ICTworks by Inveneo

In the American and European technology space there’s a growing problem. There’s so much funding available for early stage startups that everyone and their college dropout buddy is starting-up, leaving no one out there to hire.

It’s one of those first world problems: "We just raised 4 million dollars for our social network for redheads but we can’t find any developers…frowny face."

If Silicon Valley is having trouble hiring top tech talent, then it means that there’s also a drought in the NGO space. Even the biggest non-profits are suffering from the same lack of technical resources.

If you’re an African developer, this is a huge opportunity. I am Jonathan Gosier, and I say you should focus on acquiring (or maturing) some of the following skills. Talent in these areas is elusive even in the U.S. and Europe, being good at them will make you far more employable (or fundable if you want to start a company), globally as well as locally:

For Technical People

1. Ruby on Rails A lot of web startups use RoR because it’s a great language and it also impresses investors. However, they quickly realize that it impresses because Rails developers regularly command high salaries due to such high demand.
2. Python and or Django The Jan Brady to Ruby’s Macia. Actually, Python is probably more in demand these days simply because more developers are competent in it. It’s also great for mobile app development which makes it useful for all those SMS apps local firms are dying to build.
3. iOS – the iPhone continues to dominate the smart phone arena. It’s less relevant if you’re targeting a local audience (there go with Android or stick with Java), but if you are building apps that you want to sell internationally then there’s no app store with a richer economy for developers than Apple’s.
4. Data visualization All that ‘open data’ out there is irrelevant. What’s relevant is data that can be used by anyone at any organization, with minimal fuss. Visualization makes it easy to relate complex datasets to those too busy (or too lazy) to analyze them. Data vis goes beyond any specific programing language, but it is a skill and it’s one that Africans can find a great deal of opportunity in.
5. Math/Statistics Before one can visualize anything they need the components to visualize. If you’ve got a strong grasp of statistics and analysis, distilling information so that it’s actionable for others (who usually don’t share this skill) is a highly lucrative path to pursue.
6. Semantic Analysis Despite what everyone thought, the semantic web is here to stay. It hasn’t become a ‘new web’ like some once thought it might, but semantic technologies (sentiment analysis, natural language processing, text parsing) have become the methods that are routinely used to power some of the web’s most popular applications. These skills are incredibly lucrative. The growth of the ‘Big Data’ industry is fueled by them.
7. NoSQL & NewSQL Modern web apps require a great deal of backend engineering to deal with and keep track of all the byproducts of social, sharing, and content creation. There’s two schools of thoughts on this: one is that by doing more of the work on the application side (on request), applications can scale faster while handling more operations from more users. That’s the non-relational approach. The other school of thought is that there was nothing wrong with the old way of doing things, which stores data with the values the application uses for retrieving them later. The challenge was that this created a bottleneck at the database level which often lead to slow or stagnant apps. The new thinking around NewSQL is to keep the relational model and simply build better database software that allows for more throughput. Entire companies are being built of each type of database (see: Cloudera, Vertica, 10Gen), pick the one that makes sense for you. Also, this is the fuel for the Big Data/Open Data rocket ship.
8. jQuery/Javascript/Ajax Modern web apps do most of their processing on the front-end. As I mention above, this often means the application side is where most of the logic for the web app lives, while the database becomes a place to store and retrieve. For these types of web apps, front end logic is critical. Given the rise of the Jquery framework this is probably obvious, yet solid front-end developers are few and far between.
9. Hardware Engineering The ‘maker’ movement amplified by Afrigadget and Maker Faire Africa highlights another opportunity on the continent, the localization of manufacturing. Whether it’s bicycles or mobile devices, companies local to the continent that design and build things are scarce.

For Less Technical People

1. Design Look at the majority of African websites. Most websites made by African developers still look like they were made in 1999 using the GeoCities default templates (translation: Fugly). Blegh. There is a bounty out for good African designers. The mistake a lot of programmers make is they assume design is about technical know-how. It’s not – it’s about a sense of aesthetic and attention to detail. If you are a lazy designer, you’re not a designer. If you are a programmer who thinks design is superfluous to your application, then you’re doing it wrong. There’s also a dearth of design talent in the U.S. and Europe and a good designer can command the salary of a top programmer. Where are the African designers?
2. Writing You would be surprised at the number of people who can’t string together a well-written, cohesive, consistant thought in written form. Coupled with the rapid proliferation of social media (which, by the way, consists of mostly written messaging) the ability to write and write well has become incredibly important. I say this because you are not at a disadvantage if you are a non-native speaker. Example: Ariana Huffington is a non-native english speaker and she built a highly influential and powerful new media outlet that rivals old-school powerhouses like CNN and FOX on the web. It’s about being able to convey your thoughts cohesively and convincingly. It takes practice, so keep blogging!
3. Project Management Being the person who can cultivate the best traits from your team of peers is a huge asset that has always been rare. Many people manage, few excel at it.
4. Videography – We’ve all heard that there isn’t enough local content being produced for African audiences. One of the reasons is the lack of local producers. However, this is changing. More countries are becoming home to an African creative class who are producing film, television, and web shows locally. Can this be lucrative? I think so. As bandwidth falls in cost, eventually the demand for local content may not come from international viewers but the pan-African audience.
5. Critical Thinking/Problem Solving Deductive reasoning. The ability to deduce conclusions and the reasons why they have occurred. To do this, you have to be able to consider all sides and all aspects of a problem…even the ones that you don’t like. You have to be able to challenge assumptions, this includes your own. It is a skill to be able to analyze the intricacies of why things happen or if someone’s argument isn’t grounded in reality, and to be able to explain your conclusions to others. This will make you a better anything.

