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Nigeria-born Koniku’s Founder Oshiorenoya Agabi Is Changing Computing With His Microprocessors

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Tekedia Editors
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Nigerians are awesome. A young Lagos-born entrepreneur-but-now in California is extending the boundaries of impossibilities. Oshiorenoya Agabi runs Koniku which operates at the intersection of biotechnology and electronics. According to an entry in Crunchbase, the startup proclaims thus:

Koniku is the world’s first Neurocomputation company. We start with a premise that the human brain is the most powerful computer ever devised. We show that capturing that computational power is an engineering problem. Koniku proceeds to meet that challenge with clear solutions.

With his startup Koniku, Oshiorenoya Agabi is working to integrate biological neurons and silicon computer chips, to build computers that can think like humans can. Faster, cleverer computer chips are key to solving the next big batch of computing problems, like particle detection or sophisticated climate modeling — and to get there, we need to move beyond the limitations of silicon, Agabi believes. Born and raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Agabi is now based in the SF Bay Area, where he and his lab mates are working on the puzzle of connecting silicon to biological systems.

“Koniku eventually aims to build a device that is capable of thinking in the biological sense, like a human being. We think we can do this in the next two to five years.” — Oshiorenoya Agabi

Agabi had raised $250,000 in seed funding. He did that in Sept 2015. He followed with another $1.4 million in venture funds last August. He is hoping to be in the markets with his chips later this year (87 days from today, exactly).

Agabi prototype chip

According to Vice, “Koniku, which completed a stint at the biotech accelerator IndieBio, touts itself as “the first and only company on the planet building chips with biological neurons.” Rather than simply mimic brain function with chips, Agabi hopes to flip the script and borrow the actual material of human brains to create the chips. He’s integrating lab-grown neurons onto computer chips in an effort to make them much more powerful than their standard silicon forebears”.

He is hiring and if you can dream, you can email him – cv@koniku.io

Nigeria Leads Innovation Prize for Africa With Sweat TB Test And Speech Synthesis Solution

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Tekedia Editors
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Very impressive selections. The African Innovation Foundation (AIF)  today announced the top 10 nominees who will be contending for the 2017 Innovation Prize for Africa (IPA) , to be awarded in Accra, Ghana on 18th July 2017. Innovators from nine African countries including Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Kenya, Liberia, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda and Zimbabwe have been shortlisted for the prestigious Prize. Nigeria has two entries.

This year’s innovators have demonstrated incredible proficiency through innovative solutions addressing challenges in agriculture value chain, health care, energy, communications, service industries as well as surveillance using drone technology.

Find below the shortlisted top 10 IPA nominees and a summary of their innovations. These selected nominees will pitch their innovative projects to the esteemed IPA panel of jurors during the closed pitch sessions on July 15th and 16th in Accra. Following their pitch, three winners will be selected and announced during the Awards ceremony slated for 18 July 2017 at the Mövenpick Ambassador Hotel, Accra.

Innovations in communications and smart solutions

  • Peris Bosire, Kenya: FarmDrive

FarmDrive is a financial technology company that has developed a mobile phone based application that collects data and provides an alternative risk assessment model for small holder farmers. While the continent remains largely dependent on agriculture, one of the biggest challenges facing smallholder farmers is access to credit or finance. Most financial institutions are reluctant to grant credit to farmers because their risk assessment models flag small farmers as being very risky. FarmDrive has developed a new methodology for assessing credit worthiness of farmers that has led to higher acceptance rate of loan applications by farmers while maintaining a very low default rate. This could have the effect of significantly boosting agricultural production on the continent while helping financial institutions cost effectively increase their agricultural loan portfolios.

  • Nokwethu Khojane, South Africa: Lakheni, Turning Social Capital into Buying Power

Lakheni is a social and business model innovation which seeks to aggregate low-income households into buying-groups in order to negotiate favourable discounts for goods and services supplied to these households. Most poor people end up paying for goods and services at a unit price that is usually much higher than the unit price paid by other people with more disposable income. This is because as goods and services are packaged into smaller and smaller units to make them affordable, they become less economically efficient and end up costing higher than if one was to buy in bulk or in larger units. In essence, the poor end up paying a poverty premium. Lakheni solves this problem by aggregating poor households into a buyer’s market by leveraging mobile technology.

