Techpreneur magazine issue 1

PUBLISHERS THOUGHT

AFRICA, THE NEW WIND TUNNEL FOR COMMERCIAL DRONE SERVICES volumetric image processing and music video production for multinational mining companies, global telecom firms, and musicians across the continent.

However, the prospects for this booming industry are endless with opportunities in commercial drone delivery, agriculture, property and security surveillance.

Quite recently a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Defence and Interior, Fritz Baffour, revealed that the Ghanaian government has acquired a new technology to effectively monitor the country’s various entry points. According to him, Ghana would soon use drones to monitor its borders to track people entering the country.

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rones are coming, according to the world’s largest unmanned systems industry organization (AUVSI) and they are likely to bring high-tech jobs, millions in tax revenues, and tens of billions in economic impact with them.

The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) forecasts that the total domestic economic impact of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) will reach more than $82.1 billion between 2015 and 2025 — creating more than 100,000 high-paying jobs in the process.

As interest in commercial drone application spurs up across the globe, Africa is one of the newest continents to join the commercial drone market. South Africa’s Rocketmine and Ghana’s Aeroshutter are among the first companies to take advantage of a largely unregulated space with significant need for drone services.

Rocketmine and Aeroshutter are offering services like aerial advertising, 3D

Ghana is also set to be overtaken by drones delivering vaccines, test results and medication after a huge investment by two U.S based companies. Michigan Aerospace Manufacturers Association and Ausley Associates have been discussing the creation of a novel drone delivery network in the country. This is set to be the first large scale UAV deployment for charitable purposes in history and is certainly going to transform the delivery infrastructure in developing countries.

Likewise, US based United Parcel Service (UPS) recently entered into a partnership with Zipline, a medical drone delivery startup, to begin aerial transport of healthcare supplies in Rwanda. Zipline’s first distribution of medical supply packages is slated to start in July—meaning a startup will begin drone delivery in Africa before unmanned Amazon vehicles drop any orders at doorsteps in the U.S. With a relatively loose regulatory framework for commercial drone applications in Africa, the continent has a welcoming canvas and plenty of space for drone companies to operate. Operating under one of the very first commercial drone licenses issued in South Africa, Johannesburg based Rocketmine is providing “aerial data solutions” for industries like mining and agriculture. TechCrunch reports that the company expects to realize over $1 million in revenue this year. While the company was bootstrapped, they expect to announce a major investor this year. Rocketmine

operates across Africa: with 7 pilots and 15 drones. They currently work in South Africa, Nigeria, and Mozambique.

Ghana’s first creative drone agency Aeroshutter on the other hand provides aerial photography, commercial property surveillance, and advertising. Being one of the first drone operations in Ghana, Aeroshutter now has 6 staff flying DJI drones running Pix4D and Dronedeploy mapping software.

Unlike SA, drones are still widely unregulated in Ghana; however, the Ghana Civil Aviation Authority (similar to the FAA) is working on commercial regulation with input from a small industry group. The 4 golden rules proposed by the GCCA to fly drones in the country are a bit stern but hopes are they’ll be amended before they take off in September.

In addition, Rwanda’s first drone port designed is expected to open in 2018.

Drone delivery is not yet a reality in Africa, but the lack of infrastructure across the continent makes the advantages of drone delivery abundantly obvious.

Companies across the world like UPS and Flying Donkey are working on projects to make drone delivery a reality in Africa.

With the benefits of drones so clear, hopefully drone companies in Africa may have an easier time of working with governments to create regulations that will encourage the new industry’s growth for everyone’s good.

Clement Safori Fianko Group Publisher clementbash@gmail.com

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Team About CLEMENT S. FIANKO CEO / Publisher RALPH SAKYI Web developer/ux designer LAWRENCE OTOO JNR. Creative Director KOJO TUTU Photography / Editor

Techbit Consult is an IT Consulting and business services firm that helps small businesses and individuals leverage technology to improve their operations. Our wide range of services include: websites and software development, interactive and mobile applications, digital and social media marketing as well as Brand Management and Advertising Techpreneur is a magazine showcasing some of the most exciting tech professionals in Africa, sharing their stories, giving insights into the industry and guiding tech startups towards greater success For comments, suggestions, criticisms or editorial submission, write us via: techbitconsult@gmail.com -Visit our website on: www.techbitconsultcom , m: +233 24 403 5401 | +233-243-646-332 | +233 24 774 9308

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How to Build a Successful Mobile App Start-up

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he difference between successful and unsuccessful entrepreneurs boils down to perseverance; mobile app start-up ventures are no exception.

Heavily relying on a superb design, successful mobile app start-ups don’t happen by chance but rather through intrinsically mapped out strategies.

As an entrepreneur, your mobile app development strategy must feature the delivery of an exquisite and effortless experience on each aspect of the mobile app’s building blocks.

These building blocks can generally be grouped into four distinct components as will be illustrated. For resounding success in the highly competitive mo-

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bile app business, realign your goals to reflect the following components: 1. Design Which audience are you developing your mobile app for? This should be a prime consideration when settling on the app design; it should be visually appealing to its target audience. Design should not be about plain looks but in extension, the feelings it evokes. The latter is an invaluable traffic generation tool.

When designing the mobile app, ensure that it features the form and function component. As much as possible, make it easy for users to learn how to navigate the app from one feature to the next seamlessly.

Achieving this calls for the reduction of the learning curve to the bare minimum time, allowing users to quickly access what the app has to offer. Generally, this refers to the User Experience (UX), this design component must be considered first.

The User Interface (UI) design component should then be initiated. It takes into account characteristics of the target audience such as age, gender, geographical location and other distinctive information.

Scientifically, colour has been proven a major player in attracting clients to businesses; this is why product designs and logos have specific colour combinations. Colours evoke emotions in people and this endears them to your product,

to exploit preferably in the initial stages of promoting your app; later on, the services your app offers should be your main focus and ultimately the greatest marketing tool.

Having weekly executions plans throughout your various marketing channels will enable you assess their effectiveness over time; with this crucial information, you will know how to prioritize and get the best conversions. Use the magic of captive words to explain your mobile app’s value in a simple but confound statement.

4. Scalability During your app development, ensure that it’s based on a platform that allows for modification. The app’s flexibility and adaptability is essential since your development strategy should envision tailor-making the app based on customers’ suggestions.

The product is intended for their use and it is a wise move to make them your highest regarded resource. From this, better features will be added to the app offering enhanced user experience.

making mobile app development a rewarding venture for you!

2. Value Apps are made to solve problems in the real world. As such, your app should be valuable enough to the extent that they are willing to shift from their present solutions and pay for your services.

While vouching for your app, sell it as a validated necessity rather than a mere solution as the latter may bring it down before it takes flight.

The most successful mobile apps today were borne out of real-life challenges the app developers were experiencing; these solutions were later made market fit, creating the most sought-after mobile apps today.

3. Reach The success of mobile apps depends on the number of users it attracts. This makes reaching out to as many users as possible the toughest challenge you will have to overcome. Luckily, there are many platforms available for you

Advisably, start off with a small group probably your family and friends; the importance being that you will be able to correct mistakes within no time. Having appealed to this manageable segment of customers, you will have the requisite know-how and confidence to approach an even more diverse demographic.

Common Mistakes to Avoid in Mobile App Start-ups 1. Failing to build apps natively UI, performance and functionality are metrics whose success is dependent on the platform which the app is built on; needless to say, they directly influence the app’s success. To avoid all these, it’s advisable to go all the way rather than swallow the cross-platform bait that’s so enticing to start-ups.

For every OS, develop the app separately. It may be expensive and time consuming but it will surely pay off.

Cross-platform is a long way from being appealing.

2. Failing to change/upgrade backend infrastructure When proper implementation and API design lacks, your app losses the ability

to handle the growing load it receives and this renders it unsuccessful in the real world. Ideally for the flawless functioning of an app, a maximum payload size of 4 KB is usually enough. The app’s pagination should ensure that data is not returned en masse but rather via paginated and cursor-type results.

Your app should also feature higher latency on every API call. This, coupled with allowing the user to send a similar API call to the server many times, assures the customer of certainty.

3. Failing to outsource mobile app development Statistically, businesses take four times as much time when they decide to build their app internally; it is a pain-staking process. By going internally, start-ups opt out of paying with money to pay with time. By any measure, this rapidly slows down mobile app start-up success and eventually it may not turn out altogether.

The time taken to hire professionals with the requisite skills would be better used were you to fully appreciate the efficiency of outsourcing mobile app development. For the best results, you have to fully participate even after out-sourcing.

4. Perceiving that you are stuck with your first mobile app development firm Quite the contrary, the most reputable app development firm make themselves obsolete albeit with time. Having amassed an insurmountable amount of knowledge, they are best placed to make recommendations and lay a platform for internal app development in future. As time goes by, you will soon have a fully capable development team capable of handling all scenarios.

