MY 2008 DIGESTED IN ONE BLOG POST

January 2008
I was solidifying partnership with this Indian Tech guy

Febuary 2008
Started work on theinvestor.in and studentnetworks.in, and launched www.bushfalling.com [AfroVisioN's community of cameroonians ], met Enstine of njangihost.com , FEE of kerawa.com and Nino of 20mai.net thats when the marvelous connection started


March 2008
Launched cameroonfootballers.com as AfroVioN's community of professional football players

April 2008
Had this great interview about me and AfroVisioN on 20mai.net, and started partnership talks with Sebastian schmid of Ecorp www.ecorp.ch

May 2008
Launched AfroVisioN's " one website for every cameroonian" project which entails a full professional site at 50,000FCFA per year

June 2008
We started work on www.afrikeo.com, www.seekvice.com and met Judith Modjock of www.weboptimal.net and signed a partnership deal with weboptimal.

July 2008
We had the first version of afrikeo and started work on our partnership with panther media and Ecorp. Our main partnership for Business Process Outsourcing of web applications from switzerland to Cameroon. Also met Joel Nlepe from Microsoft who is currently working with us on alot of projects including www.coolmboa.com and we also launched his ww.africa2point0.com blog.

August 2008
We successfully implemented the www.executiveasset.com project for our client in Douala. Real estate site where you can search for houses to rent or buy in Douala. And we started work on www.spdmania.com for cheap and auction sales listing in Douala.

September 2008
Redeveloped our AfroVisioN new corporate website, with an administrative backend, CRM module and scalable codes running on an MVC design patern with HTML views.

October 2008
We added computers to our training hall and launched marketing for our AfroVisioN Training programs in Buea and online

November 2008
We releaseed the www.spdmania.com for our partner Weptomial.
I came in contact with this Cameroonian Msc student in UK who intends to do her internship with AfroVisioN.
my research paper got accepted for IctAfrica 2008 Conference.
I came in contact with Billzimmerman and had this great email interview with him posted on his blog 27months.com

December 2008
Attended the ICTAfrica conference along Phebe Etchu business student from USA.
Started revising our business plan at AfroVisioN for the year 2009.
Also came in contact with Anabi Epizitone of BigPiktures Group www.bigpiktures.com

That is the brief run down of my professional life in 2008, and some projects are not included due one or two things.

AfroVisioN 50000FCFA per year website promo

These days we have been working on banners for our 50 thousand FCFA / year website offer to all cameroonians home and abroad. below are some of the banners we have produced to do the online marketing. You can help us by placing any of them on your blog or website or ?? and link to our site www.afrovisiongroup.com to help spread the word.

Random Posts About Me And AfroVisioN

Going over the African blogosphere I noticed some interesting articles:

Théophile KOUAMOUO an ivorian blogger talks about why people blog in Africa on his blog and references me on these links

http://kouamouo.ivoire-blog.com/archive/2008/12/05/pourquoi-bloguer-sur-l-afrique-revue-provisoire.html

http://www.rue89.com/ivoire-blog/2008/12/09/pourquoi-bloguer-sur-lafrique

Dibo a.k.a Nayigi's Daughter also loves what we are doing at AfroVisioN on this post 

http://dibobanja.blogspot.com/2008/12/and-i-keep-searching.html

there could be more some where somehow in some documents but these are the few I found around.

 Hey I still have to come up with why I blog about Africa, answer the tag from Bill and also answer Theo who started the whole viral effect ;)

My Presentation At The University of Buea For Brain Trust Competition

I was happy to be invited to talk about AfroVisioN Group to all the first class students at the University of Buea. They have to be inspired and motivated to start creating their own business' after school or while in school.
I told them who I was, my age and how I started AfroVisioN Group in 2006, and all our achievements (GCE results, Ubstudents.com, portfolio ) and how we have cut down cost of professional websites in Cameroon and put the most competitive price in the market. They were amazed when I told them we plan to build 1000 websites for NGOs, CIGs, SMEs and schools in Cameroon by the end of 2009.
check out the slideshow below and you might get a summary of how the presentation went through.

