A Spotlight on Stake Pools: Grow Pool [GROW]
Meet Raymond Mata, the seasoned IT professional behind GROW, a Cardano stake pool donating to charities across the African continent
The series "A Spotlight on Stake Pools" aims to showcase the unique mission and motivations of different stake pool operators (SPOs). It highlights their contributions to the ecosystem and how they foster decentralization, driving network development and growth. These recognized and critical participants form an integral part of Cardano's success, and this series celebrates their efforts.
Last time, we delved into the Cardano24 [ADA] pool helmed by seasoned IT professional Holger. He provides daily support to fellow SPOs and actively participates in the Cardano community, spearheading initiatives such as Cardano24.Social and Cardano24.Chat. Holger's commitment to Cardano encompasses support for African stake pools and projects, particularly in regions where impactful contributions can uplift underserved and vulnerable populations.
Raymond Mata, the SPO responsible for Grow Pool [GROW], is our next interviewee. He brings over 22 years of IT experience and has a longstanding commitment to connecting children in crisis with charities dedicated to their development and well-being. As a member of Cardano’s Mission Driven Pools, GROW donates 100% of pool minFee to the Kids Compassion Charity in Sierra Leone for ongoing orphanage and food initiatives. Cardano's pool minFee represents the minimum fixed fee a block-producing stake pool operator collects, regardless of pool performance or rewards generated.
Beyond its charitable work, GROW’s founder actively participates in Cardano’s development. In fact, Raymond has previously participated in the testing and development of JorManager, a GUI-based Cardano stake pool management system, SundaeLabs DEX Batcher, Mandala Metaverse Noderunner, and Cornucopias File Node Host.
Why did you become a stake pool operator?
With over 20 years of experience running IT service businesses, at first, becoming a stake pool operator was a passion for technology and change. What change? In my world at that time (May 2020), we had just entered into COVID lockdowns. The world was in turmoil, yet some seemed to be less affected than others, with the two strongest industries spending the most money, AI and biotech. I saw AI and crypto intersecting, offering new ways to balance wealth inequality and push power to the edges.
The edges are where innocent children are starving and dying of preventable causes. The edges are where people don’t have access to basic financial services because they can’t prove who they are or are too poor to participate. Becoming a Cardano stake pool operator meant serving those children and their communities living on the edges.
It meant joining the mission to connect the disconnected across the African continent by providing tools for self-sovereignty and identity management. It meant building a system that governs itself, free of censorship and the corruption that plagues centralized systems. Becoming a stake pool operator meant helping other SPOs to do and be their best while still competing for number one.
What is the mission of your stake pool?
GROW's mission provides Cardano with positive use cases and a vehicle for education and onboarding. We do this by aligning with charities whose mission is to serve children in crisis and support them in growing into healthy young leaders. We focus our efforts on children and their communities in African countries like Sierra Leone and Rwanda. This approach aligns with Cardano’s broader mission to provide the infrastructure and tools needed to support initiatives like ours, allowing us to deliver on our long-term vision.
We believe charity itself is best served in crises where the recipients are in no position to pay back a loan. The children we serve are often suffering from extreme poverty and the unhealthy conditions it harbors. Our donations are used primarily for food and medical supplies. Where possible, we also assist in building water wells and shelters.
We take the pool's minFee rewards (340 ada) into weekly donations in ada where possible. Market conditions, volatility, and prices below a certain threshold make it more challenging to operate the pool and continue donations. Yet we are still here!
Charities are chosen for these reasons:
- •Demonstrated commitment to serving children in crisis and their communities;
- •Transparency of donations and expenses;
- •Willingness to work with decentralized blockchain technologies;
- •Consistent contact and social media presence;
- •Registered NGOs and/or non-profits.
Can you give us a brief history of your stake pool?
GROW was the 50th pool to register for Shelley mainnet on 29 July 2020. Major milestones include forging over 9,600 blocks since inception, thanks to over 2,500 delegators and their many years of loyalty. Lifetime 5.1M ada in rewards to delegators. Not a single day of downtime. Featured on numerous blogs, interviews, and podcasts highlighting our mission-driven accomplishments and contributions to Cardano’s ecosystem.