To build success, it is important to outsource but to maintain the success, it is inevitable to hire a team that you’re comfortable with and that’s entirely dedicated to the success of your app.

Mobile app development is an enthralling venture but while at it, why not turn it into a source of income. The possibilities are limitless, you just have to stay sharp and float the next big mobile start-up idea! source: alltopstartups.com

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4 Marketing Aces for your Tech Start-up

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arketing a Tech Start-up is challenging and costly.

While social media is a great medium to generate demand and lead conversions, it represents just one piece of the jigsaw.

Instead, the following 4 strategies represent some of the more powerful demand-generation activities (aka Aces)

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that should be considered by new tech businesses:

service extraordinary/different by way of design or function.

1. Concentrate on Building a Really Great Product.

2. Create Remarkable Content.

Most entrepreneurs understand the importance of using content to target an audience and to build relationships.

The easy thing to do is to simply add a WordPress blog as a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) play, in the hope that the content will secure an organic listing for relevant keywords and will attract prospects.

This might seem obvious but there are too many new products and services that are simply‌ “Okayâ€?. Most are not compelling enough to drive adoption as compared to the existing products and services they are intended to supplant.

Focus on what makes your product or

But the internet is littered with poor quality blogs hosting lowbrow content and negligible engagement. Content needs to be consistently remarkable, so readers find it truly beneficial and worthy of sharing, which will help secure the inbound links that play such an important role in securing premium organic placement. Compelling content will also help establish you as an authority in your field and help build the trust that will help to drive conversions over time.

It is also a great low-cost strategy to deploy if you operate in a niche area.

3. Advertise on Google AdWords Advertising on Google AdWords affords tech entrepreneurs a great opportunity to create awareness and to generate conversions. The power of the medium is clear.

Firstly, purchase intent is readily discernible from the “search intent� of the user.

At one end of the funnel, you can target generic terms that indicate the user is in consideration mode, while at the other end you can aggressively target users in buy mode who are searching for specific products or brands. Hence advertisers can really hone in on a small set of converting terms as a means to promote their services to qualified leads.

Secondly, it enables techpreneurs to tightly manage their budgets so they can ensure that marketing spend is commensurate with return. Finally, the use of Google is synonymous with searching for solutions, be they paid or otherwise, to the needs we have, not about media diverting you away from what you are trying to do.

4. Build Strong Relationships.

People buy from people, and one strength of the technology community is that there is a very high bias of early adopters willing to try out new products and services. It is a buoyant community and one in which a small number of influential writers and bloggers can promote your offering to a very focused audience from which to build.

Word of mouth can also play a powerful part in helping you gain early traction with these key influencers. And while some relationships can be established online, there is no substitute for getting out networking. A growing number of events also offer techpreneurs the ability to nurture and cement real relationships in person.

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Kwamena Hazel jnr.

(CEO, Aeroshutter)

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KWAMENA HAZEL, THE GENIUS BEHIND GHANA’S FIRST CREATIVE DRONE AGENCY trepreneurship and why a drone company?

H: Entrepreneurship is something the Hazel’s have churned with time. Our family did the younger ones good into telling us the good with starting your own company and being your own boss.

This has become a new thing for the new generation of Hazels, as we seek to turn away from the traditional finish school and find a good job syndrome.

Our parents do well into taking us into the best of schools and helping us on our entrepreneurship journey.

A drone company because at the time it was unique and of course I believed it held so much potential. If you are an entrepreneur, you look for shortfalls and opportunities. I started to see them in photography and technical topography.

I realized getting a higher perspective in Ghana could serve a niche and drone services could actually be a business with many applications.

K

wamena Hazel Jnr is the founder and CEO of Aeroshutter, the first creative drone agency in Ghana.

He got into drones as a hobby while working as a bank IT specialist and soon saw the commercial opportunities in drone applications. His start-up Aeroshutter since its establishment in 2014 has gained a lot of international recognition with features on CNN’s African Start-ups, TechCrunch and several highly ranked blogs.

The 30-year-old graduate of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology is one of the finest young entrepreneurs in West Africa.

Aeroshutter can boast of a number of successful projects for esteemed brands like Best Western Premier Hotel, TEDx, Vodafone, and Newmont Mining. Last year, they were privileged to work with the BET award winner; Stonebwoy on his music video (pull up) that went on to win two awards at the 4Syte Music Video Awards. Aeroshutter currently has a staff of 6 operating a fleet of DJI drones and

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is hoping to expand into other parts of West Africa.

What are some of the services you provide at Aeroshutter? Any memorable projects so far?

Tell us a little bit about yourself. Who is Kwamena Hazel Jnr?

H: Aeroshutter began with just aerial photography, that was the first phase.

With time we have added aerial data solutions that help in farming, construction, inspection and mining. We look to move into more sophisticated commercial activities in agriculture, construction, and mining.

H: I am my parent’s only son. I have 3 sisters. I am a very reserved person. I like to read a lot on business, entrepreneurship, tech and politics. My name is very Fante but I’m from Kwahu.

We have created two subsidiaries under Aeroshutter i.e. Aero Arcade (a drone racing company) and Aero Ad Inc. (a drone advertising company). All projects under these companies are memorable.

I schooled at Ridge Church School, then to Adisadel College and then pursued my first degree in Computer Science from KNUST. I am very entrepreneurial.

Aeroshutter is one of the companies I started.

What was the feeling like landing your first customer?

In an interview with Techpreneur, Kwamena shares his entrepreneurial journey and the prospects of commercial drone applications in Ghana.

I also co - founded and manage Mo’Go and SocialGong and assist with Echo and Shrinq. Before going full time with these start-ups I worked at Cal Bank and UT Bank with their IT departments.

What stimulated your interest in en-

H: My first customer was Tamara Jonah of Lionheart Events. She understood the concept I was bringing without thinking twice. And I admire her for that. It wasn’t hard for her to see the beauty we were bringing to her weddings and corporate events. It was a dream come true also for us to work with this prestigious event organizer.

Do you think the commercial drone industry has a future in Ghana?

H: Yes, I do think the commercial drone industry has a future in Ghana. With adhered regulations and licensing we can achieve a lot with sectors that need these services we render. I believe Agriculture is the most important sector drones can help. In the agricultural sector, our drones could fly over farms to check the crops and immediately tell you which part of the land needs attention. We’re looking at producing simple visualizations that provide instant information to farmers. The latest drone models on the market could even be used to spray crops.

Also in the mining sector, we could fly our drones over an extracted ore and actually give accurate data on volume.

Nobody is doing this in West Africa yet and we want to set the pace. Last year, we ran a pilot project with Newmont, the large mining company, and it looks like they want to continue working with us this year.

What are some of the untapped industries you think drones could be deployed in?

H: Every day, I research and find a new industry drones can actually help in. The last one I saw was a drone cleaning the glass windows of high rise buildings, how awesome is that?

Would you say the environment here is conducive for tech start-ups like yours?

H: Well not entirely. If government could give leeway for start-ups to build enough capacity and capital before we are hit with taxes, I think that will help.

I also believe government should put more emphasis on education and ICT.

Not just building classroom blocks but encouraging the use of the internet and its unlimited resources in classrooms.

What does it take to start a drone business?

First of all, you’ll need starting capital to buy your first drone and the commercial ones are pretty expensive.

You’ll also need to learn how to properly fly a drone. It takes practice to get an instinctive sense of how high and how far you can go, how to navigate obstacles, and how to handle different wind conditions. I highly recommend practicing a lot with a cheap model, so that you don’t lose too much money when you inevitably crash it. I’ve lost two drones so far, which cost us $3,000 in total.

Once you’ve learned the basics of drone flight, you’ll need to learn how to both fly and take good photos/footage at the same time.

Finally, you’ll need to build your fleet, which requires even more capital. We invest our earnings into more sophisticated drones, so every drone makes money to buy the next one. If you know how to code, you can even start programming the drones to use them for literally anything productive. This is something we want to look into in the future.

What is your vision for Aeroshutter in the next three years?

H: Well in the next three years AeroShutter should be the preferred choice in all UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) data solutions in West Africa. Also having a team from Aero Arcade represent Africa for the world FPV (First Person View) rac-

ing championships. It is an exciting new sport that combines high-tech drones and high-speed racing where drone pilots strive to build extremely fast and agile multi-rotors (otherwise known as drones) to fly around a set course as fast as possible.

What would you say is your biggest challenge as a Techpreneur?

H: Funding. It’s hard in this part of the world. Currently, Aeroshutter funds itself by operating revenue but we are in dialogue with a few investors.

What gets you out of bed in the morning and what keeps you up at night?

H: What gets me out of bed is the chance to bring a change to an industry in my country and doing it well.

What keeps me up at night is how to get my next customer and prove beyond reasonable doubt why he/she needs my services.