My Meeting With Dr. Mamouda Of The University Of Buea

On Tuesday I got a call from Billzimmerman(www.27months.com) telling me I will have to present the next day(yesterday-wednesday 19 Nov 2008) to students of the University of Buea for their Brain Trust inter university competition which is centered around business creation. So I went there and met other Young entrepreneurs here in Buea and we had to do fast preparation in just 24hrs ;) but the outcome was perfect( leaving that for another post with pictures).

 The picture above is Bill's shot while we were at linkUp  (www.linkupdevgroup.org)  training room talking about what the presentation will look like and the guides in producing our power point slide shows ;). Dr Mamouda of the University of Buea was one of the organisers of the event and we had a long talk about what we have to do at the event and other events we will have to attend. I am happy to meet this guy and amazed how I never knew he was around, he has this experience studying and working in Europe and USA and I bet you he will be a great tutor to me. He is a very open person and I will call on him whenever I have difficulties in any business operation ;). 

"Hey Thank you Bill for introducing me to this guy and all the opportunities and VC stuffs your bringing to the Buea area - God Bless You"

 I was there with a 19yr old business man who runs his own cyber cafe and an operation manager of a group that supplies computers to about 20 schools in the south west (bridging the digital divide). 

 I will post information about the presentation after I get the pictues ready. 

Fuh Bright Afangwei: hopes for a bright future, not insight?

My eyes are filled with tears as I cry for this little boy and his parents, I guess its realy hard for them to take it. He is a four year old little boy from Bafut currently in Yaounde because he cant see with his right eye because due to an infection called "Right Orbital Tumor". This picture is what I saw on his article on www.crtv.cm and I have never seen something like this before, so we are all called to see how we can help this little boy either by posting his story around or by just donating some funds so that this Cameroonian can live to be our next President, Doctor or Lawyer. Please read the extract below or follow the link to learn more about his case. See for your self:

"The story of Fuh Bright Afangwei can hardly be told without holding back tears.

Born of 23-year, Fuh Godwill and 21-year Ambesso Gladys, the story of this 4-year little boy started in 2006 when the child complained of right eye pain. 

The parents whose monthly income can be estimated at 25000 FRS CFA ($50) instantly took their first son in quest of a  proper diagnosis.

After criss-crossing a numbers of health centres in the small locality of Bafut where they lived, the boy was later referred to Acha Annex in Bafoussam, a Hospital reputed for treating relatively complicated eye problems..."

 For more information please click here 

Mambe Nanje Churchill On The Spotlight

Well I cant believe Bill Zimmerman (An Ex Microsofter) just posted an interview about me and AfroVisioN Group. Well I think AfroVisioN Group is getting alot of attention these days. If you want to read the post follow the link below.

http://www.27months.com/2008/11/focus-on-cameroon-ict-entrepreneurs-part-2/

What I think So Far About Information Technology in Buea - Cameroon

Buea is fast becoming a hub for information and communicatin technology (computers, software,internet) in Cameroon. This is due to an increase in the number of small business startups dealing in Information Technology, which leads to an increase in the number of software solutions at lower costs than Douala and Yaounde (alot of competition just like MTN, Orange and Camtel).
AfroVisioN Group (www.afrovisiongroup.com ) being a leader in this sector has decided to train more young, dynamic and talented Cameroonians to join in serving these rising number of clients. I see this as an opportunity for Cameroonians to get trained and get certified and finaly work for AfroVisioN Group which has a rich client base and an increasing number of clients in Cameroon, and alot of offshoring projects from partners in France and Swiss. I think Cameroonians abroad who understand the importance of Information Technology skills like Java, C#, PHP, MySql, Oracle and DHTML should advice their brothers back home to come learn how to build solutions like www.executiveasset.com www.openuandi.com and help us improve the services on www.ubstudents.com. At the same time also improve their standard of living while attending university or better yet have a steady source of income. Some how this might help us against the "Brain Drain" dilema.
I am in the process of doing my part please help me spread the word, for more information click here
or visit www.afrovisiongroup.com/training

Updates on AfroVisioN Group's One Website for Every Cameroonian

Its been about three months since we launched the "one website for every cameroonian scheme" where we offer full sites like www.inacod.org as low as 50,000FCFA (110usd) per year to cameroonian firms or business men.
We have added a couple of businesses to the scheme but this one caught my attention, its a site we built for a business consultancy agency here in buea - U and I business consultancy hosted and www.openuandi.com .
The client is happy to have had his business represented on the web and the pricing is comfortable. We are looking forward to more businesses signing up to this our on going scheme with about 18+ websites since launch.