December 2020 - August 2022: We sponsored 28 children through Save the Children. This included writing personal letters to the children. Save the Children has since discontinued its sponsorship programs. Donations total US$19,943.
May 2021 - November 2022: We made regular donations to Save the Children's Rwanda Innovation Hub, the first within that organization to accept donations directly in ada, thanks to COTIs ada payment gateway. Donations total 19,158 ada.
January - November 2022: We made donations to the One Village Project, sponsoring their Emerging Visionaries & Youth Summit programs. Donations total 11,036 ada.
October 2022 - present: We began our journey with Kids Compassion Charity out of Sierra Leone. They support efforts that provide school lunches to over 430 children and initiatives that deliver meals to homes in the slums during off-school months. Donations to date: 37,515 ada.
How did the Cardano Foundation delegation impact your stake pool operation?
We received the Foundation’s delegation on November 2023, epoch 447. For the last 268 days, this stake has made a very significant impact on our pool operations. Simply put, it has been the difference between keeping our donations flowing and not. With the markets so volatile during this period, GROW struggled just to keep operations alive. The charity receives 340 ada per epoch. That's only possible when the remaining rewards sustain pool costs.
Running the pool is not a charity in itself. It's a business. For example, in epoch 499, we had an active stake of 48.48M ada. We got scheduled for 40 blocks but were expecting to make 46. Pool rewards after donations were US$194.69. Without the Cardano Foundation’s delegation, that would have been US$110.23. Pool costs per epoch are calculated to be US$169.78. This includes hardware and web hosting, operator stipend, and marketing or admin costs.
Did the Cardano Foundation delegation enable you to build or improve tools, projects, or open source repositories?
GROW has not built any tools or made open-source contributions yet. Our mission focus demonstrates positive use cases for this industry through charitable actions. The delegation has enabled GROW to stay in operation and maintain donations despite volatile market conditions.
How would you summarize your contributions to the Cardano ecosystem?
9,600 blocks, no downtime. 5.1M ada rewards for delegators. Transparent, mission-driven charity focus, promoting Cardano ecosystem values, onboarding hundreds of new users, and supporting fellow SPOs. Active DEX batcher (scooper) for SundaeLabs, testing and development of JorManager pool management, Catalyst Circle V2 SPO representative.
GROW also serves as a vehicle for education and onboarding. We keep social media accounts active to inform and educate potential new Cardano users, though, at the moment, we focus more on a one-to-one approach, occasionally organizing meetups or virtual group sessions. With time and budget, we have plans to expand that to a regularly scheduled podcast.
Are you currently building something that you would like to share?
One of the communities in Sierra Leone that we serve is trying to get a water well built. Water access is a problem; when they're not dealing with torrential flooding, they are experiencing drought, making access to clean water even harder. This project should be easy to complete; it has a very low budget of only US$4,000. Now it just needs funding, and all the pieces are already in place. Project details: https://growpools.io/mission#669b2eb5-9687-410d-9d9e-3e798cbdc848
In addition to that, I've recently taken up building my first DApp! I was hired by Photrek as a sysadmin and helped them build some SingularityNet marketplace apps. In that process, I am learning about DApp building. I use Cardano daily, interacting with tools and the community that builds and enables them. I hope to someday build the app that answers Charles's hope for Cardano: A one-stop place to make your donations and loans and track every penny spent while staying in touch with your impacts.
Beyond this project, I also wish to see an application rooted in the infrastructure of Cardano that opens on your phone and enables you to connect with someone across the world, someone who could use a hand—to make a real, lasting, and measurable impact on the quality of their life. Whether a loan or charity, the application would provide all the tools, features, and transparency required to ensure anyone wishing to make a difference has the proof and confidence to help those who need it most.
Is there anything else you would like to add?
I only wish to convey my profound gratitude for trusting GROW with your delegation for the last nine months. It has kept us in the business of saving children from starving. It means serving up hope for a future where they can become adults. Maybe they'll even end up wanting to join the Cardano community. We've come so far and have so far yet to go. The Cardano Foundation has been our ally, and we are forever grateful to you.
Follow Raymond on X (formerly Twitter) and visit the pool website to stay up-to-date on GROW.
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