There is a promise in this nation, and that promise is coming from the young people. Across states and industrial sectors, I am meeting young people doing amazing things in technology. They have visions and are clearly unbounded by our structural paralysis, doing their things, to rise with the rest of their peers around the globe.

Meet Vtion.ai, a Nigerian startup that develops AI powered visual search technology for fashion brands, art, ecommerce platforms and offline retailers. This young company is making visual search accessible to e-commerce sites across Africa. They have done, for African fashion, what big ICT utilities like Google and Microsoft are doing for largely Western fashion.

Yes the Aso Oke, Babariga, “the Senator”, Uwe Agu and all those African traditions that make Africa tick can come into fusion with technology. Simply, fashion AI understands Aso Oke, and that is amazing.

Their technology can be integrated with retail websites or mobile apps within 24 hours and lets shoppers upload photos saved on their mobile phones, screenshots from Instagram, to find similar products for sale. This is based on the same technology with which the team behind it was named as part of the winners of AWS AI Hackathon 2018.

For the competition, the team built a project that allowed users search for similar African attires with photos. They also added a feature where you could like and dislike pictures and the platform would display more outfits similar to what users liked and less of what was disliked. The project indexed thousands of images, 3,500 user in one month and about 17,000 likes and dislikes altogether.

Connecting with the team, Emmanuel Adigun, Vtion.ai co-founder and designer, notes that once it indexes a retailer’s product feed, Visual Search can be added to a site’s search bar via it’s JavaScript SDK in a single line of HTML. Customers pay a monthly access fee based on the number of product matches likely to be used.  This does better when compared with other visual search tools which can take weeks or months to implement. They have elevated the level of competition by simplifying the process even as they make it easier for Africa digital retail ecosystems to have the technology to deepen the sector.

This is artificial intelligence in action. Vtion.ai’s visual search platform strives to ensure a seamless/plug-n-play model for its target customers, including smaller retailers that sell to millenials and teenagers. Emmanuel reiterates that the goal of Vtion.ai is to help every retailer leverage the power of visual search to drive customer engagement. With firms like vTion, our technological trajectory is very promising.

Vtion.ai recently integrated with a top bridal outfit in Nigeria, Hadassah Bridals. This allows soon-to-be brides to search for wedding gowns and accessories with photos of gowns they have seen before, and see results of similar gowns from Hadassah Bridals catalog.

Now, you can experience this technology which Emmanuel and his team have unveiled for the world. Visit vTion Demo and follow the instructions. The team is also working on a Telegram chat bot where users can also try out the technology by sending images to its chat bot, Vtion Sense.

Very brilliant young people, holding the banner for Nigeria and Africa, in this emerging AI era.

It is very evident that Jumia will like to list in U.S. as early as possible. How? It has brought Andre Iguodala into its Board. Andre plays for Golden State Warriors, an NBA team. I do think with Andre, Jumia will lift its brand in U.S. as it pushes for the journey to IPO, possibly in U.S. I do not think it makes sense to list Jumia in Germany since Rocket Internet, a part-owner of Jumia, is also trading in Germany.

Andre has a Nigerian root; his father is a Nigerian. He has invested in more than 40 technology companies. I do believe he might have invested in Jumia.

The Jumia Press Statement below.

Andre Iguodala, a member of the three-time reigning NBA champion, Golden State Warriors, has joined the Board of Directors of Jumia, the leading e-commerce platform in Africa. As Jumia’s ambassador charged with promoting business development and technology in Africa, Iguodala will bring his network in the technology industry, interest in Africa and vast experience as an athlete on one of the most successful teams in NBA basketball history.

“Because of my Nigerian heritage, Jumia’s use of technology to deliver innovative online services to consumers and improve the quality of everyday life in Africa is very important to me,” says Andre Iguodala. “I’m thrilled to be a part of this unique enterprise that is shaping the future of digital Africa”

In addition to his numerous basketball achievements, Iguodala is widely recognized for his interest and knowledge in technology and e-commerce. He has invested in over 40 companies through F9 Strategies, including GOAT, Zoom, HIMS, Lime, Walker & Co., Thrive Global, AllBirds, Casper, STANCE and Carta, to name a few. Iguodala has also partnered with Bloomberg to create the annual Players Technology Summit, which convenes top executives and leaders in the technology, venture capital and sports communities.

Noting the influence and appeal that the NBA star brings to the board, Jumia Co-Founders Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara said: “Andre is a role model to many of us, and we are very proud to have him join Jumia and help us drive the company forward. We appreciate his commitment and passion for the tech industry and for Africa, and we can’t wait to collaborate and accelerate our impact on the continent. Finally, having Andre join our board sends the world the message that Africa has successful companies and great entrepreneurs, and that athletes can play a key role in contributing to their success.”

By Nnamdi Odumody

The Northern Eastern Savannah region of Nigeria is a region which spans 30.8 percent of Nigeria’s landmass, with Chad Republic to the East, Niger Republic to the North and shares boundaries with Jigawa, Kano and Kaduna States to its NorthWest, and Plateau and Benue States to its SouthWest. With 15.3 percent of Nigeria’s total population, it has a density of 96 people per square kilometer compared to the national average of 219 people per square kilometer which has made it the most sparsely populated region in the country. Its life expectancy is 46 years which is the least in the country and GDP per capita of 171,000 naira is also the least in the country.

These factors coupled with a shrinking Lake Chad has forced herdsmen who depend on it for survival of their cattle to migrate down to other regions, and the Boko Haram menace which has plagued the region, for over 10 years, has compounded its woes, making it to contribute less to national productivity as investors will not invest in a place where insecurity is the order of the day.