Screen shot

The pic below is a screenshot of the home page of U AND I CONSULTANCY'S WEBSITE. click on it to view the site and remember its under the " one website for every cameroonian SME and citizen scheme

My Meeting With Ongola Boy a.k.a Willy Manga

A few days back, I met with Willy Manga and we had a nice meeting talking about Information Technology in Cameroon.
Willy Manga is the Computer Lab Admin at "College Liberman - Douala"- I wonder if thats the right spelling ;) .

I told him about some projects AfroVisioN Group is going to release into the Cameroonian market in the sector of Information Technology Education and Awareness, especially amongst the youths and he was very much interested. Some of the projects are the ones I posted(http://mambenanje.blogspot.com/2008/07/my-meeting-in-douala-with-etum-africa-2.html when I had a meeting with Etum of africa2point0.com .
I was amazed when Willy Manga told me about his projects with Cops fm or so, and what he is doing with secondary school students in his lab on linux platform. anyway check out our pictures below.

In the pictures we were in a taxi in buea heading to Mid Way restaurant

some random pictures

I have had a couple of events at the offfice, around buea, in douala and all and I was to blog about them but I didnt have time because there are alot of projects AfroVisioN Group is working on and I have to see that all the clients are satisfied. So I have decided to post the pictures and just comment about them.
check out the pictures below and you might know what has been happening with me:

Below: Ghislain Kamgang(Cameroonian in Paris, France) paid us a visit at AfroVisioN Group while we were working on our new corporate website so we had to take a look at it together


Below: Ghislain and the brother Sorel (Cameroonian in Germany) were with us yesterday and we had to analyse AfroVisioN Group's new website.


Below: Ghislain while he was explaining some software development concepts to AfroVisioN Group developers during his visit


Below: I was walking the streets of Buea with a laptop behind me, and I decided to get the look and feel of the whole scenario


Below: Enstine (www.enstine.net) came to AfroVisioN Office and he was asking Valery (Software developer - AfroVisioN Group) some questions about an enterprise software we were building in C#


Below: I had a meeting with Enstine and it was fun. Its always fun when I meet with software developers or geeks


Below: I paid a visit to douala along with Wenie (my gf) and we were with FEE and Enstine.

let the downloading begin - Google Chrome

Google or "Big G" has finally decided to own the internet by releasing the linux of browsers. Microsoft has not finished fighting linux now they have to fight Chrome. Google used the power of linux, put thousands of computers together and built what Microsoft could never be able to kick off and in other words, build what will be the internet monopoly. I don't blame them because its always said "only a Ninja can stop a Ninja", and in this case "only Monopoly could stop Monopoly". Chrome sounds very interesting for a software developer like me - multi threading with processes, garbage collection, memory reuse, many nice geeky words, and I like the fact that it has the power java had when it came in with garbage collection and memory reuse. I am very excited to learn this will be out today for download and we have to watch the number of download against that of IE8 and Firefox 3.
I cant wait to download and test chrome for the mean time I like the look from the pictures

for more pictures visit http://blogoscoped.com/archive/2008-09-02-n72.html

Active Records VS Traditional SQL For Fast Web Development

Active records is a new way of querying a relational database without hand coding or thinking about the sql yourself.

Now let me explain with an example:

if I want to get everything in a table of users I will code it like this with php and normal sql:

//construct the sql
$sql="select * from users order by dateregistered desc";
//execute the query ingnoring the errors
$result=@mysql_query($sql);
/// now fetch
while($record=mysql_fetch_assoc($result)){
echo "username: ".$record['name']."
";
}

Thats realy boring imagine handling all the errors everytime you perform a query. I can't remember the last time I wrote codes like that. Imagine coding a solution as big as twitter and u have to write such codes.

