Even though Africa still lags behind other continents with reference to the use of technology, the continent is now engrossed in real digital transformation, with governments, corporate entities and individuals incorporating digital solutions into their day-to-day operations.
This progress has largely been brought about by the growing desire among young, creative digital developers and entrepreneurs to use technology to handle complex challenges that have dogged the continent for decades.
Koniku Kore, security and cancer screening device. Photo credit: forbes
6. Koniku Kore, Nigeria
Created by Osh Agabi, a young Nigerian based in Silicon Valley, Koniku Kore is a screening device that has the capability to detect explosives and cancer cells. It is the first screening device to fuse live neurons from mice stem cells into a silicon chip.
Speaking at a TEDGlobal conference in Arusha, Tanzania, where he launched the device, Agabi was optimistic that the technology could soon revolutionize airport security.
“We merged synthetic neurobiology with traditional silicon technology with the goal of fixing urgent real world problems,” Agabi said.
This technology is also likely to transform the health sector by enabling doctors to detect serious illnesses in almost the same way dogs can detect cancerous cells through smell.
Sylvie Uhirwa (l) and her twin brother Sylve Muzungu Hirwa (R), the founder of Tantine. Photo credit: KT Press
5. Tantine, Rwanda
One of the many challenges that African governments still have to deal with is the problem of early pregnancies among the youth. So many teenage girls in Africa are forced to drop out of school due to early pregnancies. To solve this problem, two Rwandan twins, Sylvie and Sylvain Muzungu have developed an app that provides young people with information about reproductive and sexual health.
The two, who are medical students at the University of Rwanda, are working with medical professionals and non-governmental organizations to reach out to young people in Rwanda and neighboring countries. Recently, they shared the app with Burundian refugees living in Mahama refugee camp in eastern Rwanda.
Jonathan Amenyah the founder of MobTrack. Photo credit: Google plus
4. MobTrack, Ghana
Mobile phones have become an integral part of life for many people not just in Africa but around the world. So, when one loses their cellphone to a mugger, they are willing to do anything to track and recover it as soon as possible. This is where MobTrack, a mobile tracking app, comes in handy.
Designed by Jonathan Amenyah, a young Ghanaian technology developer who also founded RINJAcom, MobTrack helps people track and recover their lost phones using their alternative numbers.
When you install the app on your phone, it detects your primary phone number and SIM card. Then it asks you to provide an alternative number through which you will be able to track your phone when you lose it. If another person inserts their SIM card in your phone, the app sends you their location and phone number immediately.
Oscar Ekponimo, the founder of Chowberry. Photo credit: CNN
3. Chowberry, Nigeria
For a long time, Africa has often been characterized by perennial hunger and drought. Every year, thousands of people across the continent die of hunger and malnutrition. It’s a problem that not even the best African minds seem to have a lasting solution to. But for Oscar Ekponimo, a young Nigerian software engineer, the problem can partly be solved by ensuring no food goes to waste.
That’s why he has developed a mobile app called Chowberry to help feed poor Nigerians. With the app, low-income earners and non-governmental organizations can connect to supermarkets and food joints for information on food discounts. Supermarkets also use the app to alert their customers whenever they have discounts on food that’s about to expire.
The app’s three-month pilot program involving 20 local retailers served at least 300 people in Lagos and Abuja, providing food to 150 orphans and vulnerable children.
The founder of ClinicMaster, Wilson Kutegeka (l) with a business partner. Photo credit: Twitter
2. ClinicMaster, Uganda
Uganda, like many other African countries, suffers from a deprived health sector, with majority of health centers, especially the ones run by the state, lacking essential facilities and medical equipment. It is for this reason that a young Ugandan, Wilson Kutegeka, decided to develop ClinicMaster – an integrated new generation healthcare information management and medical billing software.
With this software, medical doctors are able to instantly check their appointment details from their mobile phones. Through a simple SMS alert the doctor can know when their patient is coming in and immediately confirm the appointment.
Dr CADx founder Gift Gana (l) receives the 2017 AI Medical Imaging Visionary Innovation Leadership Award. Photo credit: Dr CADx
1. Dr CADx, Zimbabwe
Dr. CADx is a unique medical screening system designed to help doctors analyze diagnostic images more accurately. With the African continent still suffering from inadequate radiologists, most health facilities rely on general medical doctors to read medical images, exposing millions of patients to misdiagnosis.
But with Dr. CADx, which is the brainchild of a 34-year-old Zimbabwean, Gift Gana, diagnosing an illness is now as simple as uploading an image to Facebook. Using deep learning technology, this system recognizes patterns that characterize a disease in the diagnostic image, allowing the doctor to make the right diagnosis. Its latest prototype has an accuracy of about 82 percent, which is a major improvement from the previous 70 percent for most radiologists
