I want to share a message with our community about where the Greenpill Dev Guild is in this moment, and where I am personally.
Building the Greenpill Dev Guild over the past few years has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. I have made countless connections and built a strong group of collaborators and friends across the globe, of different ages and backgrounds. I love getting to hear what is going on in Nigeria, Brasil, the Netherlands, Mexico, and with my East Coast friends in New York City.
It has also been some of the hardest. Trying to survive off dwindling grant funding and cover my expenses has been tough, living in California is no joke, and navigating the allocation of a very small pie across all the work the team contributes is its own challenge. Through all of that turbulence we have persevered, and I am so proud of what we have accomplished as a team. We built Green Goods into an impact reporting and funding platform that is now live across 14 gardens on five continents, and through it we have helped support real work on the ground, like the solar powered community hub Tech and Sun built in Awka, Nigeria, now online with more in development. We have also grown the awareness of staking for regenerative communities with the Public Goods Staking Protocol.
In this moment I find myself drifting away from Greenpill and needing to find financial stability, build stronger in person social connections, and renew and focus on my health, both mental and physical. I am spending these last weeks of June doing all I can to support the people and projects I love through the couple of funding rounds we are in with Octant and Artizen, with the hope that funding from those rounds can help catalyze and sustain the great projects truly building impact in their communities.
With that said, I plan to step away from Greenpill to focus on finding a more sustainable role, still in the regenerative, environmental, and social space but more traditional, or web2 as we like to say. I hope to bring my experience as an architect, engineer, community builder, and more to established and mature projects that need some of our regen and solarpunk energy, because many of them do. The resources and knowledge we have built in this space are invaluable, and they deserve the recognition and the proper containers to flourish.
I will stay involved as much as I can with the regenerative and Ethereum ecosystem, joining calls when I can, continuing to support the growth of Regen Commons, and contributing to Green Goods and the Public Goods Staking Protocol. I have a strong belief that by finding more financial sustainability and focusing on more IRL experiences, I will be better able to contribute and help ecosystems I love, like Greenpill, grow and find sustainability.
To list all the skills and experience I have gained from working in this space would be exhausting, having been a jack of all trades and filling roles I never thought or expected to. I came into this space as an engineer looking at how Ethereum could help us better steward our environment and energy, and I am leaving as a community builder, grant allocator, BD lead, and much more than I ever could have imagined.
I want to take some time to say thank you, and much love, to the people and communities who supported me and who I have learned so much from in this space.
Kevin Owocki. If not for the Greenpill book, the podcast, and the subsequent Network, I would probably still be in a web2 engineering role dreaming I could do more.
Izzy. Your energy and resolve to build bridges between Nigeria and the rest of the world, with initiatives like Tech and Sun, made me see the potential for connecting the diaspora to Nigeria. Though you are no longer with us, you continue to help me grow and to see things through your lens.
Matty Compost. We bonded over sports when I saw you with your number 8 Kobe avatar on a call, and since then you have been one of my best friends in this space, consistently showing up and being a friend to talk to as we navigated this regen world. The care and dedication I have seen from you has been heartwarming, and you are now doing it as a father, setting an example for me and others.
Caue. Better known as Coi to me, you have been so pivotal in helping me see things from a different lens when it comes to community building, highlighting the relational aspects that are not always as visible. Our work together building Green Goods and Greenpill has taught me a lot, and meeting at ETHDenver was even better, seeing your energy and love for people and community.
Nansel. Ever since we met you have been willing to go above and beyond in supporting Greenpill. We first connected over creating Greenpill merch, and that blossomed into building together for the next couple of years. It has been awesome to see your growth as a designer, community lead, and much more. Your work will live on, from the Green Goods logo and branding to the workshop videos you edited. Without you, the story we have told in Greenpill would have been much duller, and it was wonderful that you were able to connect with my dad in Nigeria even before we met.
Marcin. One of my first friends in this space and one of the first people I met in person through Greenpill. The foundational work we did together building Green Goods and other projects was instrumental in enabling us to grow. I love that we still connect every month or two to catch up and talk like we always have, about the cool ideas we are building and about supporting one another in work and life.
Kit. You have been a consistent and steady presence in the Greenpill Dev Guild, bringing a calm and grounding energy that has helped us navigate difficult moments. Meeting you in person in Denver was wonderful, as we volunteered, got groceries, and connected more deeply.
Sofi. When you came into the Dev Guild you brought such a breath of fresh air and creative energy. The regenerative stack infographic series in particular is a testament to your commitment and skill as a designer. Those infographics came at a time of great uncertainty and helped tell such a powerful visual story of our work. I love our 1:1s talking about our lives and families, and I appreciated the support you gave to WEFA (Water Earth Fire Air), both with my trademark application and with the weekly sessions with my nephews. Good times.
Amio. Seeing your will and energy to get the solar hub built in Awka for Tech and Sun was inspiring, and a testament to your commitment to building a better future for the youth in Nigeria. I love working with you, hearing the updates on the hub, and planning how we can continue to grow. I also love talking football with you and Nansel, and even though you bleed Arsenal red and I bleed Chelsea blue, we always find common ground and work together.
Swift Evo. Though I have never seen your face, you have grown to be one of my favorite people to work with. You are consistent in your work with GreenSofa and DeSci, and seeing how you managed and engaged with the Greenpill fund on Artizen has been awesome and has energized me at times.
