FROM MAGAZINE: Innovations reboot Africa

Africa is like any other part of the world when it comes to technology. From web portals, mobile apps and to drones the continent offers a Mecca of opportunities for the technology companies. Interestingly, Africa adapts itself to this fast paced transformation and doubles itself as a conducive platform for testings, research and developments.

Renjini Liza Varghese

Technology in the last two decades had revolutionised the whole of industrial segment. A look back reveals the incredible story of what was once treated as a threat to workforce has now taken the centre stage globally. Technology has integrated itself to industry and people in no time. Started with email becoming popular in the 90’s, followed by telecom- from a stationed equipment on the desk, it swiftly and silently revamped the telecom with pagers and now to mobiles. It didn’t stop there; use of robots in industry, followed by automation and with the help of artificial intelligence (AI) now to unmanned remote controlled drones, the technology is ever changing.

As mobile has become a standard feature and accessible to all classes of people, the efforts are made in developing mobile based industry applications. Automation and mobile applications have enabled industrial segments to simplify the process and made access it from anywhere in the world.

Technology adaptations central to Africa’s future
The story is no different in Africa, a continent which was written off by many of the developed countries a decade ago is not too far behind in technology adaptations. While the other parts of the globe witnessed step by step advancements, Africa was fortunate enough to bypass several steps and get the matured applications. All thanks to the delays in reaching Africa.

To cite some examples here, one of the leading African logistics company, Imperial Logistics has launched an automated briefing system for drivers. On the one hand, the portal enhances the company in reducing its operational risk, on the other; it is introducing a technology platform providing them with a unique learning opportunity. It runs on a comprehensive system on which every driver’s personal and professional details are stored. This includes the driving certificates, licenses and training updates, driver ratings, incident reports, medical details and chronic medication etc. This bio-metric enabled system is operated using the driver’s finger prints.

The new system allows the drivers to clock in their details using a self-briefing ‘kiosks’. “These machines replace the human interference, where drivers would previously interact with a controller which gives them the freedom to disclose information freely,” said chief strategy officer, Cobus Rossouw, Imperial Logistics.

An application like Tom Tom WEBFLEET is specially designed for fleet management. The web based application allows one to track the vehicles in real time, facilitates fleet optimisation based on the data from the vehicles, work force management and the application allows scalability.

From immobile to mobile
Taking advantage of the fast growing mobile network in the region, companies are launching specific applications for Africa. And logistics segment is one of the first to adopt mobile devices to monitor and manage their process.

Improving efficiency in last mile delivery is one area where the tech platforms are further innovating. ‘what3words’ is one such unique application. Chief marketing officer, what3words, Giles Rhys Jones explained the working principle, “what3words is a really simple way to talk about location. We have divided the world into a grid of 3m x 3m squares and assigned each one a unique 3 word address. It means anyone can accurately find any location and share it more quickly, easily and with less ambiguity than any other system. It is a free mobile app; however, those without a mobile can find their 3 word address using our online map or can be easily sent it by a friend. This means that anyone in Africa can find out the 3 word address of their front door for deliveries.”

There is an address that already exists, so it is natural to ask why one needs a new address system? Jones clarified, “Delivery services around the world are changing fast, particularly with the rise of e-commerce. Customer expectations are rising, and they expect faster, more reliable deliveries, with more options about when and where their goods are delivered. In countries where street addressing is poorer or non-existent, 3 word addresses will increase efficiency even more.”

In Africa, what3word addresses have already been adopted for postal services in Nigeria, Djibouti, and Côte d’Ivoire. what3words supports postal services throughout the integration process, providing training for staff as well as customisable marketing materials to help postal services inform their customers about the new addressing system. “The service is available in 14 different languages and can already be used in many languages commonly used in Africa - English, French, Portuguese, Arabic and Swahili - making it accessible to a large extent of Africa, and we are planning to develop more African language options in the future,” he added.

Jones was candid while speaking about innovation and plans for Africa. “We are also working on dedicated solutions for the postal and logistics industry, including a mobile app that uses OCR (optical character recognition) technology to scan a 3 word address quickly. This will provide a low-cost and quick-to-integrate alternative to large and expensive automated sorting machines. We anticipate this being very useful in many African cases.

We would like the whole of Africa to be using the system to make life easier, grown business and save lives. We hope to see the adoption of what3words spread in the African countries we’re already working with and, of course, we are speaking with other African countries who are interested in using our system. We are also opening a third in South Africa, meaning we will have a dedicated team in place on the continent.”

