CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA, 31 July 2026
AfriVest, the Africa programme of the DAMREV Group, announced a partnership with the Co-op Debenture Exchange (CDEx) to tokenize the eduBox Debenture. This instrument is backed by revenue from a live education commerce ecosystem built for Africa's annual back-to-school market.
Every year, billions in education spending flows out of African communities as school supplies are sourced from external providers. eduBox, operating at eduafrica.store, was built to change that: a single platform where parents, schools, merchants, suppliers, and couriers transact, spanning student identity accounts, school alerts, procurement, payments and savings tools, and the eduSure insurance benefit, so that consolidated purchasing power stays in the community and flows to local producers, including businesses owned and run by African women through the allWomen.africa community. The debenture that funds the programme is issued through the Co-op Debenture Exchange, the digital marketplace where African cooperative societies raise capital through compliant, registry-backed debentures under regulator oversight.
Under the partnership, formalized in a mandate executed on 29 July 2026, AfriVest provides the digital asset layer that makes the instrument investable and provable: issuance on compliant blockchain rails, an on-chain register reconciled with the CDEx ledger, independent and continuous proof of the revenue pools behind the coupon, transfer restricted to screened and whitelisted investors, and coupon payments settled programmatically. AfriVest will also lead distribution to its investor network, including impact investors, development finance institutions, and gender-lens capital providers, with listings on traditional and digital exchanges to follow as venue admissions are secured, in South Africa first and internationally over time.
The partnership also carries an education layer, because a market that understands an instrument is a market that can hold it. Lyceum, the DAMREV Group's Academy engine, will power an eduBox academy under eduBox's own brand: financial literacy for parents and cooperative members, certification for merchants and suppliers, and structured investor education, with every completed track recorded as a verifiable credential anchored to the learner's verified identity. Learn-to-earn rewards that recognise verified learning are planned as part of the model, subject to regulatory confirmation of eligibility in each jurisdiction.
The programme is designed to scale across jurisdictions with the reach of its platforms: eduBox's education ecosystem, CDEx's cooperative capital market infrastructure, and the allWomen.africa community across the continent. As the ecosystem grows, operational savings are converted into social outcomes, including the embedded student health insurance benefit, alongside the yield that backs the debenture.
"Africa does not lack capital; it lacks the rails that keep capital working where it is created," said Duane Herholdt, Chairman of the Board, AfriVest. "eduBox has built a live engine that captures real education spending, and CDEx anchors it in compliance. Our mandate is to make that engine investable: a revenue-backed instrument, transparently proven, that serious investors can hold with confidence."
"This debenture keeps the money families already spend on education working inside their own communities, in businesses owned and run by African women," said Dr Mandas Marikanda, Board Chairman of the Co-op Debenture Exchange (CDEx). "Tokenization gives our members something they have never had: investors who can see, in real time, exactly what stands behind their commitment."
"CDEx was built so that cooperatives could raise capital with the compliance a regulator expects to see," said Dr Eng. Anthony Parehwa, Chief Commercial Officer of the Co-op Debenture Exchange (CDEx). "Partnering with AfriVest completes the picture: our ledger anchors the issuance, and AfriVest's tokenization layer and investor network carry it to the market."
The partnership follows a deliberate sequence: technical integration between the CDEx ledger and the AfriVest tokenization layer, the offering documentation and independent valuation, the minting of the initial tranche, primary distribution to screened investors, and the first on-chain coupon cycle, with exchange listings to follow. The breadth of the arrangement reflects AfriVest's stated operating principle of adding value to every project it undertakes, from the capital structure to the education of the market itself.
Note to editors: Platform descriptions and reach statements are drawn from the parties' own published materials and are stated as presented by them. This announcement describes a partnership and a programme; it is not an offer of securities, an invitation, or investment advice, and no return is forecast or guaranteed.
About AfriVest
AfriVest is the Africa programme of the DAMREV Group: institutional-grade digital asset infrastructure that enables African nations, central banks, and cooperatives to digitize, govern, and trade their assets on compliant blockchain rails. www.afrivest.org
About eduBox
eduBox, a product of the Co-op Sure cooperative under the Co-op Debenture Exchange (CDEx), at eduafrica.store, is a back-to-school management and commerce platform for the African education market, spanning student identity accounts, school alerts, procurement and supplier management, payments, savings and credit tools, logistics, and the eduSure insurance benefit, serving parents, schools, merchants, suppliers, and couriers in one ecosystem.
About CDEx
The Co-op Debenture Exchange (CDEx), at cdexafrica.com, is a digital marketplace through which African cooperative societies raise funding by issuing commodity-backed debentures, with compliance, registry, member management, and regulator oversight built into the platform.
About allWomen.africa
allWomen.africa is a digital community for women's economic empowerment across Africa, combining e-commerce, content, networking, and cooperative investment tools, with a focus on African narratives and women's financial independence.
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Media contact: pr@afrivest.org