If you could have anything in this world what would it be?

H: Ha-ha, that’s a tough one. To be honest, salvation.

What advice do you have for budding techpreneurs?

H: You will have naysayers and the doubters but they should be your motivation. It’s okay to fail but don’t let it end there, try and try again till you get it right. Africa is the hottest market to be right now and luckily its ours so make the best out of it.

L-R Kino,Kwaku and Gad, drone Pilots of Aeroshutter www.techbitconsult..com 13

4 Ways to Protect Your Organization from Cyber Attacks

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s the world becomes increasingly interconnected, Business leaders must pay more attention to the security of their organization’s connections.

A data breach can happen to any organization, and it’s a growing concern among companies both large and small.

It is not uncommon to hear about hackers bringing an organization to its knees. The stolen funds and confidential files, bad publicity, and embarrassing revelations often make front page news.

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make sure your employees adhere to minimum password requirements.

Employees should also lock their computers when they are away from their desks. If you have employees accessing your network Here are 4 practices from re- remotely, make sure that you nowned cyber security expert, know exactly when they are doEric Basu your organization can ing so, and why. adopt: 2. Avoid scams.

1. Practice good access control. A good email filter may be the first Without good access control defence against phishing scams, protocols, company information but it should not be the last. Edremains at risk. Each organiza- ucate employees on what phishy tion should have a firm policy on emails look like, and make sure password strength and password they know which ones to avoid update policies. It is essential to opening. Remind employees to convey the importance of keep- never open attachments from ing those passwords private, and unknown senders and to never

You can keep your company and your employees safe from these dangerous data breaches by ensuring that employees are aware of a few tried-and-tested data security best practices.

provide sensitive business data to unfamiliar individuals outside the company. Spell out what information is and is not acceptable to divulge over the phone, in an email, or in-person to those of unfamiliar status within the organization and outside the company.

3. Implement hardware and software restrictions.

data breach of in 2013. It doesn’t take an expert hacker to view, take possession of, or exploit personal, intellectual or financial data. In fact, according to a Forrester Research report, most mo4. Manage mobile devices. bile data breaches are caused by Mobile devices pose addition- employee negligence. al risks, as data can be easily exposed outside of the office. Off- Security training can be a chalsite devices can be subject to lenge without explaining the mobile malware, eavesdropping, importance of security measures unauthorized access, theft and and adequately communicating loss. Set expectations with em- how these measures effect the ployees as to their mobile con- company and the employee. By duct when accessing company implementing a few best pracdata while on the road. If you al- tices and making sure that data low employees to connect per- security is of principal concern to sonal mobile devices to compa- everyone within your organizany Wi-Fi connections, make sure tion, you can keep your employthose connections are separate ees educated and your sensitive from the general organization company data safe from prying eyes. network. uous download for work purposes can easily introduce a virus to your network and expose sensitive business data.

It’s important to place limitations on the types of installations and downloads that employees are allowed to perform on company computers. Employees should not be allowed to install or download any software on company technology that is not previously reviewed and authorized. Explain to your employees the importance of avoiding freeware and shareware and how this type of software can become a threat. Almost half of American compaWhat may appear to be an innoc- nies experienced some sort of

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Africa’s Silicon Valley,the debate

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ilicon Valley is undoubtedly the world’s biggest tech hub with hundreds of start-ups and global technology companies.

“Silicon” signifies the large number of silicon chip innovators and manufacturers in the region and “Valley”, the Santa Clara Valley, where the region has traditionally been centered.

The southern San Francisco Bay Area is home to all the prominent tech giants like Google, Apple, and Facebook, just to name a few. Silicon Valley has been deemed the leading hub and startup ecosystem for high-tech innovation and development that accounts for onethird of all of the venture capital investment in the United States. The valley is not only flooded with Programmers, engineers and innovators but also venture capital firms and angel investors that are constantly seeking the next ‘big thing’ to invest in.

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The Silicon Valley “craze” is catching on in Africa as several promising tech startups keep springing up. The battle to claim a particular region on the continent as the ‘Silicon Valley’ of Africa is one I find quite interesting and have been following for a while. Whether these countries have earned the right to call themselves that is debatable but none the less, most have contributed immensely to the growth of the tech market in Africa.

A few years ago, South Africa was regarded Africa’s core technology hub, due to its superior infrastructure and more mature investment market. However, the story seems to have changed with multinational corporates moving to other fast-growing African countries like Kenya, Rwanda, Mauritius and Tanzania. These countries have recently experienced a rapid increase in modern services and technology but is that enough to earn the tittle? Here are some of the countries that are battling it out to

be deemed “Africa’s Silicon Valley”: Top of the list is Nairobi, Kenya. Dubbed “Silicon Savannah”, Nairobi is home to several tech startups and venture capital firms. International tech giants such as Google, Intel, Nokia and Microsoft have sites in Nairobi and IBM has opened a tower block, the IBM Innovation Centre, which is the company’s first research lab in Africa. A plan has also been put in place to construct a new techno-city in Konza, about 60 kilometers away from Nairobi. These investments some believe are clear votes in confidence in Kenya’s status as a globally-recognized hub for technology and innovation.

Additionally, Kenya has pioneered a mobile technology economy that points to future trends in the rest of the world.

Kenya’s technology services sector has grown from £11m in 2002 to more than £300 million in 2013 and with a burgeoning smart app industry today, the numbers keep going up. There are apps

to establish a foothold in the country.

Carnegie Mellon University, for example, opened a Rwandan campus in 2012 to attract students interested in the country’s efforts to boost its tech sector. Smaller companies like laptop and smartphone maker Gira ICT have partnered with manufacturers like Apple, Samsung, HP and Lenovo to offer customers a monthly payment system to boost affordability. Meanwhile, Rwandan partnerships with Microsoft and Intel have launched a number of educational initiatives in Rwandan schools to ensure a new generation is equipped with the skills to continue the technology initiative.

Like Uber, Kenya has a socially powered taxi app called MARAMOJA which accepts MPESA and Airtel Money in addition to cash and credit cards. They also have a corporate product that allows monthly electronic invoicing. The prices are fixed and based only on trip origin and destination so users pay the same amount every time, rain or shine, day or night, traffic jam or not. You can also check the price to your destination from their price map before requesting for a taxi.

al aid still makes up nearly half of their national budget. With all this money going into the country, it is not shocking that Rwanda has come this far. One major key to their turnaround is technology; President Paul Kagame — the longtime leader of Rwanda, who is also known as the “digital president” — has positioned the country for an extraordinary leapfrog from an agrarian to a knowledge-based, service-oriented economy. This has created a climate that stimulates the growth of tech companies in the country. The rapid adoption of mobile technology in particular has been vital in paving the way for a new generation of Rwandan entrepreneurs.

In the early 2000s, Rwanda’s government kicked off Vision 2020 by linking the country to an international network of undersea cables and global wireless networks. The use of mobile phones has skyrocketed in Rwanda since then, so much that the country’s first high-speed 4G LTE network has been launched.

Next to Kenya is Rwanda’s Kigali. After the genocide in 1994, the U.S. and other Western countries poured billions of dollars into the country and internation

As entrepreneurships emerge in Rwanda, the push for greater technological growth has also enticed multinational businesses, investors and institutions

for everything in Kenya. Examples are the M-Farm app, which provides farmers with food pricing information and helps them to achieve fairer prices for their produce. Equally, iCow is an app designed to help boost the productivity for small-scale dairy farmers in Kenya, offering tips on cow breeding, animal nutrition, milk production efficiency and gestation.

Lagos, Nigeria on the other hand can boast of a number of successful global startups like IrokoTV, dubbed ‘Netflix of Africa’. Thanks to a Series A VC investment of $3M from US-based hedge fund Tiger Global, it is now the world’s largest online platform for African entertainment, one of the most recognized and well-respected African technology brands. Lagos is also the home of Jobberman; started in a Nigerian University dorm in 2009, it has grown into one of Sub-Saharan Africa’s most popular job search engines with more than 1.5million visitors monthly. It has since then been acquired by the $167million-valued One Africa Media, a portfolio of online marketplaces that is 30%-owned

by SEEK – the world’s largest online employment marketplace. A few more success stories include; Andela which has obtained $3million so far in seed funding, Supermart (an online groceries shop) and Hotels.ng (an online hotel booking agency).

There are a lot of promising Tech startups in East and West Africa alike all seeking to hit it big like Apple or Google. Whether all these techies will thrive or not depends on the environment created for them in their countries and Africa as a whole. Surprisingly most of the venture capitals and angel investors who invest in such startups are mostly foreign firms. We need to believe in our entrepreneurs and give them the funding they need. As to who deserves to be called “Africa’s Silicon Valley”, that I say; is a million-dollar question.

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CAN AFRICA BIRTH THE NEXT MICROSOFT?