‘Matchbox’ is another recent mobile app that aims to match shippers with transporters. The app simplifies the current process to find, book, track and pay for road transport in Africa. The transporters and shippers can sign up for the free service that sends alerts of nearby vehicles making empty trips. This reduces the laborious task of finding the right carriers. The apps Transport Management System also helps transporters manage their fleet and assign drivers to respond to jobs.

LOGISA app offers different platforms like the supply chain module, community module etc. The supply chain module gives the shippers the freedom to request quotes which will include transportation cost, insurance, handling and warehousing. It also includes full track and trace of your goods and documentation feature.

Another notable application is SCANDIT, a mobile app that replaces the conventional scanning machines. There is a direct cost saving as there is no requirement of installing hardware for scanning devices. It enhances the tracking process and comes handy in warehouse management.

Drones in African skies
In addition to the above said, the unmanned aerial vehicles or commonly known drones are gaining tremendous attention. Particularly in a continent like Africa where accessibility remains a challenge, drones are making steady progress.

The old norms that run the trade segment even in the modern age are ‘time is money’ and ‘customer is the king’. So, there is a growing interest in the use of drones from the e-commerce companies that are looking for faster deliveries of parcels. Every company is applying their permutations and combinations to get it right for the geographic al areas they operate. Health care was one of the first segments that attracted the attention of drones. In this segment, drones have made significant progress in the past few years.

Though health care was one of the first segments to explore the potential of drones, other sectors are following the suit. The logistic segment, postal department, e-commerce companies, traffic departments, agriculture segment, you name any the drone usage is gaining popularity.

Subsequently, Africa has become the testing ground for drones. Thanks to the no restriction policy adopted by the African countries for the commercial use of unmanned arial vehicles. Rwanda was the first country in the world to introduce the commercial use of drones for delivering blood. In 2016 San Francisco based robotics company, Zipline began its operations in Rwanda and now supplies to over 50 percent of the blood centres in the country. The drones just takes 20 minutes after one places the order. They fly at 100km/hr and delivers within 75 km.

African countries like Rwanda, Cameroon, Malawi, South Africa, and Kenya are supporting the increased use of drones in health care, e-commerce, agriculture and tourism. Agriculture is a significant application of drone technology in some locations though it is yet to pick up momentum like that of health care and e-commerce.

Zipline was the first company that started commercial use of drones in Africa. They got into operations by delivering blood bottles to different centres. Justin Hamilton, spokesperson for Zipline, said, “We’ve been making up to 50 on-demand emergency flights a day. Each flight can carry two units of blood. We work hand in hand with regulators as well as civil and military aviation authorities. It’s an incredible partnership.”

Zipline is on an aggressive expansion mode in Africa by extending its services to more countries. It has recently partnered with the Tanzanian government to make up to 2,000 life-saving deliveries per day to over one thousand health facilities using drones. The drones and delivery service are built and operated by Zipline. Beginning first quarter of 2018, Tanzania will make on-demand drone delivery of blood transfusion supplies, emergency vaccines, HIV medications, antimalarials and critical medical supplies like sutures and IV tubes. Working in conjunction with the Tanzanian Ministry of Health and the country’s Medical Stores Department (MSD), Zipline is likely to establish four distribution centres across the country.

Droneports and drone mapping
The newly found interest is attracting setting up newer facilities in the African region. The first country that commercially uses drones, Rwanda will also be the base for drone ports. Construction of the first droneport is underway and Foster + Partners which designed the arching structure took the first step. The drone port is expected to be completed by 2020.

The Droneport will support a network of drone routes and optimise delivery of urgent and critical supplies. It allows for the safe landing of drones in a densely packed area with storage facilities a digital fabrication shop, a post and courier room, and an e-commerce trading hub etc. The Droneports will also be manufacturing centres for drones. This will be a significant leap for both drone service providers and the country.

Mapping becomes crucial for any operations that are controlled remotely. events38.com is one such company that specialises in drone mapping in Africa. The continent is a challenging location because many places are remote and it can take a long time or be costly to bring in equipment. Areas without internet access are a challenge for flight planning especially when there are changes in terrain.

Jeff Taylor, Founder, Event 38 Unmanned Systems Inc., explained the modalities involved by saying “The Drone Data Management System is our automatic system for processing drone data into useful mapping products like orthomosaics and 3D surface models. We make it easy for surveyors, miners, and farmers to visualise their workspaces digitally to improve operations. We have made customisations to our aircraft to be able to read more accurate local terrain data to avoid inaccuracies in global data that can be particularly lacking in rural Africa.”

While on the one hand specific innovation for Africa is in full swing, on the contrary, the world and the multi-national companies are busy realigning their outlook towards Africa. This means the continent is for sure to see more innovation and apps in the coming years.