GDG Trento DevFest Talk

1. “When Tech meets
Culture: Perspectives
from Africa”
Luca Cimonetti, Oladimeji Mudele
GDG Trento DevFest, November 9, 2019

2. PROFILE #1
PAST: software engineer in several European countries,
Austria, Netherlands and France.
RECENT: project manager in an international
development project in Sierra Leone.
CURRENT: freelance web developer.
HOBBIES: swimming, traveling, baking and eating pizza,
not necessarily in this order...

3. PROFILE #2
CURRENTLY: PhD scholar, Università di Pavia, Italy
ACTIVITIES: Remote sensing, Machine learning,
Computer vision
PREVIOUSLY: Co-founder goto.ng, Senior Digital Analyst
at Workforce Group Nigeria.
NATIONALITY: Nigerian
HOBBIES: Traveling, Reading, Soccer...

4. HOW IT STARTED
Interest in ICT related development projects.
Attended ISF festival in 2017.
Became a volunteer.
Applied to a vacancy for a project in
Sierra Leone in early 2018.

5. BACKGROUND
CAPITAL: Freetown, ~1 million
POPULATION: ~6 million, 13 districts,
70,000 sq km
GDP BY SECTOR: Agriculture ~60%,
Services ~30%, Industry ~10%
MAIN EXPORT: mining ~50% of the total
export
GDP PER-CAPITA: ~1600$/year

6. EBOLA OUTBREAK
START: May 2014
CONFIRMED CASES: 14,061
DEATHS: 3,955
EBOLA FREE: November 2015
2015 GDP: ~-20%

7. ABOUT THE PROJECT
GOAL: building an emergency medical service
at national level
DONOR: World Bank about $12 million over a
period of 2 years (February 2018 - February
2020)
EMPLOYEES: ~1000 locals and ~10 expats

8. ABOUT THE ROLE
Defining high level requirements for
the IT infrastructure and CRM
Writing use cases for a fleet
management platform
Evaluating project proposals
Supervising the IT infrastructure
technical implementation

9. CHALLENGE 1
TASK: getting a stable and fast Internet connection for the NEMS headquarter
PROBLEM: Market price for an Internet Connection (Eolo equivalent)
~250$/month for 1 Mbps
POSSIBLE SOLUTION: asking how public offices are connected to the Internet in
the country
UPPER MANAGEMENT: “We will never get a stable and fast connection at a
reasonable price knowing how things work here”

10. OUTCOME OF CHALLENGE 1
MORAL OF THE STORY: it’s fine if you don’t listen to your boss

11. CHALLENGE 2
TASK: gathering IT infrastructure requirements and IT infrastructure
implementation
PROBLEM: finding a reliable company able to implement the IT infrastructure
according to the technical requirements
POSSIBLE SOLUTION: do research about trusted companies based in Freetown
implementing national projects
UPPER MANAGEMENT: “We do not trust the competence and skills of the local
companies, let’s hire a company from Italy!”

12. OUTCOME OF CHALLENGE 2
MORAL OF THE STORY: again, it’s fine if you don’t listen to your boss!

13. AID PROJECTS PROBLEMATICS
Western mindset approach
High cost of living on western standards
Lack of frameworks to evaluate quality
Focus on short term vs. long term
& sustainability

14. NGOs PROBLEMATICS
Superiority attitude
No culture of admitting failures
Salary gapLack of skills

15. AFRICA
What comes to your mind?

16. DEBUNKING STEREOTYPES
“Africa is always portrayed as an
hopeless place only full of despair
and poverty”
“If you have been told something for
your entire life you might end up
believing it without verifying it, the
danger of a single story...”

17. IS THIS THE REAL AFRICA?
“To answer this question I had to
put my ignorance aside and visit as
many African countries as I could in
person...”

18. ETHIOPIA
About 30% of people living below the
poverty line, we all know this right...?
BUT
New government since April 2018,
democracy is thriving
Equality is increasing, 50% of
government ministers are women, the
president is a woman
Political prisoners have been
released, state of war with Eritrea
was ended
Economic growth, 9% gdp increase
(2018)

19. RWANDA
In 1994 about 1 million people were
killed in approximately 90 days during
the civil war...
BUT
Equality, women hold about 60% of
the seats in parliament
Free education, close to 100%
country wide enrollment to primary
schools
IT Hub for tech industries
Economic growth, 2008-2012 8%
average GDP increase

20. KENYA
Nairobi the capital of Kenya
sometimes is called Nairobbery and
corruption is still a major issue…
BUT
Primary IT hub for East Africa,
Google and Microsoft have offices in
Nairobi
Economic growth, 6% GDP increase
(2018).
Innovation, Fintech

21. LET’S PLAY A GAME

22. A CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE
Reducing poverty vs. Creating
wealth. How does it sound, more
positive right?
This is real tangible change that we
all should notice, spread and
support!

23. WHAT KIND OF PICTURE IS THIS?

24. INNOVATION
“Africa is affected by really severe
energy issues. Innovation is
happening in its purest form because
it comes out of necessity”
“Innovation means putting together
existing technologies, adapted to the
context in order to respond to some
specific need”

25. AFRICAN INNOVATION
MPESA: mobile money transfer
system and a micro-financing service
allows users to deposit, withdraw,
transfer money and pay for goods
and services
PAY AS YOU GO: in 1996 Vodacom
(South Africa) was the first mobile
operator introducing prepaid in its
network

26. MISINFORMATION

27. A BIT OF FACT CHECKING
Lagos is not the capital of
Nigeria...it’s Abuja
Lagos has not 5 millions of
inhabitants...about 20 millions
Nigeria is not in the center of
Africa...it’s in West Africa
There are no beaches in Vegas...it’s in
the middle of the desert

28. MY RECOMMENDATIONS

29. ORIGINAL QUESTION
What does come to your mind if I say
Africa now?
“What I saw was very different from
what I imagined from the single
story”
“Africa has still a long way to go and
big challenges ahead but it is
improving so I hope that the next
time you think of Africa you don’t only
see the past, but you see the future!”

30. WHICH COUNTRY IS THIS? TAKE A GUESS

31. AMERICA 1850 - 1900s
More impoverished in
1850 than the
Bangladesh of today.
Grew by market
creating innovation
● Fixed rate mortgage - 1933
● TV - 1934
● Venture capital - 1946
● Transistor - 1947
● Information theory - 1948
● Credit card - 1950
● Walmart - 1962
● Email - 1971
● GPS - 1983
● Google - 1998
● Facebook - 2004
● Youtube - 2005

32. POPULATION CHALLENGE

33. YOUNG POPULATION, LOW INFRASTRUCTURE
● Increasing youth population
● 41% of the people in the
continent are below 15
years old
● 53% is between 15 and 60

34. LAGOS, NIGERIA
● 5th largest economy in Africa
● Lagos - 21 million
● Coastal city

35. INNOVATION
NOT DONATION

36. Innovative human capital development approach

37. Enabling small businesses through FinTech

38. More Tech startups in Lagos, Nigeria
Processed $27.5 million in August 2018
Building the largest e-commerce and logistics network
on the continent
Giving instant access to over 5,000 Nollywood films.
Valued at $72.9 million
(source: nairametrics.com)

39. Competitive capital approach to development
Investment in tech companies in Africa
Source: https://www.africanbusinesscentral.com/2019/01/14/startup-funding-in-africa-broke-records-in-2018-infographics/

40. DEMO TIME

41. Thank you!