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he world is growing faster than we imagined decades ago, with ground breaking advancements in science and technology. However due to the conservative nature of Africans, we seem to be way behind in both areas. We pride ourselves in going after the ‘sloppy seconds’ of the somewhat developed countries and try to imitate inventions that have already been put out there; thinking that just because an African did same, it should be in the news. What happened to our own “creativity”?

We tend to believe things will change with the next generation, encouraging kids to study hard to become the next leaders of the continent. Surprisingly

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many but a few fail to acknowledge the fact that these kids cannot do any differently than us if they go through the same system we did. Teaching them the same things we learnt and going about it the same way we did cannot bring the change we seldom seek. Today many of the young brilliant minds in Africa are being frustrated and their creativity stifled just because we’ve failed to create the avenues for them to develop their ideas or even showcase them. Those who beat the odds and come out with prototypes or better yet market ready products also fail along the line due to lack of funds and resources to carry on.

I’ve come across many young entrepreneurs such as myself who have some of the brightest ideas for technology start-

ups but do not have the capacity to start up. It is one thing to have an idea but the question is; can you bring it to life? In my view, the advancement of Information Technology, has three drivers; # Great ideas: We can only create that which we can envision. Without ideas we remain stagnant and hopeless as a people but with ideas we inspire hope. Some of the greatest innovations today started out as just simple ideas that inspired people to do more. Microsoft, Apple, Google and all the other tech giants were once just ideas that drove these great entrepreneurs to change the world. # Engineering/programming skills:

To be able to bring an idea to life, we must have the skills to develop the ideas into tangible products that can be used by people. It is important therefore that as a people we obtain and harness these skills without which, we are just like any other dreamer. I believe programming should be introduced to kids in the early stages of their education. Kids are growing up in a very different world than that of their parents. Cellphones, computers, YouTube, Netflix, and Facebook are embedded in their daily lives. Even toys are digital, and many are programmable, such as Legos and the new-generation LeapFrogs. It is one thing to know how to use these technologies.

It’s another, however, to understand the logic behind them.

When learning to program, kids understand and tinker with the digital world they inhabit. Coding draws back the seeming “magic” of technology so they can truly understand the logic and science that controls this technology–a discovery that is all the more magical.

Our reliance on technology will only increase. The students of today must be able to not only passively consume this technology, but also to understand and control it, becoming an active part of this huge digital shift.

For the last several centuries, people relied on the written word to spread ideas. The ability to write was the ability to create change. Today, writing is not enough. To change behavior, it is crucial to leverage the digital medium.

#

Resources (capital and infrastructure):

When we have all the brightest ideas in the world and the skills to develop them into products, we’ll still fail if we don’t have the resources. Be it monetary or infrastructure, resources are a pre-requisite for the advancement of ICT in Africa. Without reliable internet connectivity, web applications will be useless to users no matter how resourceful they are.

One of the few countries that have speedily adapted to the advancements of IT in the African region is Kenya. The government has made it an effort to encourage the development of information technology based products and ensured their integration into the Kenyan economy. Kenya’s ICT Authority can boast of a number of initiatives, policies and projects that have contributed to their success story. However, can we say the same for all African countries? South Africa is also another ‘game changer’ in the use of apps and web applications to simplify and speed up business processes.

As Africans, we must be open to change and learn to adapt quickly to the changing technologies around us. We must empower our young people to not just be innovative but also to be productive. With the ideas, engineering skills and resources, we as a people can innovate, create and provide solutions to our own problems using technology. Who can best understand the problems of Africa than Africans ourselves.?

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Do you really need to be a programmer to change the world?

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he advocacy for especially young people to learn how to code is something we all reckon to be good.

Most people if not everyone wants to be good with computers today and that’s a good thing. However is there a need for everyone to develop and harness programming skills to use computers efficiently?

On the earliest computers, everyone had to be a programmer because there was no software. If you wanted the computer to do anything, you wrote code.

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Computers in the not so distant past booted directly to the friendly blinking cursor of a BASIC interpreter. Today, we have software for everything.

Each day, programmers go through so much trouble; (writing endless lines of code) to bring to the market programs that make our work easier or improve user experience. This is done so that not everyone goes through the frustration of ‘instructing’ the computer to do what they want. All we do is load up our software and work our magic. It is amazing

what people can do with software today without really understanding what happens behind the user-interface. Software users come up with new tricks and tweaks that programmers may not even be aware of. A sophisticated software user is reckoned to be a genius, a master of his craft. This is particularly seen with gamers. Most usually have no idea how the games were built but they play them with such ease and stealth that even developers find intimidating. However, to get the most out of a software, a user must understand what to use it for. Like

all tools, we must use the right tool for the right job.

A better understanding of what the search engine “Google” does will go a long way to help you achieve the required results. Knowing how social networking sites operate will help you make greater impact in your social media marketing campaigns and much more. You don’t need to know how to write a software before you use one but you sure do need to know how to use them.

But being a programmer however has its perks, you are equipped with the capacity to make the computer do whatever you want. The possibilities are endless when it comes to the kind of tasks you can make your pc perform. Program-

mers are trend setters, simply because they bring ideas to life. They create platforms for people to harness their skills and improve their economic and social lives. Being a programmer is not only about knowing your syntax and writing impressive codes; being a programmer is your ability to identify daily problems and coming out with solutions that makes someone’s life better. Your software is nothing if it does not enrich the lives of users. Your codes are just pointless lines of texts if it does not solve a particular problem. Better known as engineers, programmers today are drivers of the tech world. They bridge the gap between users and machinery (computers). Without them technology would be a one way street to boredom where we vaguely interact with the tech we use. It

is this level of interactivity (the communication between machines and people) that has caused technology to blossom.

In respect, computer programming is an important skill/discipline in this century but we don’t all have to be programmers to drive change. Programmers have a peculiar trait of being innovators but so do end-users. A software, I believe is only as good as its user and a programmer is only as good as his/her software. Whether developer or user, we can all create an impact that will change the world.

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FinTechs and How They Are Changing the Face of Banking in Africa

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inancial technologies, popularly known as fintechs are more attractive today than they were a few years back with a headcount of about hundred fintech companies across Africa.

The industry has seen a great deal of funding as compared to other African tech sectors.

This is evident in the recently-released African Tech Startups Funding Report

by Disrupt Africa. The report found fintech was the most popular destination for funding in the tech sector after solar in 2015. Fintech start-ups attracted 29.6 percent of total investments over the course of the year, more than 55 million US Dollars, with notable rounds for the likes of South Africa’s WiGroup and Nomanini, Nigeria’s Paga and Aella Credit and Kenya’s Kopo Kopo.

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The same can be said on the global front. Research by KPMG and CB Insights found 2015 was a record year for investment in fintech startups, with 19.1 billion US Dollars invested globally.

The financial services industry is said to be one of the largest in the world at a whopping 11 trillion Us Dollars in revenue, with Accenture estimating that 35 percent of this is at risk due to disruption in the industry from fintech.

In Africa, the reasons for the increased funding are clear. Traditional banking has failed on the continent. This is because 330 million adults, around 80 percent of the continent’s population are unbanked. That’s a huge market for fintech start-ups to fill with innovative solutions.

More so, Africans have readily demonstrated their willingness to adopt new

ways of transacting if they are made readily available. M-Pesa for instance has been a huge success, with transactions reaching 656 million US Dollars in 2014 and projected to double over the course of the next four years.

Though eighty percent of Africans don’t have a bank account, almost everyone on the continent owns a smartphone with South Africa and Kenya being among the fastest-growing smartphone markets in the world. There has been a growth in internet penetration in addition to the smartphone ownership across West and Sub-Saharan Africa in the last couple of years. This in a way has contributed to the success of fintechs across the continent.

Substantively, mobile phones now serve as a vital way to access the un-banked population of Africa. Fintechs are also

leveraging on the high bank charges and operating expenses of traditional banks to roll out a more specialised approach to tackling financial inclusion.

Fintech companies are not just promising easy access to payment systems but also much cheaper charges compared to that of the banks. People not only can transfer money with their smartphones but also borrow, save and insure against unforeseen events. There’s also the promise of security as compared to carrying cash around or waiting for the banks to open after the weekend to deposit your cash or make a transaction.

As more problems arise with traditional banking with pertinent issues like, identity and reputation management, debt enforcement, credit scoring, access to financial products like insurance and even savings, mobile wallets have become the preferred alternative banking channel.

Unlike Western wallets which are typically run by financial institutions, African wallets are being built by mobile

carriers (Telcos) that are investing to make them hugely popular: 183 million people in Africa already own a mobile wallet. That’s 3 times the users of e-wallets in the U.S. and expanding at 3 times the annual growth rate of the U.S. If this trend continues, every African will have a mobile wallet by 2020.

