Base Ecosystem Growth, EMEA
Stablecoins & ecosystem
Seven years in Stablecoins, Marketing, and Ecosystem Growth
Damilare Aregbesola
Institutional growth operator with a track record of leading Go-To-Market strategies for infrastructure products & ecosystems, with a core focus on revenue.
Companies I've worked with
Get in touch
The Track-Record
What seven years adds up to
$200M+
USDC moved through African businesses building on Base; accounts taken from zero usage to live revenue lines.
$3B
Cross-border stablecoin opportunity developed with the African Export-Import Bank and four of the continent's largest fintechs.
$151M
cNGN onchain volume, with supply grown from zero to $1.7M; one of only two regulated local stablecoins live in Africa.
#1
Global market for Base App at launch; Nigeria, 100,000 sign-ups, ahead of the United States.
5,400
Developers onboarded from 43 countries in a single Polygon campaign; the largest campaign Polygon DevRel had run.
52
African markets covered as the primary point of contact; every campaign, partnership and appearance in region.
The Work
Everywhere I've done it
Developer Marketing Manager, Africa
Developer growth
Community Marketing Lead
Consumer GTM
Developer Marketer
Developer marketingMarketing Strategy Consultant
Partnerships
Sales Support Analyst
Capital markets
Investment & Economic Research
ResearchWhat That Looked Like
Three places, in detail
Base & USDC
Co-led Base's ecosystem work across Africa, then EMEA
- Drove USDC transaction volume through African businesses building on Base; moving accounts from zero usage to live revenue lines.$200M+
- Worked alongside issuers and regulators on cNGN and nTZS, the only regulated local stablecoins live in Africa; issuer readiness, reserve and compliance posture, and local banking connectivity.$151M onchain
- Built working relationships with the African Export-Import Bank and four of the continent's largest fintechs around USDC integration; remittance corridors, continental trade, FX and enterprise payouts.$3B opportunity
- Made Nigeria the #1 global market for Base App at launch, ahead of the United States.100,000 sign-ups
- Grew the Base ecosystem in Africa from zero to six breakout products across payments, remittances and consumer apps.0 → 6
$200M+
USDC moved
Africa GTM
Ran Polygon's Africa Go-To-Market end to end
- Designed and ran the Polygon Africa Bootcamp with Chainlink, Alchemy and The Graph; the largest campaign Polygon DevRel had run to that point.5,400 devs · 43 countries
- Acted as Polygon's primary point of contact for 52 African markets; every in-region campaign, partnership conversation and conference appearance.52 markets
- Closed partnerships with five of the continent's largest developer communities and ten media houses; advanced two major African fintechs through integration.5 + 10 + 2
- Represented Polygon publicly with regulators, governments and enterprises evaluating the chain for deployment.Gov & enterprise
5,400
Developers onboarded
Africa launch
Owned the Blockchain.com Wallet's Africa launch
- Took the wallet to market in Africa from KOL activation and on-the-ground partnerships; 2,100 community members in the first 48 hours.2,100 / 48 hrs
- Ran the relationship layer between Blockchain.com and African retail users; partnerships, escalations and product feedback into HQ.Retail layer
- Sourced and managed institutional partnerships with on-ramp and off-ramp providers; the actual bottleneck for African retail UX.On/off-ramp
2,100
Community members in 48 hours
The Rooms I'm In
Who sits on the other side of the table
Central Bank of Nigeria
Issuer <> regulator · cNGN
African Export-Import Bank
Cross-border corridors
Tier-one African fintechs
Remittance · trade · FX · payouts
Local stablecoin issuers
LATAM · Asia · Middle-East
Developer communities & founders
Nigeria · Kenya · South Africa
What I Actually Do
The parts I'm known forSkills
Developer MarketingBusiness Development
Government RelationsPublic Speaking
Stablecoins & Remittances
Markets
EuropeMiddle-EastAfrica
Writing
Documenting the process behind the resultscNGN: the untold story behind the only crypto product under Nigeria's SEC & CBN oversight
One thing Africa has begun to excel at is pulling social attention into what we do as an ecosystem. What we've failed at is documenting the process behind the results we claim.
Read on XLife after Coinbase: what comes next?
Yesterday, I was excitedly planning how to break the news that Lava VC had invested into LEDiG, another founder on Base, as their first corporate investor. Today, I find myself writing something else entirely.
Read on XPress
Where the work has been covered
Mariblock