There are companies all over the world looking to hire people with aptitude in these areas, but being in Africa puts you in a position of power because there will be as great a demand for you at home as there is abroad. Does this mean you’d have to relocate to another country? Not necessarily, many of these skills can be outsourced to you or your company.

In 2012 learn the things that are in demand so you can build firms (or offer services) that capitalize on these global trends.

Jon originally published The Lucrative Skills African Talent Should Acquire in 2012 on Appfrica

May 4 (Bloomberg BusinessWeek) -- Google Inc. is helping to expand Internet access in Africa, the world’s poorest continent, laying the groundwork for revenue growth, said Joe Mucheru, the company’s head for sub-Saharan Africa.

The owner of the world’s most popular search engine is investing in infrastructure, creating search pages in local languages and helping universities adapt their curriculum to changing technology across Africa, Mucheru said in a phone interview on May 2 from Nairobi.

“It’s more about getting more people on the Internet,” he said. “At the moment revenue is not our focus. In the next few years, we could be looking at revenue.”

Africa, with about 1 billion people, has 15 percent of the world’s population and only 2 percent of its Internet users, Mucheru said, citing figures from the International Telecommunications Union. While Google’s revenue from the continent isn’t “a significant number,” the company sees a good investment opportunity in helping close the gap and getting more people to use the company’s products, said Mucheru.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country of 150 million people, where Google opened a two-day conference yesterday for local entrepreneurs and developers in Lagos, the commercial capital, is central to the company’s Africa policy, he said. Google’s engineers have flown in from around the world to provide training on the use of its applications for business and advertising, the company said.

Local Languages

Nigeria’s Internet users now make up about 29 percent of its population, a fourfold increase since 2008, according to the International Telecommunications Union. Google’s efforts to increase access include an arrangement with six universities in the country whereby it provides a link to the Internet and the institutions provide their own wireless network.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, has developed search engines in three Nigerian languages and is working on others to ensure that “language shouldn’t be a barrier” to the Internet, said Mucheru. The company is currently focusing its Africa efforts on South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria, with plans to add Cameroon and Ethiopia later this year.

New submarine fiber-optic links to Africa that have been completed or are being built promise an “abundance of cyber- connectivity,” said Mucheru. In anticipation of growing broadband capacity, Google is working with telecommunications companies, including Internet service providers, equipment manufacturers and software developers to take advantage of it, he said.

Konza is set to be one of the most successful cities in Africa, competing economically and culturally with the best cities in the world. This site offers all the information and insight you need to fully appreciate and take full advantage of Konza’s phenomenal growth. Find out why some of the world’s most successful companies, the most talented people and major international investors plan to come to Konza.

The new city is centrally located with excellent transport and communication links.

Konza Technology City offers all the benefits of a greenfield, ‘clean sheet’ site but which is nevertheless right at the centre of things: 60km from the heart of Nairobi; 50Km from Jomo Kenyatta international airport; 500Km from Mombasa and its ports; the railway within 4Km.

Konza Technology City video with Michael Joseph.

Back in 2007, I was fortunate enough to attend the 5th annual Global Social Benefit Incubator (GSBI), a capacity-building program for up to 20 social ventures ready to scale their enterprises with the help of seasoned Silicon Valley start-up veterans and Santa Clara University faculty.

Jim Koch, Professor of Management at Santa Clara University, Co-Founder and Director of GSBI, says:

The GSBI brings together grass roots innovators and Silicon Valley executive mentors with university faculty to support the scaling of innovative solutions that serve the common good all over the world. Through the access to world-class resources, participating social benefit entrepreneurs will be able to accelerate the impact of their innovations. This is a transformational program for people with the power and vision to change the world.

And he's right about its transformational nature. What I learned at the GSBI, I still apply on a daily basis in my ICT4D work.

Now its time for you to apply to GSBI!

For 2011, GSBI will continue it's emphasis on social entrepreneurs who are using technology and sustainable, scalable business models to provide electricity to the under-served in developing countries. Up to one-third of the GSBI scholarships are being targeted to social entrepreneurs with innovative solutions that address the unmet needs of peoples and communities who are off-the-grid or suffer frequent disruptions in their energy supplies.

The 20 selected entrepreneurs receive four months of on-line mentoring and assignments, culminating in their attendance at a motivating two-week in-residence program Aug. 7 - 19, 2011, at Santa Clara University. GSBI scholarships cover tuition, room, and board for the two-week intensive immersion program focused on venture planning, beneficiary analysis, business models, metrics and successful scaling strategies. Selected candidates are responsible for their own travel expenses.

The winners will be announced no later than April 1, 2011, but you only have the chance to be one of them if you apply today!

Ah the fabled Computer Village in Ikeja, Lagos - the Silicon Valley of West Africa. Messy, unregulated, and wild, it was the digital mother that created Nigeria's Internet powerhouse. Almost all of Nigeria's, maybe even West Africa's computer leaders can trace their knowledge and success back to Computer Village.

Yet now there are rumors of its demise. Voice of the Nation says:

Recent observation in the last couple of months by some stakeholders indicated that it may not be too long that the surge of crowd that thronged the village reduces drastically. The reason, according to them was the fact that almost every big player in the village is gradually moving the business outside the place for corporate reasons.

One of them, Chief Executive Officer, Westgate Technologies Ltd, Mr. Casmir Ezeudu during the recent unveiling of multiple information technology (IT) products by Samsung West Africa stated that the market is no longer in Computer Village, rather that it was tilting towards other areas. He argued that the market is moving on a gradual pace from the village, while noting that some other big players have started to have their corporate offices well outside the village.

Could this be true? Is Computer Village Ikeja dying? Or could this be just a natural change for the industry - from scrappy upstart to interwoven and disbursed throughout Nigeria's economy.