  • Omolabake Adenle, Nigeria: Voice Recognition and Speech Synthesis Software for African Languages

This is a software solution that can understand and digitize spoken African languages, and synthesize speech from African languages presented as digitized text. Digitizing African languages in this way allows Africans to interact with hardware devices such as mobile phones, and digital services such as call-center applications by speaking their local language. The software can be integrated into a wide range of devices and third-party software applications. While voice recognition and speech synthesis software have been developed for various Western and Asian languages, there has been very limited commercial application or academic research for African languages. The difficulty lies in modelling tonality present in most African languages and limited data resources for language modelling. This innovation opens up opportunities for Africans with low literacy levels to also enjoy the benefits of the digital revolution.

  • Nzola Swasisa, Democratic Republic of Congo: Lokole

Lokole, is a device that enables access to efficient email communication anywhere with cellular coverage at a price that is one hundred to one thousand times cheaper than accessing email via regular cellular bandwidth costs. Lokole achieves this firstly by creating a shareable local area network where up to a hundred users within a 25 meters’ radius can access the network and share the costs. Secondly, it contains advanced algorithms that compress email and also schedules uploads and downloads of data to when data bundles costs are at their cheapest. Costs per user could be as little as $0.01/person/day. More than 71% of the African population doesn’t have access to efficient communications. Lokole solves this communication problem and enables many communities to access efficient communication for the first time. Applications of Lokole include: health (remote-doctor), education (remote-teacher), commerce (purchase orders via email), business (attachment documents) and many more.

Leveraging artificial intelligence and mechanical solutions

  • Badr Idriss, Morocco: Atlan Space

Atlan Space develops software technology that is then deployed to manage the operations of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) or drones. The software is currently tested for use in managing operations in detecting illegal or harmful maritime activity such as illegal fishing or oil spills over wide expanse areas. UAVs operated by this software can be launched and deployed into monitoring operations without having an aircraft operator. Also, by using Artificial Intelligence they are able to collect data, analyze and produce actionable reports.  African governments face numerous challenges in monitoring activities and operation over wide areas. This includes border patrols, deforestation, animal poaching and maritime activity. The software allows for the deployment of UAVs at a very cost effective price without need for highly skilled human intervention and over a wide number of uses.

  • Aly El-Shafei, Egypt: Smart Electro-Mechanical Actuator Journal Integrated Bearing “SEMAJIB”

The patented innovation (SEMAJIB) presented by Dr. El-Shafei, is a smart bearing which is versatile and can change its characteristics as it operates.  It consists of a magnetic bearing imbedded in an oil-filled journal bearing, thus forming the smart controllable bearing. The flooding of the bearing with oil is a game changer as the purpose of bearings has traditionally been to expel oil.  There is a significant improvement in turbine performance using the SEMAJIB particularly in single line combined cycle plants, as well as conventional generator technology.  The device is designed to be used to support energy generating turbines and can be used to improve efficiency and reduce costs of generating energy in Africa.

Discoveries in healthcare solutions

  • Dougbeh-Chris Nyan, Liberia: New Technology for Rapid Detection of Many Infections Using Only One Test

This is a rapid diagnostic test that can detect and simultaneously differentiate at least three to seven infections at the same time within 10 to 40 minutes. In most African countries, there is a lack of sophisticated diagnostic devices and limited expertise in high-tech diagnostics. This hinders the clinical decision-making ability of healthcare providers. This test provides a solution to this clinical problem. The innovation is easy to use in any setting and particularly in rural areas. Additionally, the device is able to detect and distinguish multiple infections which bear the same symptoms for instance, when a patient has yellow fever, malaria, and Ebola. Whereas most testing methods take 3 – 7 days, this device gives test results in 10 – 40 minutes. This would provide a significant step in the detection and management of infectious diseases on the continent.

  • Olanisun Olufemi Adewole, Nigeria: Sweat TB Test, A non-invasive rapid skin test to detect Tuberculosis

Sweat TB Test, is a non-invasive rapid diagnostic test to detect tuberculosis (TB). TB is second only to HIV/AIDS as a leading cause of death in Africa. Available methods are high tech; cannot be deployed in rural centres, dependent only sputum which sometimes may not be collectible and considered messy by patients. It is also time consuming with patients making repeated clinic visits before a diagnosis is made. Delay in diagnosis and missed diagnosis of 3million TB cases occur leading to continuous spread of the disease.  Sweat TB Test leverages on TB specific marker in sweat of patients, to produce a point- of- care test to detect TB, within ten minutes, without any needle prick. In simple steps, reports are read and patients commenced on medication as needed at the same clinic visit. It has the potential to contribute towards effectively controlling TB, reduce TB related deaths and holds promise to prevent drug resistance TB in Africa.