However, the fintech industry in Africa has two major problems aside regulators. The first is the fragmentation of mobile wallets/mobile payment platforms across the continent. There is no unified e-commerce backbone and fintech innovators need to come together to form one strong network. Fintech companies have built strong local footholds, but cross-border payments capability is almost non-existent. Networking these wallets will benefit all participants, add value to carrier infrastructure, increase sales for merchants and bring choice and utility to consumers.

The second problem is the issue of distribution, people need to be able to ac-

cess the product and it needs to have utility. Fintech companies starting out tend to pay more attention to technology - getting the product 100 percent right - rather than the distribution of their product. In financial services, distribution is everything and is where a lot of the innovation really lies. This is where telcos come in. Telcos don’t just have the infrastructure, but most have great distribution channels that if partnered with could help fintech innovators. Safaricom’s M-Pesa which boast of about 20 million users was successful in Kenya because they had a dominant mobile network operator and significant agent distribution system.

Fintechs are here to disrupt the way ordinary Africans manage and use money as the needs to transact, borrow, save and insure will never disappear. Therefore, the need to innovate and deliver these services to customers is essential.

It makes Africa an exciting space for fintech in 2016 and beyond.

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How Tech Companies Could Be Deceiving Us into Giving Them Our Personalized Data

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acial recognition technology is becoming more and more prevalent in the technology we use today; from Facebook tagging to Snapchat lens filters.

But is it possible that these companies are using this data for other purposes, and without our consent?

It is no secret that tech companies like Facebook and Snapchat have large databases of our personalized data. Each day millions and millions of our data are being published on their platforms with our consent. When we check that little box or press that button, accepting the user terms and conditions for these apps, what are we really signing away?

Facebook and Google have already been using facial recognition databases to automatically tag people in photos.

Most facial recognition software analyse different features on a person’s face such

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as distance between the eyes and angle of the nose to create algorithmic face printing of the subject. There are also developments in 3D face modelling that allows faces to be recognized at different angles. Facebook’s deep face technology is believed to accurately identify a subject with 97% accuracy which is even better than the FBI’s technology for security.

As some of us may already know, the internet is used to capture our browsing history to advertise and sell stuff to us, in same way some of these tech companies might use our data to sell to us online and personally.

Are our faces being used to target advertising? We are living in a time where we are willing to give away our fingerprints, geographical locations and pictures freely to these tech companies without really asking ourselves what these data are being used for and how they are be-

ing kept. iPhone users now have the option of using their fingerprints to authenticate their identity and prevent unauthorised access to their devices. In the recent Apple Vs FBI battle, iPhone users were reassured of the un-hackable nature of the device by a third party. In as much as we are being assured that our devices and data are inaccessible by third parties, how sure are we of the security of our data in the hands these tech giants since we have failed to regulate their power over the data we give them.

Are they really concerned about our security as they advertise or are they just looking for ways to keep selling us stuff we don’t need?

Gadget Review: GoPro Hero 4 Silver

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he GoPro Hero4 Silver is actually the best little action camera money can buy today. The action camera has a classic black and metallic block design. It is really a small camera and weighs just about 3 ounces.

It comes with a standard waterproof housing that’s good down to 131 feet (40 meters), skeleton and touch back doors, two adhesive mounts (one flat and one curved), horizontal and vertical quick-release buckles that attach to the bottom of the camera’s housing and a three-way pivot arm, so you can mount the camera on the top, front, or side of a helmet. The camera is neither ruggedized nor mountable without a case, however.

The GoPro Hero4 Silver looks and feels exactly the same as the Hero3+ Silver Edition, except for one crucial feature: For the first time ever, there’s a builtin 1.5-inch touch screen on the back (where the battery used to be), which helps you frame your shots and lets you review footage on the spot, rather than

using the mobile app or waiting until you get to a computer. As a result of the touch screen’s location, the battery housing is now located on the bottom edge and the cell itself is slimmer than the chunky GoPro batteries.

With the new built-in touch screen, you no longer need to move yourself around to the camera’s front to change settings using the monochrome display (you still can if you want to, though, and it’ll save you some battery life). You just swipe left to quickly select your desired capture modes, and swipe up to access the settings for that specific mode, which you navigate by scrolling and tapping.

The Hero4 Silver records video at up to 4K at 15fps, a more useful 2.7K resolution at 30fps, and perhaps most importantly 1080p at 60fps and 720p at 120fps. It has a 12-megapixel sensor for still pictures which is great. It also has ‘superview’ options for 1080p and 720p resolutions, which dynamically stretches the default aspect ratio to a full 16:9.

That means you can get more details into your footage, but at the cost of some added distortion around the edg-

es. You even get Protune, which records raw footage without GoPro’s automatic colour, brightness, and contrast adjustments, as well as Low Light options, which adjusts the camera’s settings to shoot better footage in low-light situations. There is a shooting mode feature that records video as well as still photos in five, 10, 30, and 60-second intervals.

It has great audio quality for videos though an external microphone can be attached.

The biggest downside to the camera is its battery life. The Hero4 Silver can record 1 hour and 50 minutes of 1080p/30 fps video. Enabling Wi-Fi and the smartphone app drops battery time by 10 minutes which is quite short. It has a micro SD slot that takes cards up to 64GB, enough to hold about 4 hours and 40 minutes of 1080p/60fps video.

The camera is a bit pricey as it costs about $400 for the standard package.

This does not come with an SD card and charger. The head mount together with others also come at an extra cost.

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TECHNOPHOBIA, A HINDERANCE TO AFRICA’S TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT

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e have heard of several phobias over the years and a lot more keep popping up with quite interesting and fascinating names.

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I know computers and technology as a whole is a force most people don’t want to reckon with but the knowledge of it actually being a phobia is quite horrendous.

In this era where you’d think everybody you came across was tech savvy or

somewhat technologically inclined, a large percentage of the African population is ‘deathly’ afraid of computers and their capabilities. This phobia is known as Logizomechanophobia aka Technophobia or Cyberphobia.

Logizomechanophobia is a condition

of technophobes- the “uncomfortable users”, the “cognitive computerphobes” and “anxious computerphobes”.

Uncomfortable users are people who suffer from slight anxiety triggered by the belief that they lack the knowledge required to use computers effectively.

Cognitive computerphobes, while they may appear calm and collected on the outside are constantly bombarding themselves with negative thoughts about their lack of knowledge or the reliability of computing hardware. The anxious computerphobes on the other hand display the common symptoms of anxiety, such as sweaty palms and tingling in the hands.

There is no universal cause of technophobia, but experts say traumatic instances from the past are usually the triggers of this phobia. An example is losing a job due to technological advances. Other reasons they say; might be one’s fear of learning how to use a computer, especially if they found it very difficult to grasp the concepts associated with computers.

which explains the extreme and irrational fear of technology but relates especially to an unreasonable fear of computers.

Logizomechanophobes or technophobes as they are popularly called usually exhibit the following symptoms in response to the use of technology: panic, increased heart rate, tremors, shortness of breath, and extreme isolation or avoidance. Like every phobia, the symptoms vary by person depending on their level of fear.

Dr. Larry Rosen, research psychologist, computer educator, and professor at the California State University suggests that there are three dominant subcategories

People with this kind of phobia will do anything to avoid computers. The mere sight or thought of using a computer can cause such persons to have palpitations, tremors, cold feet and other symptoms of anxiety. Technophobes usually consider computers as mystifying foreign objects over which they have no control.

Although I’m tech savvy and fairly great with computers now, this hasn’t always been the case. I wouldn’t say I was dreadfully afraid of computers but I used to feel uncomfortable around them. I used to avoid computers just because I didn’t want to be embarrassed by them; so to speak. This I think was attributed to the fact that like most people, I grew up in an environment where it wasn’t easy to own a computer. We only spent thirty minutes or so a week with them in schools and hardly interacted with them on a personal level.

when it came to computers, majority of them exhibited fear. I often came across kids who panicked when I asked them to drag the mouse or type a few keys on the keyboard.

This is not an attempt to show a level of expertise on the subject but to prove that the phobia is not farfetched. We come across people who suffer from this condition everyday even without knowing it. Yeah, they may not be as severe as advertised but they deprive a lot of people from buying in on the amazing benefits of computers and technology and how it can be used to improve our lives.

Experts say therapists can help cure this phobia and integrate such people into the tech world. However, I believe simple steps to expose kids to computers at an early stage in life can go a long way to reduce the percentage. Slowly correcting the misconception of computers as highly intellectual machines that need a great deal of skills and intelligence to operate could also reduce the numbers. You’d think with the proliferation of smart phones, PDA’s (tablets) and computers, it will be hard for anybody to fear using one but a little more encouragement of our young and old to actually use these devices is what we should reckon.

