology.

Clearly the focus on this new tech will be on the developing world, where vast swathes of the world’s population lack access to banking services due to a lack of available services or issues with reliably identifying individuals.

With this in mind, Campbell will join Alex Fork, Dinis Guarda and Dmitry Kaminskiy on Humaniq’s board, where he will assist the firm in expanding into new emerging markets coming after the former Apprentice winner took part in an Enterprise Africa conference in Accra, Ghana.

Following his appointment, Campbell said: “Humaniq has the capacity to produce thousands of entrepreneurs in addition to numerous customers of tomorrow who are unbanked.

“I have always insisted that business has the power to bring about social change and Humaniq’s model of bringing financial instruments and education to the over two billion unbanked people around the world is the manifestation.”

Humaniq Chief Executive Officer Dinis Guarda, added: “Tim is a force of nature and he will be essential to assist us in developing the global DNA of the Humaniq organisation.

“He will be alongside our executive team working close to set a mark in underdeveloped and developing countries starting with Africa, with a special emphasis on Ghana. Also his knowledge in business and community building will be an asset for our dynamics.”

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