The growing profile of digital currencies such as bitcoin may be met with competition from a new innovative currency, Lumi, which is pegged against Africa’s biggest resource, the sun.
The new currency on the block is developed in a tiny village in Western Jamaica, Accompong.
Announcing the introduction of the Lumi, Timothy McPherson, Accompong’s minister Timothy McPherson, said the currency would open new pathways in Africa since it is pegged against Africa’s biggest resource, which is renewable energy.
“We recognised that given the reality for climate change, the opportunity for Africa and its future economic development, as well as the Caribbean and Latin America, resides within embracing the reality for climate change and taking a leadership role and that should be based on renewable energy,” he said.
Explaining the modalities of the innovative currency, he said the most important factor determining the price of the currency is either market forces of demand and supply or pegging it against other currencies performances. In this case, the Lumi draws on the future demand and supply for renewable energy, and in this case, solar energy.
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“Climatically, the sun shines brightest in Africa and as McPherson elucidates: “The financial engineering behind the Lumi recognises the way in which our ancestors, in colonial times and pre-colonial times, always took a leadership role in creating their own mechanisms for monetary exchange whether bartering, cowrie shells, copper plates or gold.”
A conventional banker by day and experience, McPherson is an innovator and a financial visionary. This new currency is set to make waves especially in Africa with the renewed focus on a Pan-African vision that draws on Africa’s pre-colonial past.
McPherson’s focus is on striving for the achievement of the sustainable development goals critical for Africa’s future. Drawing on his experience in Accompong, he is set to introduce the concept of the Lumi to the rest of Africa.
The success of this new currency could become a model especially for developing and underdeveloped countries. It does signal that the centre for financial innovation can derive from a small village called Accompong.
