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This week’s guest on the Cardano SPO Column is a purpose-driven stake pool with several charity projects in developing countries, including solar lighting and freshwater wells: WeQanhet (WEQNT).
Last week’s guest was a Stake Pool managed by a single operator who creates in-depth Cardano-related educational content.
This initiative is a point of reference for everything Cardano and every week or two we will invite a Stake Pool Operator (SPO) to answer some questions and give us an update directly from within the Cardano community.
Considering that many of our readers are new to the crypto space, we will have a mix of simple and technical questions.
Hi Denicio, glad to have you here. Tell us a bit about yourself, where are you from and what is your background?
Hi everyone, my name is Denicio Bernier and I’m from the Netherlands. I got into blockchain late 2017 after accepting a challenge from a colleague to provide a list of projects I believed to be better than Ethereum & Bitcoin.
It took me a week to research several projects, but the only one that really drew my focus was Cardano. The reason that Cardano got my attention was because of the team behind the project and its aim to fix the problem with land-registration, something that has been plaguing my family for more than 30 years.
Ever since I discovered Cardano, I have dedicated my time to learning more about the project and informing others of it.
What has led you to become a Cardano Ambassador and Stake Pool Operator?
Before I became an ambassador I had a podcast that was focused on interviewing community members. At that time, the idea behind the podcast was to show the world that Cardano has a real, live and active community. The community was not as large then as it is today, so I wanted to show the world that we actually do have a community from all over the globe.
In regards to running a stake pool, I believe that every active community member should either run a stake pool or delegate their stake to a community-based stake pool. As an ambassador, I see it as my duty to lead by example and help secure the network by running a single stake pool.
What kind of charity projects are you working on and where?
Stake Pool WEQNT is dedicated to providing free solar lighting to people living in rural desert areas in Africa. We do this with great love and passion for the people and hope that by doing this we can help improve the quality of their lives. We are also in the process of gathering funds to start drilling water-wells for the same communities.
I believe that no one should have to walk kilometers just to get a bucket of water. Also, the water that is drawn from sources often contains lots of different bacteria that does not benefit the overall health of the people. So if we can contribute to solving some of these problems with the help of the community then we should.
You can find more information on our website.
Your stake pool has been around since the ITN (Incentivized Testnet). Given your experience, what advice do you have for new SPOs? How can they grow?
I’ve been around since the ITN indeed. It was a very special time. We were all just learning how it worked to set up a stakepool and how to market our business and build relationships with our delegators. Truly a memorable time!
Since the ITN, I have always said that WEQNT wanted to provide free solar lighting for people living in rural desert areas in Africa and yes, I have kept that commitment!
For other SPOs who are just starting or who have difficulty attracting delegation, I would advise them to try and create more visibility for their business and build honest and upright relationships with their community of (potential) delegators
Thanks for your time. Any final thoughts? Where can people find you?
The pleasure is mine. I really enjoyed this. This is a great example of how someone can contribute to the further advancement of the Cardano ecosystem – in your own unique way.
If anyone would like to support us, they can delegate to WEQNT stake pool.
We are a healthy performing stake pool with a solid mission and would like to grow further and do more good for people in need.
Be Blessed
Denicio Bernier
Disclaimer: The opinions and views of the SPOs are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Cardano Foundation or IOHK.