Most African children are suffering from similar conditions and exhibit most of the symptoms stated above when they come into contact with computers. I can say this with authority because, as part of my national service I was posted to a school where the kids were ‘technologically deprived’. The school had no computer lab and most of the students had never interacted with a computer before. These kids were fairly clever but

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What Every Entrepreneur Should Know Before They Setup a Social Media Page for Business

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ocial media is one thing every small business owner today know they should be actively engaging but often struggle to keep up with. Sadly, just having a presence on social media is not enough to ensure the success of your business but carefully branding and developing social media marketing strategies will help you achieve more than you’d imagine possible.

Social media has changed the face of marketing in this digital age. Traditionally marketing was all about the Four P’s i.e. Product + Price +Place + Promote; all

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you had to do was to create a product, figure out how to price it, get it placed in the market and promote the heck out of it. However, marketing today with social media adopts what we call the Four C’s i.e. Content + Context + Connection + Community; meaning you first have to create content, deliver it in a context that makes it useful for people who are starving to make connections with people, products and brands, they can build a community around.

The best way to view social media as an entrepreneur is to look at it as a way to open up new access points where these points can be leveraged to create content, context, connection and community which may result to lead generation

and conversion. Once you give people the information they need and how they can apply this information to establish connections and build communities around them, they’d automatically want to be associated with your brand and eventually even become customers.

Having an active social media presence is great but your business must have a primary web hub i.e. a website or blog that ties all your social media activity together. Your activity on social media sites functions primarily as a way to lead prospects back to the much more fully developed content that resides on your website. There, you can tell prospective clients and customers all they need to know about your business with-

out seeming pushy. This is because unknown to most people, social media has a “no selling allowed” culture that makes brands that are constantly seeking to sell people stuff easily irritable. Entrepreneurs who often pitch sales directly to people on social media quickly get on the nerves of social media fanatics and most would want nothing to do with you or your brand.

Sadly, most entrepreneurs make this mistake far too many times and have to learn the hard way. Always find ways that will intrigue people to want to know more about what you do or even buy your products. Always view your activities on social media as ads that help people to engage, build, know, like and trust you or your brand.

Before you decide to setup a page for your business on any social media platform, you first need to create a social media strategic plan based on your marketing objectives. Whether it’s boosting brand awareness, generating leads, recruiting new clients or retaining old

ones, you need to develop social media campaigns that will help you reach your audience. It is also important to choose the right social media platform depending on your target audience; Facebook for instance is suitable for reaching people between 35 to 60 years and twitter for the much younger generation.

Once you’ve developed your social media strategy, find ways to use social media tools like tweetdeck, ChatCatcher, Topsy, SocialMention etc. to listen and join the conversation going on in your networks. One way to be seen and heard on social media is to engage and network. Find out what people are saying about problems your business or products can solve or on issues of which you have some knowledge or expertise.

Start-up interesting conversations on relevant issues that will catch the attention of people in your circles and engage with them when they comment on your posts. Occasionally go out of your comfort zone and comment on trending issues; be it social, economic or entertainment.

Finally, build relationships and manage sales through the use of social media tools. After engaging and networking with people on social media, build relationships with clients and manage sales by asking for feedback on your products and services and actually improve them based on the information given. Let customers feel like they are a part of the brand. Carry out promotions on social media and reward loyal customers, also post pictures of rewarded/happy clients on your social media pages.

Social media has come to stay and entrepreneurs must take advantage to explore it to the best of their interest and abilities. If you don’t have a presence on social media, this is the time to get on board; if you already have an active social media presence, the key is to remain interesting, trendy and relevant. Be creative with your content, have a strategic social media plan and engage and network.

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Top 10 Technology Trends in 2016

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t is quite clear what age we live in today –the digital age – and technology as we know it keeps evolving as the days go by.

ingly connected to our devices, other people and a variety of things. Smart machines are getting smarter, and a new IT reality must evolve with technology architectures and platforms to support the advancement of a digitally connected world.

In the last 24 hours, you’ve probably had several moments of continuous connection with information, apps, services, devices and other people. This “digital mesh” according to Gartner Inc., surrounds the individual and new, continuous and ambient experiences will emerge to exploit it.

Today, our lives are becoming increas-

Earlier this year, Gartner Inc., the world’s leading information technology research and advisory company came out with a report on what they believe to be The top 10 strategic technology trends in 2016. We are barely halfway through the year and we’ve seen some of them come true already.

In case you missed it, here are the top

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ten technology trends for 2016 by Gartner Inc. Trend No. 1: The Device Mesh The device mesh moves beyond the traditional desktop computer and mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) to encompass the full range of endpoints with which humans might interact. As the device mesh evolves, Gartner expects connection models to expand and greater cooperative interaction between devices to emerge. We will see significant development in wearables and augmented reality, especially in vir-

into aerospace, medical, automotive, energy and the military.

Recent advances make it possible to mix multiple materials together with traditional 3D printing in one build. This could be useful for field operations or repairs when a specific tool is required and printed on demand. Biological 3D printing — such as the printing of skin and organs — is progressing from theory to reality; however, politicians and the public don’t have a full understanding of the implications.

Trend No. 4: Information of Everything Everything surrounding us in the digital mesh is producing, using and communicating with virtually unmeasurable amounts of information. Organizations must learn how to identify what information provides strategic value, how to access data from different sources, and explore how algorithms leverage Information of Everything to fuel new business designs.

Trend No. 5: Advanced Machine Learning

tual reality.

Trend No. 2: Ambient User Experience All of our digital interactions can become synchronized into a continuous and ambient digital experience that preserves our experience across traditional boundaries of devices, time and space.

The experience blends physical, virtual and electronic environments, and uses real-time contextual information as the ambient environment changes or as the user moves from one place to another.

Organizations will need to consider their customers’ behaviour journeys to shift the focus on design from discrete apps to the entire mesh of products and services involved in the user experience.

Trend No. 3: 3D-Printing Materials We’ll see continued advances in 3D printing with a wide range of materials, including advanced nickel alloys, carbon fibre, glass, conductive ink, electronics, pharmaceuticals and biological materials for practical applications expanding

Advanced machine learning is what makes smart machines appear “intelligent” by enabling them to both understand concepts in the environment, and also to learn. Through machine learning a smart machine can change its future behaviour. This area is evolving quickly, and organizations must assess how they can apply these technologies to gain competitive advantage.

Trend No. 6: Autonomous Agents and Things Advanced machine learning gives rise to a spectrum of smart machine implementations — including robots, autonomous vehicles, virtual personal assistants (VPAs) and smart advisors — that act in an autonomous (or at least semiautonomous) manner. This feeds into the ambient user experience in which an autonomous agent becomes the main user interface. Instead of interacting with menus, forms and buttons on a smartphone, the user speaks to an app, which is really an intelligent agent.

Trend No. 7: Adaptive Security Architecture The complexities of digital business and the algorithmic economy, combined with an emerging “hacker industry,” sig-

nificantly increase the threat surface for an organization. IT leaders must focus on detecting and responding to threats, as well as more traditional blocking and other measures to prevent attacks.

Trend No. 8: Advanced System Architecture The digital mesh and smart machines require intense computing architecture demands to make them viable for organizations. They’ll get this added boost from ultra-efficient-neuromorphic architectures. Systems built on graphics processing units (GPUs) and field-programmable gate-arrays (FPGAs) will function more like human brains that are particularly suited to be applied to deep learning and other pattern-matching algorithms that smart machines use.

FPGA-based architecture will allow distribution with less power into the tiniest Internet of Things (IoT) endpoints, such as homes, cars, wristwatches and even human beings.

Trend No. 9: Mesh App and Service Architecture The mesh app and service architecture are what enable delivery of apps and services to the flexible and dynamic environment of the digital mesh. This architecture will serve users’ requirements as they vary over time. It brings together the many information sources, devices, apps, services and micro services into a flexible architecture in which apps extend across multiple endpoint devices and can coordinate with one another to produce a continuous digital experience.

Trend No. 10: Internet of Things Architecture and Platforms IoT platforms exist behind the mesh app and service architecture. The technologies and standards in the IoT platform form a base set of capabilities for communicating, controlling, managing and securing endpoints in the IoT. The platforms aggregate data from endpoints behind the scenes from an architectural and a technology standpoint to make the IoT a reality. source: Forbes.com

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13 Tips for Tech Start-up Founders

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uilding a successful tech start-up is never easy especially in Africa. The difficulty is not just finding investors who are willing to buy into your idea, but sailing through the harsh economic and social environment to survive your first year or two in business.

Most founders of tech start-ups face the same challenges and pitfalls. Be it issues with your product, team, legal, finance, sales, and marketing or leadership, there are a few guidelines to help you overcome such challenges and to help you succeed as you build your business.

Here are 13 tips by serial entrepreneur Sean Callahan to help you in your entrepreneurial journey. #1 Create a plan for your business even though you probably won’t follow it It is highly recommended in the traditional business world to write a business plan. It is extremely important for you to put your thoughts to paper, but a business plan isn’t necessarily required.