  • Gift Gana, Zimbabwe: Dr. CADx

Dr CADx is a software solution that helps doctors and health care workers diagnose medical images more accurately. Due to the scarcity of radiologists on the continent, most medical images are read by general doctors or other health care workers who lack expertise and end up misdiagnosing more than 30% of the cases that they review. As a result, millions of patients fail to get the right treatment or the treatment is delayed leading to more complications and even death. Dr CADx uses deep learning to interpret medical images and achieve an accuracy of 82% an improvement over the 70% average for radiologists. Dr CADx is designed to work in low resource settings with poor internet connectivity opening it up for use in many rural settings in Africa.

  • Philippa Ngaju Makobore, Uganda: Electronically Controlled Gravity Feed Infusion Set (ECGF)

The Electronically Controlled Gravity Feed Infusion Set (ECGF) is medical device designed to accurately administer intravenous (IV) fluids and drugs by controlling the rate of fluid flow based on feedback from a drop sensor. Over 10% of children admitted to East African hospitals need immediate infusion therapy. Findings from the FEAST trial indicates that over-infusion in children increased the absolute risk of death by 3.3 % at 48 hours. Erroneous delivery rates can result into serious adverse effects. The ECGF solves this problem as it is very easy to operate and has key safety features which include alarms for rate of infusion (rapid or slow), total volume (over or under) and faulty sensors. A battery utilizing a hybrid (AC mains and solar) charging bed powers the device. The ECGF has the potential to save lives by providing accuracy and safety at 8% the cost of a brand-new infusion pump.

Nigeria’s Ministry Of Trade and Investment Doing Great, Innovating In Service Delivery

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Tekedia Editors
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Nigeria's Industry minister: Okey Enelamah

Have you noticed that some of the agencies in the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment (MITI)  are improving their turnaround times. You can incorporate a company now with the Corporate Affairs Commission within two weeks, if you get all the rules right on first attempt. For example, do not have engineering in the name of your company if you do not belong to COREN (Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria).

Also, now one can search for a company without going to Abuja through the CAC pubic search. Though it does not give much information, it provides the first line of ascertaining the credibility of potential partners.

It seems Microsoft is behind these transformations. According to government press release, MITI is partnering with Microsoft, through its Africa Open4Business programme, to digitally transform the delivery of services to the investor community in Nigeria and evolve the regulatory and procedural environment governing business incorporation. By harnessing advances in cloud technologies, MITI aims to transform the reach and scope of government-to-investor services in the country, creating an agile and investment-friendly environment.

MITI strongly believes that digital technologies play a pivotal and fundamental role in evaluating and changing the landscape for reforms, with e-reforms becoming the next big thing for Nigeria, for government operations and services, and for the economy at large.

“Our partnership with Microsoft is designed to drive business model innovations, which will transform the delivery of services to current and prospective investors in Nigeria,” says the Honorable Okechukwu Enelamah, Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment. “The objective is to deliver self-provisioned, expedient and technology-driven services to the highly-valued constituencies of investors that we are mandated and keen to serve”.

Nigerians welcome the redesign we are seeing in this Ministry. The Ministry of Education is also showing a lot of innovation despite the paltry budget it has. In Agriculture, the federal ministry is also pushing hard to remove pricing asymmetry through technology. It must execute that project as that will benefit our rural farmers. Technology can help simplify most of our processes.

Well done the two ministers running the Ministry. Your predecessor, Olusegun Aganga, did well also.

Insure-Tech: The Latent Massive Opportunity In Nigeria And Africa

By
Ndubuisi Ekekwe
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0

In this videocast, I discuss why it is time for startups in Nigeria and Africa to pay attention to the insurance sector. As one of the least penetrated, yet relatively matured sectors, in Nigeria, insurance offers opportunities which must be unlocked. Fintech does not end in remittance and banking – it extends to insurance. As we see the integration of BVN (bank verification number) and  NIN (national identity number), quality data will be available for entrepreneurs to build products which will  grow Nigeria’s insurance sector, currently at 0.4% penetration rate.

 

Global CEOs Are Optimistic On Growth Despite Political Uncertainties – KPMG

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Guest Author
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KPMG International today released its 2017 Global CEO Outlook, based on in-depth interviews with nearly 1,300 CEOs of some of the world’s largest companies. This year’s CEO Outlook reveals that 65 percent of CEOs see disruptive forces as an opportunity, not a threat, for their business. CEOs are still broadly confident about the prospects for the global economy, but their optimism is more modest than it was last year, with 65 percent expressing confidence compared with 80 percent last year.

