🌍 The Jasiri Story
From Dead Capital to Digital Ownership
"What if your smartphone could unlock a loan? What if your laptop was enough to open a bank account? What if the things you already own could open doors?"
That's the question Jasiri set out to answer.
💡 It All Began with a Problem the World Ignored
The world is full of valuable assets that don't count. In his groundbreaking work, economist Hernando de Soto introduced the term dead capital: assets that people own but cannot leverage for credit, insurance, or formal economic participation.
Think: unregistered land, informal housing, unrecognized property.
But Jasiri's founder, Celestine Kariuki, took that idea one bold step further.
"What if the most overlooked form of dead capital today isn't land... but tech?"Celestine Kariuki, Founder
🔍 The Million-Dollar Question
High-Value Devices
Millions own smartphones, laptops, tablets worth hundreds or thousands of dollars
Zero Financial Utility
Treated like consumables, not capital. Can't borrow against your MacBook
But Why Not?
That single question sparked the creation of Jasiri
After all, millions of people own high-value smartphones, laptops, tablets, and smartwatches, yet these assets are treated like consumables, not capital. You can't borrow against your MacBook. You can't get insurance for your Infinix. You can't walk into a bank and say, "Here's my Samsung, give me credit."
🔎 A Personal Quest: From Frustration to Innovation
Celestine didn't grow up surrounded by wealth. Like many African youths, he experienced the frustration of being asset-rich but cash-poor: surrounded by smart devices worth hundreds of dollars, yet had zero financial utility.
- ● He watched friends get turned away by banks
- ● He saw families forced to sell their phones during emergencies
- ● He experienced the gap between ownership and opportunity firsthand
So, while still a university student, Celestine began building a solution.
Nairobi, Kenya
Where innovation meets necessity. Where a student's frustration became a global fintech solution.
💰 Building from Zero: A Startup Born from Purpose
Not a pitch deck. Not a prototype. A real, working product.
The Beginning
- ✓ Cold messages to developers worldwide
- ✓ Discord calls with potential collaborators
- ✓ Open-source demos and prototypes
- ✓ No connections, no capital - just determination
$90,000 Algorand Grant
In 2024, Jasiri was awarded a $90,000 non-dilutive grant from the Algorand Foundation, transforming a student idea into a global fintech project.
With that grant, Jasiri began building the infrastructure to:
Digitize Ownership
Through verified asset uploads
Assign Titles
Eventually as NFTs for personal electronics
Enable Access
To cheap credit, insurance, and banking
Global Visibility
Asset visibility and trust across the globe
🚀 Why Jasiri Exists
Because the system is rigged
Against informal value and everyday ownership
Because owning should mean access
Not just possession, but opportunity
Because it's absurd
That a $1,200 phone can't get you a $50 loan
Jasiri flips that.
It transforms your smart device into proof of ownership, collateral, and a gateway to financial services: insurance, credit, banking, and identity.
💫 The Bigger Mission: A World Without Dead Capital
We believe every device, every asset, and every person deserves a shot at economic inclusion.
We're not just inspired by Hernando de Soto's theory of dead capital. We're extending it to fit the 21st century.
- Dead capital isn't just in the slums.
- It's in your pocket.
- It's your iPhone.
- It's your old ThinkPad.
- It's your smartwatch that no lender will ever recognize until now.
Global Impact
With Jasiri, we're building the tools to tokenize ownership, liberate value, and unlock trust across Africa, the U.S., and beyond.
🌱 Start Where You Are.
Use What You Have.
Own It, Your Way.
This is more than fintech.
It's financial justice.
This is more than ownership.
It's digital dignity.
This is Jasiri.
"Brave" in Kiswahili.