Bulls n Bears Entrepreneurship Zone :: Talking business with the ‘overachiever’ behind Cameroon’s locally-made drone

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The news wasn’t big enough to excite international media, but it was an
exciting development this year in Cameroon when Will&Brothers, a local
engineering and consulting company, unveiled the first-ever drone made in
Cameroon.

“It’s the pride of the country,” exclaimed Ms Minette Libom Li Likeng, the
country’s minister of telecommunications and postal services, who attended
the unveiling.

Last year, Forbes magazine named Will&Brothers founder William Elong, 25,
one of the most promising Africans under 30.

Elong, who describes himself as a “big dreamer and overachiever”, at 20
years was the youngest-ever graduate of the Economic Warfare School in
Paris. He is better known in his country for his Drone Africa venture, a
commercial imagery service used by the tourism and agricultural industries
in Cameroon.

“Our countries spend huge sums of money on contracting satellite imagery
companies to address their geographical mapping needs,” Elong told Africa
Renewal in a phone conversation from Douala, Cameroon’s economic capital.
“Using drones is much cheaper, cost effective and more practical,” he added.

The company provides services to the local tourism industry, allowing it to
access a “different vision of the same reality” – aerial images of points of
interest.

The company also offers mapping services to farmers and others, making it
easier for them to pinpoint the exact dimensions of their arable lands.

“In Cameroon, people have lands but often don’t know the borders of their
fields. Our service helps determine that,” he says. In addition, farmers can
use their services in field surveys and targeted in-field crop management.

Since its founding three years ago, when it had four employees and 12
drones, the company has been growing at a good pace: it now has 12
employees, half of whom work in the Douala headquarters, while the rest
operate from Germany, France and Côte d’Ivoire.

Following the unveiling of his locally made drones, Elong is looking at
expanding into other countries in Africa, Asia and Europe, and is in the
process of raising US$2m for that purpose.

It will not be the first time that Will&Brothers has relied on external and
publicly subscribed financing for the drone initiative. Three years ago, the
company managed to raise some $200,000 to advance the drone manufacturing
project.

“It is not just about the hardware,” Elong said. “It is also about
software, about coding.” While he is eager to locally manufacture cheap
drones, the real challenge is to provide tailor-made solutions to
socioeconomic development challenges, he said.

So enters Cyclops, Elong’s next quest, which aims to explore artificial
intelligence and with which he wants to equip drones with the ability to
“detect people, objects and vehicles and to identify different types of
animals at specific sites”.

“Artificial intelligence is the future of humanity,” he says. “I wish more
people would take an interest in technology.”—Howwemadeitinafrica 


<https://www.howwemadeitinafrica.com/talking-business-with-the-overachiever-
behind-cameroons-locally-made-drone/61316/william-elong/> 

William Elong

 

 

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