Published: 04 April 2018

Reggie Middleton, Disruptor-in-Chief at Veritaseum, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Arua SEZ LIMITED to develop a Veritaseum technology-driven redevelopment of a special economic zone (SEZ) in Uganda. In the words of Veritaseum’s founder, “We’re rapidly prototyping a real world Wakanda using Veritaseum machines and blockchain tech! Veritaseum plans to significantly outdo the economic growth witnessed in areas such as China of the 2000s or Dubai of this decade.”

Notable aspects of the project:

1. Special Economic Zone status has been granted to the subject property implying a  ten year tax holiday, zero customs and administrative priority for customs and clearing.
2. Mixed industrial planned redevelopment of an existing industrial park with water and power infrastructure on site. The main purpose of the project is to boost bidirectional Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Fast Moving Goods & Commodities (FMGC) to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan and Central African Republic ,  Exports of Natural Resources, ie., cassiterite (tin ore), coltan (tantalum), gold (AU), tungsten and timber.
3. The processing of food and agricultural products to be link to international value chains - namely, coffee, fish and derivatives, shea butter, honey - all produced in East and Central Africa, with financialization achievable via a tokenized commodity platform powered by Veritaseum technology. Think Wakandan level CME or CBOE.
4. Veritaseum contract-driven lease and rental agreements through the blockchain and Veritaseum contract-driven dividend policy for tokenholders.

Arua SEZ Limited has successfully passed Veritaseum's internal AML and compliance checks and we are preparing to move very quickly to put our resources to work in the continent of Africa.

  Key team members on the Ugandan side

Abubaker Mayanja, Chief Executive Officer, Arua SEZ

Abubaker is the Managing Director of ABL Dunamis Ltd. He has been involved in the various aspects of asset management, finance and investment advisory for clients in Uganda and Internationally for over 8 years. He has provided financial and investment advisory services to individuals and institutions in Uganda and Internationally. This has involved preparation of transaction material including business plans, financial models and information memorandum to allow sell of businesses.

Previously, he was Investment Manager at Housing Finance Bank, Head of Investment Banking at UAP (formerly Made in Africa Investment Bank), a Research Fellow at Economic Policy Research Centre in Uganda and a Course Leader at Leicester Business Academy including a role as a Lecturer on the academy’s Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) course.

He holds a BSc (Quantitative Economics) from Makerere University, Uganda and an MSc (Financial Economics) from Leicester University, UK.

He also has a Certificate in Econometrics of Programme Evaluation from Centre for Study of African Economies, University of Oxford. Certificate of Competence in Basic Banking, Uganda Institute of Banking and Financial Services

• MD, ABL Dunamis
• Director Carbon Finance Carbon Trading Company Ltd.
• Investment Manager, Housing Finance Bank
• Head Investment Banking/ CEO, UAP Financial Services, Formerly Made in Africa Investment Bank
• Research Fellow, Economic Policy Research Centre

• Teaching Assistant, University of Leicester

• MSc Financial Economics, University of Leicester

• BSc. Quantitative Economics(2:1 Honours), Makerere University

• Applied Mathematics, Statistics, Economics, Second Honours

Source: LinkedIn, Web Search

Moses Jurua Adriko - Legal Counsel/ Vice Chairman , Arua SEZ

• Acting for Uganda Breweries in a complex tax dispute with Uganda Revenue Authority involving the application of the East African Custom Management Act.
• Acting for Diageo in a suit obtaining order against infringement of the John Walker Black Label brand.
• Acting for Coex Coffee International successfully to resist attachment of Coffee stocks worth $750,000.
• Acting against the Attorney General of Uganda to successfully recover compensation in the sum of USD $2,000,000 on behalf of a client whose property was expropriated.
• Acted as Arbitrator in General Adhoc United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) tribunals on various commercial disputes.
• Acted as Panel Member of the Public Procurement Disposal Assets Appeals Tribunal (PPDAAT) on various complex multi-million dollar disputes involving Public Procurement disputes and appeals from the Procurement Authority.
• Moses serves as a Non-Executive Director of Standard Chartered Bank (U) Limited.
• Moses is a past president of the Uganda Law Society and chaired the African Forum of the International Bar Association (IBA).
• Moses has served on the on the IBA Human Rights Institute as a Council Member.
• Moses is a member of the Public Appeals and Procurement Authority Tribunal (PPDA Tribunal) and has served as a member of the Transitional Justice Issues Committee, of the Government of Uganda.

Sources: Bloomberg and Africa Legal Network

OTher team members...

Esther Nantambi: Head of Operations

Diarmuid Philip Curtin: Planner/ Architect 

Key project members on the Veritaseum side will begin building out the platform within two weeks or less

See each team members' bio and hear them speak at the Veritaseum Team page.