But in this troubled zone, Gombe State under the visionary leadership of Dr Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, a former Accountant General of the Federation, has been transformed to the beautiful bride of the region despite receiving the second least federal allocation of all the states.

On resumption of office on May 29 2011, he declared Education as one of his cardinal objectives. He constructed over 502 classrooms across the state and recruited over 1,000 degree and NCE graduates into the state’s educations sector and then trained over 5,000 teachers to increase their productivity. To boost access to tertiary education for the citizens of his state, he established Gombe State University of Science and Technology (Kumo), College of Education (Billiri), Gombe State Polytechnic Bajoja which will provide manpower to the Lafarge Cement owned Ashaka Cement manufacturing company, and College of Legal and Islamic Studies Nafada. These institutions are equipped with modern facilities such as e-libraries, e-learning centres, ICT Centres, laboratories, expansive and conducive classes, etc. Also 25 indigenes of the state were sponsored by him to India and the United Kingdom for Maritime Studies.

In Healthcare he upgraded the Urban Maternity in Idi to a Children and Women Hospital, completed a newly constructed Dialysis Centre within the Gombe Specialist Hospital, constructed College of Nursing and Midwifery at Dukku, Snake Bite Treatment and Research Centre, Kaltungo to tackle the prevalent scourge of snake bites in his state, and other parts of the region. Patients from Cameroon even come down to Gombe to receive treatment at the centre.

To make his state a destination for Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions, he constructed a 3,500 capacity Gombe International Conference Centre. This conference centre is currently ranked among the top three in the country with state of the art facilities and a parking space for 2,000 vehicles at a go to make your event memorable. Also, he built a state of the art tankers parking bay to prevent accidents caused by indiscriminate parking of petroleum trucks which Lagos can learn from. Lagos continues to experience paralyses petroleum tankers perpetuated on its roads especially in Apapa axis and environs.

To tackle the scourge of youth restiveness which was prevalent in his state with the Kalare Boys, he established Talba Youths Reorientation and Rehabilitation Programme which saw over 1200 of them being turned to become useful citizens in the society. Also repentant Boko Haram members are de-radicalized and trained in different skills in Gombe. Over 3200 youths have been trained by his administration in six different professions at the four skills acquisition centres located across the state. A total of 330 supervisors were trained at the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre in Jos, and over 1500 youths were recruited to serve as traffic, environmental and security marshals in Gombe.

In Social Security he empowered 1500 poorest of the poor through the Conditional Cash Transfer and also for the physically challenged beggars in the state with cash, and making sure they send their dependants who assist them to school.

To also boost Job creation in his state, he established in conjunction with private investors, the first tricycle assembly plant in Nigeria while Gombe has been earmarked as one of states that will have a Special Economic Zone for the North Eastern Region due to its peaceful environment as part of the Federal Government’s plan to diversify the economy through industrialization.

The crisis-ridden states of Northern Nigeria and some in the South should learn from the Jewel Of The Savannah why peace is the foundation for sustainable development.

By Nnamdi  Odumody

Recently, Nigeria has turned into a theatre of bloodshed, as the survival of cattle reared by Fulani herdsmen in the predominantly Northern region has led to loss of lives. This paralysis is partly a result of the shrinking Lake Chad, in the Chad Basin Sahel Region, leading to herders migrating down to the fertile plateau of the Middle Belt and the coastal Southern Region. Also, rapid urbanization has led to the loss of previous grazing reserves that were mapped out by colonial administration for cattle farmers.

All over the world, countries that are economically dependent on cattle to an extent like Botswana, Uruguay and Argentina have adopted advanced technologies to boost cattle rearing. But in Nigeria, the reverse is the case here due to the fact that Fulani cattle farmers are not educated to utilize and adopt these methods which have transformed the  sector around the world.

But while we in Nigeria are still dependent on cattle, as our primary source of protein, the future of cattle is bleak, as environmentalists and food technologists concerned about climate change have created a paradigm shift, because if cattle were their own nation, they would be the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter. Beef uses 33 percent of all water for farm animal production which is not sustainable in a region threatened by desertification that has led to loss of arable land. Twenty five  percent of earth’s land area is pastureland while the demand for beef is projected to grow by 95 percent in 2050.

A company known as Memphis Meats develops technology to engineer real meat, without animals, by farming animal cells in a lab without the need to feed, breed and slaughter livestock. Its technology requires up to 90 percent less greenhouse gas emissions, land and water than conventionally produced meat.

Also in replacing cattle leather, Modern Meadow applies advances in tissue engineering to produce cultured leather that requires no animal slaughter and much lower inputs of land, water and chemicals than conventional methods. The process is called biofabrication. It uses living cells to grow collagen, the same natural protein found in animal skin, assemble it into a sheet of synthetic leather and finish the aesthetics with a tanning process.

With the two examples above, it is evident that the demand for cattle, globally, will shrink in coming years due to environmental concerns as people are becoming more conscious of practices which are harmful to the environment causing carbon emissions.

The Miyetti Allah Kautal Hore group which is the umbrella body of all the Fulani herdsmen needs to study global developments which are aiding smart cattle rearing using advanced technologies like the Internet Of Things and Blockchain. They technologies help to notify farmers of changes in weather patterns which could affect their cattle from getting access to food and water as they move from one location to the other while tracking their cattle in real time, and responding to threats like cattle rustlers, etc. Government has a role to help these farmers to redesign their processes to ensure the endless killings stop in Nigeria.