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Investment Opportunity – Choco Nohi

One of the fastest growing African-made chocolate has made shares available to the public for investment. Chocolaterie NOHI (Choco NOHI) in short is a Cameroonian company who’s vision is to bring the best of chocolate to Africa by transforming cocoa locally. As the Netflix docuseries Rotten says, “the long journey from [cocoa] bean to [chocolate] bar is packed with misery.” Farmers only get a small portion of the $100B that the chocolate industry represents. A lot of the cost is in the logistic of collecting, inspecting, transporting, warehousing for the western market.

Choco NOHI sees an opportunity here. Hyppolyte Nozawo, founder of Choco NOHI and participant of the TekZone Leadership Development program, says that their main goal is to eliminate most of this cost without compromising quality. His strategy has 2 main pillars:

  1. Work directly with the farmers – Choco NOHI works directly with farmers so the cocoa beans go straight from the tree to the factory. This gives him more control on the quality and gives farmers more for their cocoa beans.
  2. Focus on quality – Hippolyte wants Choco NOHI to provide the same quality chocolate consumers expect. To achieve this, Hippolyte hired Jean-Charles Bergeron, a French Chocolatier with over 40 years of experience.

Choco NOHI already has market presence in Cameroon with 3 product lines and more than 5000 customers and growing. Hippolyte wants to take this product to other countries in Africa and beyond where there is already demand.

Don’t miss the opportunity to get in early and secure a good return on your investment. Signup to become investor at www.invest.chocolaterienohi.com.

Choco NOHI Share Prices

About TekZone

Africa is poised to become one of the world’s economic engines over the next 30 years. Our vision is to see Africa and the world transformed by technologies and solutions created by Africans. Our mission is to be a catalyst for this technological transformation by providing a complete ecosystem to acquire knowledge and skills, create solutions to local problems and build successful businesses. We achieve this mission through the following:

  • TekZone Academy is the premier e-learning platform with project-centered courses.
  • TekZone Leadership Development Program identifies and equips potential African leaders with the skills and connections to become trail blazers in schools, companies and as entrepreneurs.
  • TekZone maintains an active network of partners comprised of mentors, sponsors, tech companies and investors.

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MA64 démarre une formation en robotique à Douala

This article has an English translation appended below

La population de Douala aura bientôt accès à une formation en robotique particulière délivrée par la startup Master of Art 64 ou MA64. Ulrich Emabou, l’un des fondateurs de MA64 nous fait savoir que startup a pour objectif premier de “conquérir le marché du numérique et d’en être les leaders en Afrique” dans le domaine de la formation et la maîtrise. Pour ce faire, la startup utilise une méthode d’apprentissage mixte combinant la théorie et la pratique pour accomplir des tâches très précises. La vidéo ci-dessous montre un exemple à travers un drone pouvant naviguer de manière autonome son environnement et accomplir des tâches.

Drone Autonome controlle par l’intelligence artificielle

Les expériences de Ulrich dans sa formation académiques et les diverses stages académiques ont exposé les limites du système éducatif au Cameroun principalement dans le domaine du numérique. Comme il l’explique ci-dessous, beaucoup d’ingénieurs sont réduits aux tâches généralement réservées à des techniciens non-ingénieurs dans d’autres pays. Avec des formations en majorité théoriques et pas adaptées aux attentes de l’industrie, la plupart des entreprises préfèrent porter leur confiance aux ingénieurs d’ailleurs. Face a cette situation, Ulrich s’est lancé en autodidacte et a acquis en 3 mois les connaissances équivalentes a 2 ans d’études dans son établissement local. C’est pour cette  raison qu’il s’est associé à d’autre jeunes enthousiastes tels que le fondateur de LabRED pour lancer le project MA64.

Au niveau 4 j’ai eu à effectuer un stage ou je me rendais alors pour apprendre l’automatique dans une sociétée d’ascenseurs. Je me suis rendu compte qu’en fait rien n’est fabriqué mais que tout le dispositif était importé. Le personnel travaillant dans cet entreprise n’avait aucune orientation dans le design comme je m’attendais. Ils se contentaient de manœuvrer lors du montage. Au niveau 5, j’étais dans une autre entreprise qui était meilleure mais nous manquions cruellement de savoir pratique à l’école. C’est la que j’ai compris que les diplômes de l’ecole doivent être supplémentées par des connaissances pratiques que chaque personne peut acquérir en accéléré. C’est pour cette raison que nous nous sommes lancé dans la formation.

Ulrich Emabou

Depuis son lancement, MA64 a déjà déployé 2 modules très pratiques axés sur la modélisation et la programmation. Utilisant la plateforme TekZone Academy et les outils disponible en location sur place tels que des kits EV3 de LEGO, MA64 est capable de déployer ces cours à des prix très abordables pour la population locale. Les deux vidéos ci-dessous sont des extraits du cours. La première est une vidéo directement délivrée dans le cours a travers la plateforme TekZone Academy et la deuxième est une interrogation en direct à travers une vidéo conférence.

Extrait du cours
Extrait d’une interro en live

Cette initiative de MA64 est à saluer et rentre en ligne avec notre vision a TekZone de faciliter l’accès à la technologie avec pour objectif de résoudre les problèmes locaux localement. Tu peux bénéficier de cette formation en contactant M464 au +237 673 66 49 48 our par email a contact@themasterofarts.com.

