personally, both as a person and as a Nigerian I don’t seem to understand the entire brag about Artificial Intelligence in Africa especially in Nigeria where I am from. Yes, we have seen several breakthroughs that are heartwarming. Let me mention then so you will think and feel we are actually doing well.

• Kudi.ai (www.kudi.ai) An AI startup allows users to make payments and send money by chatting with a bot. Users can chat with the bot on Messenger, Skype and also Telegram.
• Ubenwa is a machine learning system that can detect asphyxia in a baby. It does this by analyzing the baby’s cry at birth. Asphyxia is one of the top 3 causes of infant mortality in the world.
• Touchabi is making it easier to shop using Images. Ever seen something you loved in a picture? Perhaps it was the shoe, the shirt or the tie. Touchabl will help you identify what brand it is. Additionally, it will also help you purchase it if you so desire. It's is arguably one of most of Africa's advanced AI project in the area of computer vision.
•Lara.ng is an automated directions assistant for Lagos. It guides people to get from one point to another. It also provides fare quotes so commuters know how much they’ll need.


This is where you give us a big round of applause, aren't we doing great. Sure you can imagine plenty of awards and plaques coming into Africa from everywhere because of these awesome innovation. Let's get serious, Nigeria is not in the mood for AI or Machine learning stories. Sample IF statements Is just what we need.

Let's check the stats
• Africa Internet users represent 10.9% of the total world internet users
• More than 66% of the African population remains unbanked.
• More than 600million people lack access to power in Africa.

I know you be like wow, are you kidding me and that’s if you live in Europe or America. Should you be one of my fellow African brothers, you had sympathies with me.

Africa and Nigeria in particular needs simple solutions to her problems. The three most important factor (internet, bank account, electricity) for online startups and businesses is not ready yet. Hence its time to think differently about the kind of innovation and business in Nigeria. New startups focusing on solving problems that do not rely on the above three will not just only survive, but become a unicorn in the future.

Any company creating a tech solution in Nigeria and Africa must be the following:
• Really affordable
• Not really on the internet
• Easy to use and understand
• Solve young people's problems
• Have on ground presence or partners
• Affect rural areas.

I guess you will be thinking, while do I have to stress myself doing all this, Africa has the population, numbers, numbers, blah! Blah!! Blah!!!. Yes, we do but, what if these numbers and non-reachable yet. Jumia launched an IPO yes, have you checked how profitable the e-commerce giant is? You will be so shocked. Companies like Jumia spends more money advertising their services than the profit they make.

AI NEEDS DATA

Artificial intelligence and machine learning models need lots and lots of pre-recorded data to become useful. That’s one thing that Nigeria and Africa do not have, as I write this article I still do not have a national passport, apart from my internet browser that monitors my online presence and reports to a tech giant like Google and Amazon, there isn't any other way to monitor or find me in Nigeria.

I could become a Ghanaian or a Togolese tomorrow if I so desire because nothing says I am not from any of these countries. All I have to do is get myself to these countries and have dinner with our black market brothers.

If you want to reach 65% of persons without bank accounts, internet, and electricity than new startups most focus on creating simple working solutions.

pauldams:

personally, both as a person and as a Nigerian I don’t seem to understand the entire brag about Artificial Intelligence in Africa especially in Nigeria where I am from. Yes, we have seen several breakthroughs that are heartwarming. Let me mention then so you will think and feel we are actually doing well.

• Kudi.ai (www.kudi.ai) An AI startup allows users to make payments and send money by chatting with a bot. Users can chat with the bot on Messenger, Skype and also Telegram.
• Ubenwa is a machine learning system that can detect asphyxia in a baby. It does this by analyzing the baby’s cry at birth. Asphyxia is one of the top 3 causes of infant mortality in the world.
• Touchabi is making it easier to shop using Images. Ever seen something you loved in a picture? Perhaps it was the shoe, the shirt or the tie. Touchabl will help you identify what brand it is. Additionally, it will also help you purchase it if you so desire. It's is arguably one of most of Africa's advanced AI project in the area of computer vision.
•Lara.ng is an automated directions assistant for Lagos. It guides people to get from one point to another. It also provides fare quotes so commuters know how much they’ll need.


This is where you give us a big round of applause, aren't we doing great. Sure you can imagine plenty of awards and plaques coming into Africa from everywhere because of these awesome innovation. Let's get serious, Nigeria is not in the mood for AI or Machine learning stories. Sample IF statements Is just what we need.

Let's check the stats
• Africa Internet users represent 10.9% of the total world internet users
• More than 66% of the African population remains unbanked.
• More than 600million people lack access to power in Africa.

I know you be like wow, are you kidding me and that’s if you live in Europe or America. Should you be one of my fellow African brothers, you had sympathies with me.

Africa and Nigeria in particular needs simple solutions to her problems. The three most important factor (internet, bank account, electricity) for online startups and businesses is not ready yet. Hence its time to think differently about the kind of innovation and business in Nigeria. New startups focusing on solving problems that do not rely on the above three will not just only survive, but become a unicorn in the future.

Any company creating a tech solution in Nigeria and Africa must be the following:
• Really affordable
• Not really on the internet
• Easy to use and understand
• Solve young people's problems
• Have on ground presence or partners
• Affect rural areas.

I guess you will be thinking, while do I have to stress myself doing all this, Africa has the population, numbers, numbers, blah! Blah!! Blah!!!. Yes, we do but, what if these numbers and non-reachable yet. Jumia launched an IPO yes, have you checked how profitable the e-commerce giant is? You will be so shocked. Companies like Jumia spends more money advertising their services than the profit they make.

AI NEEDS DATA

Artificial intelligence and machine learning models need lots and lots of pre-recorded data to become useful. That’s one thing that Nigeria and Africa do not have, as I write this article I still do not have a national passport, apart from my internet browser that monitors my online presence and reports to a tech giant like Google and Amazon, there isn't any other way to monitor or find me in Nigeria.

I could become a Ghanaian or a Togolese tomorrow if I so desire because nothing says I am not from any of these countries. All I have to do is get myself to these countries and have dinner with our black market brothers.

If you want to reach 65% of persons without bank accounts, internet, and electricity than new startups most focus on creating simple working solutions.

.
Great write up. Hit on some core facts. Kudos.