“Disruption has become a fact of life for CEOs and their businesses as they respond to heightened uncertainty,” says John Veihmeyer, Global Chairman of KPMG. “But importantly, most see disruption as an opportunity to transform their business model, develop new products and services, and reshape their business so it is more successful than ever before. In the face of new challenges and uncertainties, CEOs are feeling urgency to ‘disrupt and grow’.”

Highlights of KPMG’s 2017 Global CEO Outlook

KPMG’s 2017 Global CEO Outlook report provides insights of global CEOs’ expectations for business growth, the challenges they face and their strategies to chart organizational success over the next 3 years. Key findings include:

  • In 2017, CEOs are still broadly confident about the prospects for the global economy (65 percent), but their optimism is more modest than it was last year (80 percent).
  • More than six in 10 CEOs (65 percent) see disruption as an opportunity, not a threat, for their business. Three in four (74 percent) say their business is aiming to be the disruptor in its sector.
  • Within their own businesses, more than eight in 10 CEOs (83 percent) describe themselves as confident in their company’s growth prospects for the next 3 years, with around half (47 percent) saying they are very confident.
  • Almost seven in 10 (68 percent) say they are evolving their skills and personal qualities to better lead their business.
  • As they adopt cognitive technologies, businesses are expecting short-term headcount growth. Across 10 key roles, an average of 58 percent of CEOs are expecting a slight or significant growth in numbers.
  • Close to half (45 percent) say their customer insight is hindered by a lack of quality data. More than half (56 percent) are concerned about the data they are basing decisions on.

“CEOs understand that speed to market and innovation are strategic priorities for growth in uncertain conditions,” says Veihmeyer. “At the same time, they are being pragmatic about managing uncertainty – this includes strengthening their business in established markets so they can protect their bottom line while preparing to seize new opportunities.”

A changing geopolitical climate

The annual study by KPMG International of nearly 1,300 CEOs from companies across 11 industries in 10 countries found that many CEOs are focused on geopolitical challenges:

  • 43 percent of CEOs are reassessing their global footprint as a result of the changing pace of globalization and protectionism.
  • 52 percent believe the political landscape has had a greater impact on their organization then they have seen for many years.
  • 31 percent think protectionist policies in their country will rise in the next 3 years.

The evolving risk landscape

One of the most striking changes in this year’s survey is the rise in the number of CEOs who cite reputational and brand risk as a top current concern. This is the third most important risk (out of 16 in total), after not featuring in the top 10 in 2016. CEOs also see reputation and brand risk as having the second biggest potential impact on growth over the next 3 years, which is a change in ranking from seventh out of 10 in 2016.

Cyber security, which CEOs ranked at the top risk in 2016, has this year fallen to position 5 (of 16), in part, reflecting CEO views on the progress their business has made in cyber risk management. Today, four in 10 (42 percent) say they feel adequately prepared for a cyber event – up from 25 percent in 2016.

Technology challenges – a battle for talent

Contrary to popular view, on average, 58 percent of CEOs actually expect cognitive technologies to increase headcount across 10 key types of roles in the immediate future. While 32 percent expect this growth to be slight, there is still a clear expectation that more specialist employees will be needed, at least in the short term. This would suggest that client experience, not cost reduction, is seen by CEOs as a key driver in adopting cognitive technologies. Attracting highly skilled talent – instead of managing technical issues around the technology itself – is seen by CEOs as the top challenge in implementing cognitive technologies.

More generally, CEOs expect headcounts to continue growing, but to grow at a slower pace than expected in 2016. Last year, 73 percent of CEOs expected their number of employees to increase by more than 6 percent in the next 3 years. In 2017, less than half (47 percent) expect this level of growth.

While CEOs are focusing on evolving their businesses, they are also evolving their own role – 70 percent of CEOs say they are now more open to new influences and collaborations than at any other point in their career.

A focus on trust

In light of operating within an increasingly transparent business environment, three quarters of CEOs (74 percent) say their organization is placing greater importance on trust, values and culture in order to sustain its long-term future. CEOs are seeing this trend continue for the immediate future: 65 percent agreed that levels of trust in business will stay the same or decline in the next 3 years.

More than seven in 10 (72 percent) correlate being a more empathetic organization with higher earnings. Companies today are increasingly realizing that building trust is consistent with their business objectives.

 

KPMG Press Release, title modified.

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