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The best thing you can do is put together a presentation with no more than 10 slides; clearly defining the problem, solution, business model, how you are going to do it, competitive landscape, and so forth. The reason you don’t need to do a full-blown business plan is you probably won’t even follow it. When you put together a 10-slide presentation, it is much less time consuming and will always be an iterative process where you are bobbing, weaving, tweaking, and adjusting. You will learn that building a business is exactly the same way. #2. Figure out your distribution strategy once you come up with an idea Before going all in on a business idea, make sure you have identified several ways in which you will grow it. It is such a waste of time coming up with an awesome idea, building it into a product or service, and not having a way to get it in front of people. If you are trying to figure out how to grow your product quickly, think about how you can reach as many people as possible with the least amount of effort. It is good to think about other

companies you can leverage and partner with to get in front of their user base.

Think about establishing partnerships with companies that can sell or distribute your product to their customers.

The companies where this works are the ones that create value for their business through your product or the overall deal you put together. #3 Use a law firm that will defer their fees until you raise investment capital There are certain legal services that you can pay for on a one-off basis, but those fees can add up quickly if you aren’t careful. The best thing you can do is to work with a law firm that will defer their professional services fees until you raise investment capital. Interview the firms that offer a start-up program like this and select the one with whom you feel most comfortable. This is an excellent way for you to stretch your budget as you start your company on limited resources. Many of these law firms want you to succeed as a business because they will typically take 1% equity in your business in exchange for the fee defer-

ral. The more successful your business becomes; the larger payout they receive for taking on your company at such an early stage. #4 Make sure you are building something customers want to use Getting feedback from your customers is essential. There is no point in building a product if no one is going to use it.

Customer feedback can come in a variety of forms: verbally, in writing, through surveys and feedback tools, purchase decisions, or silent feedback through analytical behaviour tracking tools. No matter how you do it, make sure you put a system in place that allows you to get the feedback you need to build a great, targeted product. #5 Make it easy for customers to contact you Start-ups tend to be so impersonal and inaccessible to their customers. That is a huge mistake. Don’t be afraid to display your personal phone number on your website. In the early days of building your company, you should be thankful for a customer who wants to pick up the telephone and talk with you about your product. Through those conversations, you can learn about your customer’s wants and needs. #6 Build a moat around your business Do something different than your competitors that isn’t easy to replicate. Moats (large, treacherous trenches of water) were used in ancient times to prevent enemy access to the castle and/or village. You must do the same, figuratively.

It may be a special feature that you have patented, the exclusive distribution deals you have landed, the large customer base you have built, or something else that’s tough for a competitor to do quickly. Regardless of what it is, you need to figure out what type of moat you will build around your business that separates it from your competitors. #7 Building a business is all about systems It takes just as much time to build a small business as it does a big business.

The only difference between creating a small business and a big business is the way you think and go about building your business. It all comes down to one word: systems. If you want to build a big business, think about how your business can be scaled and replicated while providing the same exceptional service as you would if you had fewer customers.

It requires you to think of how to deliver a consistent customer experience that will exceed expectations time after time.

To do this, you must put systems into the core fabric of your business that will allow it to grow beyond just you. This forces you to think about your business as a template as if you are building a franchise. Whether it is the formula to deliver customer service in a certain way or conduct a sales call to acquire a new customer, all the systems must have consistency, predictability, and excellence. #8 Don’t forget to trademark your company name There’s nothing more damaging to your brand than when other companies start exploiting your company name in ways you would never imagine. If you are looking to build your company into a recognizable brand that will conduct business online across the nation or worldwide, you will want to file a trademark application with the Patent and Trademark Office in your country. They can help you file a trademark application once you have searched their database to see if the company name you have chosen for your business is already in use or available for registration. #9 Use equity as currency One of the greatest things you can do when you start a company is to use equity in exchange for professional services. To attract top-notch employees, setup an employee stock option plan to incentivize people to join your company. However, be careful when you do this. Be generous to those that hustle, but give equity in your company away sparingly if you believe your company is going to be a huge success and worth a fortune. Explore the use of equity and an employee stock option plan with your attorney as a way to exchange professional services in lieu of cash and to incentivize employees. #10 Don’t expect others to be able to sell if you can’t As a founder of a start-up, you need to be able to sell. Sales can be brutal especially if it is not your forte. However, it is something you can (and must) learn.

Selling is nothing more than presenting your product and then asking a question, “Do you want to buy it?” It is actually pretty easy. Of course, no one likes being rejected or hearing the word “no”, but that is sales and it will happen. Get used to it! It is so sweet though when someone finally says “yes!” Whether you

are raising capital, trying to recruit a new employee, or pitching your product to a customer or potential partner, all you need to do is ask the question. Don’t be afraid because you have nothing to lose.

The worst thing you will hear is no. Be persistent, and eventually someone will say yes. #11 Hire slowly to find the right people for your company Hiring employees is one of the biggest decision you will ever make when running your company. Take your time when you are trying to fill a position within your company, even if it means not being able to offload extra work you are doing. What separates your business from the competitor will be the people you hire and the culture you build. You need to hire the right people that will help preserve the culture you built. Use a hiring checklist when you begin to hire. This checklist will turn your hiring process into a system, which will include rigorous screening and interview questions to sift and sort through applicants to find the best employees that fit what you are looking for in an employee. #12 Empower the employees on your team If you can’t trust someone on your team, they probably should not be in your company. You have a rigorous hiring process for a reason. Of all the candidates you screen and interview, you only hire the best people to help you grow your business. Because of this, you need to let the people on your team run wild and do their thing. Believe that your employees will do the right thing and, typically, they will. When you do this you empower them to tackle problems on their own, push the limits and become doers. #13 Have fun Have some fun. Make coming to the office enjoyable for you and your team.

Build exciting products, chase the next deal, and create something bigger and better than yourself. Take people out to lunch, catch a game, go miniature golfing or go-kart racing. Regardless of where you find it throughout your day, there needs to be an element of fun for you and your team. If you are too serious, you may limit creativity. source: social tech

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Ghana in The Eyes of a Drone; The Adventure of Kwamena Bolton In an exclusive interview with Techpreneur, he shares considerable insights to the commercial application of drones in an 82-billion-dollar industry and the monumental aerial shots he’s honoured Ghana with.

Why do you think people are so fascinated about aerial shots?

B: Well it’s been an area of photography I guess that has only been accessible by using helicopters and planes. Hence it’s been very expensive to take aerial shots until quite recently where the technology has progressed to a stage now where you can use drones to actually go up there and take the photographs. As such, it’s made it much more accessible to the general public, whereas with the helicopters you’re spending a thousand to two thousand dollars an hour just to get up there and lure the equipment and so on. Practically, up to this point it’s been used purely for professional work like traffic watch, or to monitor riots; but you wouldn’t have anybody just using it to take photographs of a scenery because it’s expensive.

How did your love for drones start?

D

avid Kwamena Bolton started out as a computer whiz kid in the late 80’s. At age 14, he founded a company that made a 1st year profit of £20,000. Two years later, at age 16, he developed a software for the British health service that earned him an official letter of congratulations from the then British Prime Minister.

Upon his arrival in Ghana after a formal invitation from the Government of Gha-

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na, he founded a software development house, where he specialised in public sector computerisation. He became a chief at 17 in the central region and settled to serve his county.

Today, Bolton continues to bridge amazing new frontiers in software development and technological innovation as the Technical Director at SOFTtribe. His love for flying has led him to leverage drones in several useful applications.

For someone who humbly professes, he’s not a photographer, he takes prodigious aerial shots. His pictures accentuate Ghana in ways never seen before.

B: I happen to have been flying for twenty-five years. I grew up in the UK; my mom is Ghanaian and my dad is Scottish. I was already doing some IT stuff in the UK when I was a teenager, I was running a business there. Then there was an article that was written in ‘The West African Magazine’ in those times, when the government saw it at the time (that was during the PNDC era, 1990 thereabout) Ex-President Rawlings invited me down to basically come and serve my country.

I came in 1990; I was just 17 at the time and I had always loved aviation. I was quite close with him so he taught me how to fly air force planes, and private planes owned by a few of his friends.

There were also remote controlled aircrafts –those times they had petrol engines – and we used to fly that every weekend. So what you see with drones now is simply an extension of what has been going on for thirty - forty years already. It’s just that now, with phone technology, we have GPS’s, Gyros, accelerometers, so you can create a small computer that can sense its surround-

ings. With that it knows where it is in the world, how high it is, as well as its rotation, balancing and stuff like that.

This means whereas before, you needed to fly things manually, now you can get a computer to do all of those calculations for you. The drones just hover in place and wait for input from you. So in a way, technology has made it easier to fly, made it more stable and safer.

That’s where it all started from and has led us to drones today. Drones have become useful in just the past two – three years; before that they were just play things.

