Uber finally arrives Uganda

U.S-headquartered taxi hailing service, Uber has continued its expansion drive in Africa by launching in Kampala, Uganda today, bringing the total number of cities with Uber presence to 462.
Uber works by connecting riders with the closest available driver in the city, who picks up riders in minutes – less than 5 minutes most of the time.

Riders get to see a photo of their drivers, the car they are driving, and even see them on the app as they drive towards them. With the launch, Kampala residents can now request an uberX from their smartphones to take them to their destination, whether it’s Entebbe International Airport, Mandela National Stadium, Acacia Mall or anywhere in between.

Cameroon's Kiro'o Games is taking the gaming industry by storm

Many Cameroonians (especially boys) who grew up in the early 90s, spent obscene amounts of time and money in arcades playing video games. Many would use their food and taxi money to get a chance at beating the high score in such titles as Final Fight, Street Fighter, the King Of Fighters series, Cadillacs and Dinosaurs and other memorable titles. 

We have come a long way from those days when we used to hit buttons and push joysticks to a very wide-ranged and sophisticated, billion dollar gaming industry. 
Most Africans and Cameroonians in particular have always taken it for granted that video games are something foreign which come mainly from the U.S and Japan but the tables have turned much in the last couple of years.
Kiro'o Games,  is a Cameroonian video game, animation, development and publishing company founded in 2003 by Madiba Olivier, and headquartered inYaoundé. Based in the green hills of Yaoundé, Cameroon’s capital, Kiro’o Games is not only breaking ground for software developers in its home country—it’s also among the first companies in the world to create an African-themed role-playing game.Their debut title is Aurion: Legacy of the Kori-Odan.

 According to The Wall Street Journal's website,"The player controls Enzo Kori-Odan, an African prince, and his fiancée, Erine. They are victims of a coup by Kori-Odan’s brother-in-law, who exiles them on their wedding and coronation day. The royal couple then travels through a fantasy world, recruiting allies and fighting to regain their rightful command. Players battle amid thatched roofs, lush green settings, percussive music and colorfully robed tribal characters —far from the usual Game of Thrones fare."
This completely changes the paradigm in video game development and proves that Africans are capable of the most extraordinary feats, given the right environment and resources. The game is available on Steam and needs to be downloaded and installed. So check it out and let's know what you think. Meanwhile you can enjoy some screenshots from the game:

Buea tech guys Making Cameroon Proud

Some tech start-ups in Buea are putting the town on the map of  relevant places to watch for future innovation. Infact the BBC recently did a short documentary on the companies making great strides in technology and that have the potential to become the next big thing. You can watch the Video here:

UB Takes Centre Stage in Renewable Energy Development

In the near future, every home in Buea may be equipped with a solar panel and the exorbitant electricity bills which Cameroonians pay may soon be a thing of the past. This is as a result of a convention that was recently signed between the university of Buea, college of Technology and Addax petroleum with Mayors of the South West Region.

According to the convention, South West mayors will provide funds to the college of Technology, UB, while the school will in turn provide the various councils with renewable energy sources. Addax petroleum on its part provided equipment worth Millions of francs CFA to the College to help train technicians and mining experts who could one day work in the company.

  As a result of the partnership agreement, on entering the university of Buea campus, one can see that there are new solar lamp posts alongside the regular ones. Around U-block, there are wind turbines and a solar panel. The technicians at the Faculty of Engineering Technology say that these are just baby steps that will lead to achieving the not too distant plans of making the University of Buea completely autonomous in terms of energy supply. The engineering and technology students use these facilities to study and practice how to harness the power of the wind and the sun and convert them into electricity for use in homes, companies and industries.

It is hoped that this generation of students will use the knowledge acquired to contribute towards taking Cameroon to emergence by 2035.

WILL AFRICA BE DIGITALLY RELEVANT IN THE NEXT 10 YEARS?

 2025, Africa jobs which were common place in 2015 will no longer exist. Students graduating in 2016, will have obsolete qualifications for which there will no longer be a profession by 2025.

1. Front-line military personnel will be replaced with robots
2. Private bankers and wealth managers will be replaced with algorithms
3. Telemarketers, Data Entry Capturers, Tax Preparers, Lawyers, Accountants, Actuaries, Statisticians and Consulting Engineers will be replaced with Artificial Intelligence (AI).

New business models, like those of Uber and Alibaba, are already industry-shaping disruptors, and each day, new digital innovators are emerging to cause disintermediation and disruption across every industry imaginable.

Traditional enterprises, whilst presently successful by today’s standards, are scrambling to make sense of Business Digitisation in order to stay relevant in the Digital future.

Many are attempting to create new Digital business models which will eventually cannibalize their traditional business, rather than capitulating to new disruptive Digital start-ups. Companies are also digitizing their products and services, along with operational processes and customer channels.

Over 70% of top fortune 500 companies have plans to offer their products as a Digital service by 2020.  Presently, the 10 most valuable start-ups globally are estimated to have a value of $172.7 billion – all embracing Digital platform based business models. Around 90% of the business models in 2020 will be driven by the cloud.

Globally, the number of connected devices will nearly quadruple by 2025, significantly altering the skills employers hold most valuable. Increasing connectivity will change how employees choose to work (for example: remotely, part-time, independently, or dispersed), and provide employers with a spectrum of hiring options.

Millennials, most of whom are Digital Natives, will comprise an estimated 48.3% of the global labour force in 2025, while those aged 60 and older will comprise 9.9% (compared with 7.9% in 2015).

The line between what has traditionally been business and IT is becoming more and more blurred. Largely due to the early adoption and impact of Digital marketing, The Chief Marketing Officer, now controls a bigger “IT” budget and influence than the CIO. This is only set to increase and expand across the organization, as Digital Natives become future business leaders.