English Version

The population of Douala will soon have access to special robotics training delivered by the startup Master of Art 64 or MA64. Ulrich Emabou, one of the founders of MA64, lets us know that the startup’s primary objective is to “conquer the digital market and be the leaders in Africa” ​​in the field of training and mastery. To do this, the startup uses a blended learning method combining theory and practice to accomplish very specific tasks. The video below shows an example through a drone that can autonomously navigate its environment and accomplish tasks.

Ulrich’s experiences in his academic training and the various academic internships exposed the limits of the education system in Cameroon mainly in the digital field. As he explains below, many engineers are reduced to tasks typically reserved for non-engineer technicians in other countries. With training mainly theoretical and not adapted to the expectations of the industry, most companies prefer to put their trust in engineers elsewhere. Faced with this situation, Ulrich embarked on the autodidact where he acquired in 3 months the knowledge equivalent to 2 years of studies in his local establishment. It is for this reason that he joined forces with other young enthusiasts such as the founder of LabRED to launch the MA64 project.

At level 4 I had to do an internship where I would then go to learn automatic control in a company of elevators. I realized that in fact nothing is manufactured but that the whole device was imported. The staff working in this company had no orientation in design as I expected. They were content to maneuver during assembly. At level 5, I was in another company which was better but we were sorely lacking in practical knowledge at school. It was there that I understood that the school’s diplomas must be supplemented by practical knowledge that each person can acquire quickly. It is for this reason that we embarked on training.

Since its launch, MA64 has already deployed 2 very practical modules focused on modeling and programming. Using the TekZone Academy platform and locally available rental tools such as EV3 kits from LEGO, MA64 is able to deploy these courses at very affordable prices for the local population. The two videos below are excerpts from the course. The first is a video delivered directly in the course through the TekZone Academy platform and the second is a live questioning through a video conference.

This initiative of MA64 is to be welcomed and is in line with our vision at TekZone to facilitate access to technology with the aim of solving local problems locally. You can benefit from this training by contacting M464 at +237 673 66 49 48 or by email at contact@themasterofarts.com.

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Top 3 ALB scholarship finalists selected for the TekZone Leadership Development Program

Here are the finalists ALB Fellows for the TekZone Leadership Development Program. 152 showed strong interest, 10% attempted the challenging vetting process. Nervis, Bony and Hippolyte came out on top through their collective vision and their ability to have a positive impact in their community. Join us to congratulate them for this achievement.

As a next step, TekZone and The African Leadership Bridge will collaborate to select the winner(s) for this round of scholarships.

To learn more about this program, visit the following announcement page.

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African Leadership Bridge and Group TekZone Partner to Drive Sustainable Growth in Sub Saharan Africa through Education.

African Leadership Bridge (ALB) and Group TekZone (TekZone) have entered into a partnership to equip, train, develop and enable Sub-Saharan African youth to create local solutions to local problems. ALB has successfully supported and mentored a number of African students through undergraduate programs in the US. This partnership allows ALB to leverage the infrastructure and services provided by TekZone to extend and scale this effort and impact to those located on the African continent.
 
This symbiotic partnership will allow both organization to provide unprecedented access to tools, training and mentoring necessary for African youth to solve local problems through the use of Technology.
 
“We are excited to begin our partnership with TekZone, as it fully supports our key tenet of enabling the next generation of African leaders and entrepreneurs through education.  As ALB announced earlier this year, we are pivoting to working directly in Africa, where we feel we can have a faster impact, and we can make our donor dollars go farther.”  –Suresh Sundarababu, ALB Board President
 
As a result of this partnership, 2 students will receive full scholarships from ALB to participate in the 15-week long Robotics Training offered by TekZone in Cameroon in Summer 2017. Each student will learn industrial automation skills necessary to integrate industry and receive tools and knowledge necessary to prototype technology-based solutions to local challenges.
 
“Our goal with this training is to expose students to relevant technologies, train them on how to use it to solve problems, expose them to design best practices, and send them home with a kit so they can continue prototyping solutions as they encounter problems. We are looking forward to expanding on our partnership with ALB to put more tools in more capable hands.”- Serges Lemo, CEO Founder of TekZone.
 
 

About the African Leadership Bridge
The African Leadership Bridge (ALB) is an innovative nonprofit organization that provides scholarships to promising young African leaders. Joining ALB means more than just receiving a scholarship. We treat our students as part of our family and mentor them through the college experience, ensuring that they build the skills and relationships that will enhance their chances of making a significant impact after graduating. We believe that this experience will prepare these future leaders to tackle important issues with a unique perspective, contributing to the creation of an Africa in which all citizens have an opportunity to realize their full potential.
www.africanleadershipbridge.org
 

About Group TekZone Inc.
Group TekZone offers African innovators, makers and SMEs the opportunity and resources to design, prototype, test and market their own solutions. We partner with academic institutions and multinational companies to provide local access to a network of tools, expertise and training to drive innovation and build successful technology-based businesses. Our vision is for every student, maker, enthusiast, engineer & scientist in Sub-Saharan Africa to have local access to the necessary technologies to innovate and solve local problems. To deliver on this vision, we equip each of our centers design and prototyping tools such as 3D printing, machining equipment and necessary software though a membership-based model which significantly lowers costs. We complement this access with training on tools as well as a 360-incubation to help shape future local business leaders.
www.tek.zone