What inspired you to embark on this journey to show the world a bird’seye view of some of the most remote landscapes in Ghana?

B: Interestingly, it’s not actually the main reason we are into drones. We are actually a software company; a technology company called SOFTtribe. We primarily develop software solutions and we have all sorts of products. One of them is a security product called “Hei-Julor” which is basically a security alert system.

So using drones, for instance in that sort of scenario, you are looking at using a

drone to aid in the security setup.

Say for instance your house is under attack and you trigger the alarm, what we are doing is research and development so a drone can come and hover around your house with the flood lights, with an alarm system and so on. By that, it will highlight that there is a problem and when the police are coming, they can easily spot where the issues are. There’s that and we are also looking at it for surveillance purposes.

Essentially, if you look at our marine patrol, you’d know, our navy is very stretched. We don’t have the resources to be running a fleet of riggers to be patrolling the waters. Therefore, if you have a drone which is relatively inexpensive and can fly autonomously over the sea to spot illegal activities, that would be more efficient. And because you are using GPS technologies these days, it relays the information back to the operator.

The actual photography part of it; going around taking pictures was really part of our research development. As and when we were going out testing the drones, we just take some pictures of what hap-

pens to be in the area. I started reviewing the pictures and realised Ghana is pretty beautiful from above: even when you’re looking at somewhere like Sodom and Gomorrah. From above it looks quite interesting but down there obviously it’s a different story. I decided to just create an Instagram and Facebook page and just post them on there and let people see the sort of things we have in Ghana and I can say its generated quite a bit of interest.

What type of drones do you use?

B: We have various models. We have the basic consumer drones like DJI but we also build our own drones. For the surveillance work for instance, a typical DJI drone can only stay in the air for about 20 minutes on average and for surveillance you need something that can travel a hundred to two hundred kilometres and stay up in the air for about 4 hours. Ergo, we are building our own fixed wing drones for that and those look more like a typical aeroplane. We farm out the components from different manufacturers and assemble it to perform a certain task. Comparatively, if the mission is staying up for four hours, you need an air frame which has a very good

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stability in terms of the aero fold design.

You need something that is stable, you need something that’s fairly slow flying because if you’re flying too fast, you can’t get good pictures. But at the same time, you may want an aircraft that flies fast and may get to the scene quickly and maybe follow up with something else like a quadcopter that could hover in the area.

What’s been your most popular picture?

B: Gosh, I don’t really know. I don’t really follow the likes and all of that much. I just put it out there and let people see them. A lot of the time I’m not actually posting recent material. Sometimes you go through stuff you took last year and you realise; oh that was actually a nice shot. Like onetime, I posted a shot of a beach and the drone was looking down on my two sons. They were in the water swimming and it wasn’t a great shot but then I said let me just put it out there because the waves were interesting, the colour of the sea was actually turquoise and it got all sorts of comments on it. It is not something I’ll deem to be a great picture and I’m not a photographer, I mean I just do what I can do.

Tell us a breakthrough in drone photography that excites you?

B: It has so many applications, in terms of aerial shots. Apart from the usual taking shots of buildings or scenery, there are so many real applications. Like, if you’re doing building inspection of a high rise building, you can put a drone up there and be done in 10-15 minutes as compared to mounting, scaffolding, or building a crane which is time consuming and expensive.

We also have things like infrared cameras that can be fit into the drones; so for aerial work like observing a typical field of corn, you can adjust the camera spectrum slightly into the infrared area and actually see distressed areas of the field.

There’s another area in terms of 3D modelling where basically the drone will fly a predetermined route, take multiple pictures and because all the pictures are geotagged, you can stitch them together and the computer software can then create a 3D mosaic of the entire thing.

It is used typically in mining sites. Supposing you have a pile of rubble, you can assess the volume of what’s there.

There are all sorts of things you can do

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with drones now. It just allows you to be much more flexible with the camera than you could in the past.

What is the biggest challenge for drone pilots in the industry?

B: Regulation; not just in Ghana but the world. Because drones are a new technology, there are quite a few risks associated with it and it’s something which is open to everybody. Anybody can get up and buy a drone now. It happened so quickly that the aviation authorities didn’t have time to prepare and look at how it will interfere with general or commercial aviation. It is possible to send a drone ten thousand feet and that could easily interfere with an aircraft in the area. As such it’s been a problem regulating and if you over regulate, obviously you’re going to kill the industry and then innovation. If you under regulate, then it’s not safe.

Ghana’s Civil Aviation recently released some regulations on it; where they are requiring everyone to register depending on what you’re going to use the drone for, whether private or commercial. To that end, they need to be careful they don’t make it too stringent. As a country, we need to keep it fairly flexible so it allows people to start innovating.

The other problem here is that we don’t have repair shops and the parts are unavailable. I mean I have a whole room full of drones which either the motors or speed controllers are burnt or the battery’s gone bad and you’re always waiting for things to come from outside.

Now even there’s a ban on transporting batteries by air so it becomes very difficult to repair.

What’s your top tip for anyone who wants to use drones for real applications?

B: First thing is, understand aeronautics.

What usually happens is people will just go out and buy drones. I’ve had people message me several times saying: “oh I’ve crashed my drone”. They just take it up with no idea of orientation, dynamics of air flow, wind, obstacles etc. They always hit a power line or a tree or something. Ergo, you first need to understand the basics of aeronautic science. And then buy a small drone; you can get cheap drones for about 50 dollars but they are completely manual. Just like if you’re learning how to drive, it’s better to drive a manual car first and move on

to an automatic. For if you start driving with an automatic and you’re unfortunate to get stuck somewhere, you can’t drive a manual when the need arises. Same with drones, so get a smaller drone, play with it, crash it a bit so you understand the dynamics of it and then just move up from there.

Further, even the relatively cheaper drones that take good pictures cost around a thousand dollars or more and that’s not cheap in Ghanaian terms.

Hence if you buy something like that and crash it on your first attempt, it’s going to be very difficult to keep up that interest. The best thing is to try and be as safe as possible.

Is there an institution where one could study or get some certification in the country?

B: Not at the moment. It’s something that we’ve been looking at; maybe starting a small school with training on how to fly drones, but it’s really time.

Hopefully we’ll get round to that maybe next year. If not a school, we could have monthly sessions where we could go to a field somewhere and people can try them out and learn how to fly.

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Publisher’s Pick: Best Office Chair 2016 (The Ergohuman High Back Mesh Chair) Ultimately, it should create an S shape in the back, as opposed to a C shape which is not too great.

Adjustability: While adjustability relates to an office chair’s ergonomics, it’s also a big enough factor to stand alone. Bottom line: you should be able to influence a chairs lumbar support, and you want to also be able to manipulate it enough to suit your particular body type.

Moreover, height adjustability is a good factor to consider, as we’re not all built equally, nor are our desks. The arms should be adjustable as well as the angle of the back.

Breathability: Believe it or not, when you sit you sweat.

Not heavy sweat, but our body naturally gives off moisture. And when you sit the fabric beneath your butt needs to have some breathability. Otherwise it’ll become uncomfortable for you, and the chair will begin to garner an odour.

Same can be said about the other points of contact on the chair, including the back, but the leg area is key. So look for a chair with mesh or a specially designed breathable fabric.

Reclining: Yes | Arm Rests: Adjustable.

F

inding the best office chair is no simple affair for techies. It can be compared to buying a bed since you’ll be spending a good chunk of your life on it. Hence, it is worth investing your time and money researching and purchasing the best on the market.

However, the best ergonomic office chairs aren’t all built the same. While one may work for one person, it may not be a fit for another.

So what makes a good office chair?

There are many things to evaluate when you’re looking for a top office chair.

These are the key indicators that sepa-

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A good office chair, will offer proper ergonomics to appropriately support your back and body for long periods of sitting. While no chair can negate hip and lower back issues, the best alleviate some of the pain one experiences from sitting for longer periods of time.

Here is an amazing chair that meets all the pre-requisites of a good office chair.

The Ergohuman High Back Mesh Chair: This chair offers excellent customization.

The Ergohuman High Back Mesh Chair is specifically designed for those that will be seated for more than 5 hours a day.

And it can be adjusted in a variety of places, including the seat depth, back, lumbar area, spine area, back angle title, base and more. It is also breathable with support in all the right areas.

The best solid office chairs offer lower and upper back support and reduces pressure on touch points, such as the butt and upper back areas.

Really there is no adjustment you can’t make with the Ergohuman mesh chair.

It fits a variety of folks and all temperaments.

Also take note of your hip positioning when considering a good office chair.

For example, some chairs give you the option of moving the seat forward or back which in turn adjusts your posture.

This could help you sit correctly even through variation.

It costs around $600 on Amazon which may be a bit much for those on tight budgets but it’s totally worth the price.

rates the good from the bad.

Ergonomics: