The Afrobotics Initiative

I was please to discover a great initiative called Afrobotics.com via Emeka Okafor. What is Afrobotics? In their own words:

The idea of Afrobotics robotics competition was initially conceptualized by Nii Simmonds, Henry Barnor, Ayorkor Mills-Tettey, Graham Gaya and Emeka Okafor. When one looks at entrepreneurial risk-taking in Africa, there seems to be a vacuum or schism in regards to small-scale manufacturing on the continent. We are coming together as Africans to get students at the secondary and university level to embrace a collaborative, fun, and challenging competition for sustainable engineering startups throughout Africa.

Today, along with Nubian Cheetah, Timbuktu Chronicles and Maker Faire Africa – we look at showcasing students creative engineering talents with their robotic teams. Afrobotics will be a country, regional and continental-wide competition for all African students in the Secondary and University level.

The site is a little bare right now but I’m excited to see how it progresses. Manufacturing is hugely important in Africa, which despite incrementaly improving economies, remains largely a consumer culture. Prices are high because most goods are imported at a high cost from countries that don’t priorities African consumers because the market simply isn’t big enough. All the more reason that an emphasis needs to be placed on producing goods here as it drives prices down and encourages bilateral trade.