Africa has capacity to solve own problems

Co-operative Bank customers queue to withdraw money at an ATM in Kisumu. Co-op Bank’s move is expected to offer relief to traders who have had a forex challenge involving the shilling and the dirham. Photo/FILE

By Uyi Stewart

In an interview with Wired magazine, the English musician, Brian Eno, complained that there is not
enough Africa in com

Maybe Brian would like to visit us at our new research laboratory in Karen, Nairobi, because this is more or less what we are doing. Although we don’t build computers, per se, we are building technology solutions for Africa—ones that have a uniquely African flavour. Africanised solutions, if you like.

IBM Research—Africa, will officially open its doors soon. It will be our twelfth global research laboratory, and first in Africa. It feels like a pivotal moment. It certainly is for me.

The seven grand challenges that we will focus on, across Africa and starting here in Nairobi, are education, water, e

In the last year, we have been busy addressing a number of these challenges. The first to be launched is a proof-of-concept which we hope will make commuting in Nairobi a bit less of a “pain” than it currently is. (IBM’s Commuter Pain Index ranks Nairobi as the fourth worst commute in the world.)

Much of Nairobi’s road network is more than half a century old and was developed for a city of just 350,000 inhabitants. Like most African cities, Nairobi has been hit by rapid urbanisation.

Let’s just look at cars: Today, there are two million cars on Nairobi’s roads and 400 more cars are added to the city’s already congested streets every day. It is estimated that traffic congestion costs the city Sh50 million ($600,000) in lost productivity every day.

Last year, our researchers identified traffic and transport systems as one of Nairobi’s most pressing challenges for future growth. It was clear that, as a matter of priority, we needed to develop a system to ease traffic congestion.

With our partner, Internet service provider AccessKenya, we have developed a mobile phone service that provides drivers with live updates on traffic jams and suggests alternative, less congested, routes.

How did we do it? We took some existing bits and pieces, collaborated, used our ingenuity, and built an Africanised solution. We started with a transportation model that was developed at our lab in Tokyo. What we lacked, though, were data feeds.

Based on these home-grown innovations we are now able to provide motorists with information about traffic congestion in Nairobi through SMS, and for those who have smartphones, a map.

The idea is that commuters will check the traffic situation on their phone before heading to their destination. If there’s one thing Africa has in abundance, it is smart people.

Dr Stewart is Chief Scientist, IBM Research—Africa