New Cameroon business incubator signs up with Pan-African tech firm and Finnish education technology network to spread 5G tech spaces across the African continent.
The recently launched Cameroon-based Boris Bison Youth Empowerment Business Incubator (BB Incubator), the Pan-African video game publishing company Ludique Works and the Finnish technology learning accelerator network Start North are to jointly introduce their technologically advanced learning environments, the ‘5G Mokki Tech Spaces’, across the African continent.
BB Incubator provides office facilities, computer equipment services, internet connectivity, entrepreneurial training and business advisory services to local startup companies and developing entrepreneurs.
The 5G Mokki Tech Spaces are a high-tech learning and communication environment in the shape of a small cottage.
The name ‘Mokki’ comes from the Finnish word ‘mökki’, which translates into ‘cottage’. The cottage enables innovative uses of 5G mobile communication technology.
In the case of the BB Incubator and its startups, it can be used, among other things, to develop software applications that require ultra-fast internet connections, to render immersive, 3D virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) learning experiences, as well as to deliver innovative services and remote work to corporations around the globe.
Compared to the technology standards preceding it, 5G wireless communication technology will enable data connections that are faster on mobile devices when compared to the fastest fixed broadband services; with its true potential capable of enabling entirely new categories of applications.
Powerhouse potential
With its natural resources, young population and growing markets, Africa has the potential to become a productivity powerhouse. Given Europe’s and Africa’s overlapping timezones, European corporations could find access to technologically skilled labour and services from Africa via high-touch, 5G-enabled remote connections in real-time.
Developed by Start North, the 5G Mokki Tech Spaces aim to provide the technology that enables advanced learning environments with remote connectivity, as well as to offer learning solution content, starting in the fields of technology and entrepreneurship.
As part of a collaboration programme between Start North and Ludique Works in Africa, over 250 young people from across the continent applied for the 5G Summer School. More than 60 participants successfully completed the programme with a number of them earning European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) credits.
Tapping into Africa’s talent
At the launch event of the 5G Mökki network at Häme University in Finland, in October 2021, Dr Mark Nelson, founder and director of innovation at the Stanford Peace Innovation Lab, drew parallels between the high-tech cottage, the invention of the microscope in biology and the telescope in space research, allowing the exploration of social interaction and society without people having to travel from one place to another.
Without innovative approaches to training and job creation, traditional degree-based education falls short of creating sufficient employment opportunities. To illustrate this point, approximately half a million students graduate from Cameroon’s universities every year, but only some three thousand of these graduates tend to find employment. Cameroon is no exception in Africa.
The expansion of the 5G Mokki Tech Spaces network in Africa is in part facilitated by financial instruments developed jointly by the African Union and the European Union, aimed at improving connectivity, know-how, and sustainable social and economic development.
The 5G Mokki Tech Spaces network provides an opportunity for international corporations to tap into highly skilled, young African talent, not only to render remote work but also to spur innovation. Companies can, for example, submit a technology challenge to one of the 5G Mökki Summer Schools, or assign a fully-fledged development project.
Boris Ngala, founder and CEO of BB Incubator and one of the co-founders of the 5G Mokki Tech Space network, said: “Our aim is a Pan-African tech space network that connects the African continent to Europe and the rest of the world, promoting the learning and adoption of technology, remote work, and entrepreneurship.
“In addition to promoting education, jobs, and the economic development of the regions, the network also aims to curb climate change by utilising the latest technology.”
Douglas Ogeto, co-founder and CEO of Ludique Works and one of the co-founders of the 5G Mokki Tech Space network, added: “The 5G Mokki Tech Space network has the ability to serve international and local companies, to provide creative-economy and technology-based jobs and promote entrepreneurship based on the learning of the latest technology and hands-on projects that serve local conditions.
“Furthermore, this is supported by an extensive national and international collaboration with universities and companies.”