Lana. You have been one of my biggest supporters in Greenpill since I joined, and your warm energy and personality have given me the resolve and spirit to continue during hard times. I love the conversations we have every few months, just catching up on not only work but life, and I look forward to getting more hats from you in the future, as we both love to wear many hats, figuratively and literally.
Leo. You were one of the first people I met in person and a firestarter for the Dev Guild, helping to bring in new faces as we were bootstrapping the community. That, and your consistent presence in the space as a connector, has been awesome to see, and I love your renewed focus on IRL engagement and relationship building. You are one of the best at it.
Anastasia. When 1st getting involved in the Network you were one of the most active and clear examples of what it meant to take the Greenpill actively sharing the waste cleanup and environmental work you’re doing in Koh Phangan. I enjoy our convos every couple months where you always figure out your headphone issues then we get into a great convo with sometime the kids saying hi. I look forward to seeing you continue to develop DeCleanup and air quality sensor work and you always can message me to chat and build together.
Durgadas. Your support in helping the Network and myself in forming coherency around work to make more legible to ourselves and the wider ecosystem has been integral in our growth. The Theory of Change workshop help is one of the most impact calls I’ve had in this space and its effects still reverberate till this day. I am so grateful for your support and honest perspective it helped the Network move chaos to a more clear path.
Paul. Our work together on Gardens and the Gitcoin grant rounds has been so rewarding, and though it was difficult at times, your cool, laid back personality made it easier to navigate. I still have conviction in Gardens as a platform for communities to make decisions together, and I will continue to support it as best I can.
Graven. Over the past couple of years, the syncs we have had have given me the resolve to keep building, and I have learned so much from you as a fellow builder dealing with the trials and tribulations of public goods work. I am so happy to see you on the Octant team, driving forward the software development side of things, and I cannot wait to see what you help build there.
Greenpill Stewards. With this getting so long, I will have to group together the many stewards across chapters and guilds I have worked with. From Cape Town, Cote d’Ivoire, Koh Phangan, Germany, London Ontario, Ottawa, and more, the work I have seen you do is so inspirational and has fed the fuel to keep my flame burning for this work and for building our network. I know many of you are still getting things off the ground, and I have no doubt you will. We have taken the slower, more measured path, and I believe it will pay dividends for all your work. I will continue to support every steward, and I am always open for a call to catch up and build.
Regen Coordination Stewards. We came together as networks operating in similar themes and structures, and we were able to catalyze growth for the local initiatives across our networks. I have learned so much in particular from the ReFi DAO members, from Luiz, Monty, Antonio, and more. There is so much we accomplished, and the relationships and trust we have built with one another leave me no doubt that we will continue to support each other’s work as we progress.
Regen Commons Council. Over these past six months we have truly come to trust and care for one another, all of us coming from organizations that have been grinding away, some for decades, in this pursuit to grow the regen ecosystem. The work has been hard at times and there is still so much to do, but I believe in the stewards and members we have to bring things together and build that better future we can all see.
Regen and Public Goods Community. Thank you to everyone I have met along this journey. From 1:1 coffee chats to community calls, I have learned so much that has shaped my perspective on how to build technology and community in a regenerative and public serving way. Huge appreciation to everyone who has donated to the projects I have been a part of and given us shoutouts, likes, and reposts on social media. Your support has helped validate all the work I have been a part of and given me the energy to keep building.
To close, I will do my final regen shill and ask for your support to keep the lights on, even when I am not here, and as I continue on my journey. The team and these projects keep going strong with or without me at the center, so any support you give goes straight to real work that is already in motion.
The Greenpill Dev Guild is participating in the current Octant Epoch, which now supports direct ETH donations. If you have some extra ETH hanging around, I would love your support for us and for the many great projects that are pillars in the Ethereum ecosystem. This round uses quadratic funding, so a lot of small donations actually unlock more than a few big ones. Even 0.01 ETH makes a difference, and every bit counts. It closes Tuesday June 30, so there is still time to chip in at our Octant project page.
We are also participating with Green Goods in Artizen’s Season Six, and there are a couple of weeks remaining. If we are able to raise well, we can unlock matching funds, anywhere from 1x to potentially 5x of what is donated. Artizen is also credit card friendly, so you do not need any crypto to support, you can back us with a simple $10 Artifact on our Green Goods Artizen page. There is also the Greenpill Fund for Regenerative Gatherings, which supports Greenpill chapters and aligned projects, and with your support we can allocate the remaining 20k still in the fund.
My last and final shill is personal. As I head out on a new journey, I would love your support in helping me flow toward the roles and communities where you feel my experience and skills can best serve. I am especially drawn to product engineering, solutions architecture, and ecosystem building roles. If you know an organization or company hiring that aligns with my values and my work, please share it. If you have a moment, take a look at my portfolio at afolabi.info and share it within your network, with any peers or projects you feel I would fit well with. And even better if you know a role that would let me stay in the Ethereum and regenerative ecosystem, please send it my way, that would be the best outcome, so I can keep doing work that supports the people and communities I love.
This is a long one, and I appreciate you getting to the end. I wrote this from the heart, and only used AI to fix my poor grammar and typing mistakes here and there, so hopefully you enjoy my human writing and voice. I will close with a line from one of my favorite movie endings.
See you when I see you.
if you are coming back to working on wefa from time to time, I’m happy to help, was always interested in that one. cheers!