Now lets do it with active records

//instantiate the active records database class
$db=new activeRecordsDB(array('host'=>'localhost','username'=>'root','password=>'passwod'));
//order the query by date registered
$db->orderby('dateregistered','desc');
//execute the query
$records=$db->get('users');
//loop through the records
foreach($records->result() as $user){
echo "name: ". $user->name;
}

This is how you add WHERE, LIKE condition statements using active records

/instantiate the active records database class
$db=new activeRecordsDB(array('host'=>'localhost','username'=>'root','password=>'passwod'));

//add a where clause
$db->where('name','%churchill%');
//or add a like clause
$db->like('website','%afrovisiongroup.com%');

//order the query by date registered
$db->orderby('dateregistered','desc');
//execute the query
$records=$db->get('users');
//loop through the records
foreach($records->result() as $user){
echo "name: ". $user->name;
}

With active records we have more readable codes and easy to understand and work on with other developers in a team. Nowadays I work with projects with guys in different geographical locations, with active records our codes are easy to comprehend.
There are more advanced implementations of active records in Java, .NET, PHP , ruby on rails , etc. but what i wrote here is just an understanding of how active records makes web development very very fast and smooth.
Active records information can be read from wikipedia following this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_record

AfroVisioN Group Information Technology Training

AfroVisioN Group, a leader in software and web development services in Cameroon, is a young and fast growing firm in Buea - Cameroon with a vast portfolio of clients in Cameroon, Africa, Europe and USA.

AfroVisioN's client base is growing at a very fast rate and we are in need of young and dynamic cameroonians who will get trained and subsequently work for us. We need people who are interested in the following fields of study:

• Computer Science

• Accounting

• Journalism and Mass Communication

And they will get trained in one of the following programs within 3 -5 months:

• web development

• software development

• database administration and computerized accounting

• graphic design and multimedia presentation

• computer systems engineering(maintenance and networking)

• online news writing and blogging.

Note: the training offer is limited to 8 students per course, we are not going to do a great deal of marketing because we need a small number of students which we are sure we can train adequately, which implies its a limited opportunity so the smart will be able to harvest it. If you are abroad and you have a brother or sister back home, you should advice them to come get these required skills or if you are a student or graduate you will be needing these skills. Here is an opportunity for you to get trained then empower yourself to work while your still a youngman.

For more information about the training visit www.afrovisiongroup.com/training then contact us via www.afrovisiongroup.com/contacts.php

or call the following numbers:

33011349

75692209

77960280

if you are interested in the porfolio of AfroVisioN Group you can checkout www.executiveasset.com www.africa2point0.com , www.bushfalling.com , www.afriplay.tv , www.ubstudents.com or just visit www.afrovisiongroup.com/projects.php

Google Adsense shows on Microsoft's live.com search

Today after working the whole day on www.africa2point0.com and www.afriplay.tv , I decided to play abit with Microsoft's live search www.live.com, I searched for images on keyword aeroplane just to test the usability of live.com images search. I worked on it a few months back and I must tell you the image search of live.com is more interactive than that of Google.com. So I wanted to play with it once more and feel the interactivity and usability expertise portrayed by the software giant.
What amazed me is the fact that Ads by google appeared right on the Microsoft Search engine.
So has Microsoft accepted Google as king and decided to include the famous 'ads by Google' on their search results or Microsoft did not notice that including web pages randomly from many sources on their site could also include google ads.

check the photo below and see where the ads by google appears on http://search.live.com

AfroVisioN Group In Partnership Talks with Two Firms In Switzerland

For a couple of weeks now we have been in talks with two Software firms in Switzerland. The Swiss firms are having a lot of work and they are willing to outsource some of it to AfroVsioN Group, Cameroon ( www.afrovisiongroup.com ) . This means AfroVisioN Group's revenue will increase greatly and also the number of employed Cameroonains will also increase. We will have to train more young talents from the University of Buea and employ them to work on most off these projects coming in. I for see that our current staff base will rise from 8 to about 30 workers before January 2009.
This way the Information technology experience in Molyko, Buea will also increase drastically with soo many young Cameroonains walking around with laptops and talking nothing but php and codeigniter codes, not forgetting Ajax, Flash and doing a lot of new creations in form of computer algorithms for money.
We have been in constant talks with a representative from Switzerland, who is here to do the arrangements and have a tete a tete with us. So far the negotiations are going well and we are working on the first pilot project after which we will work on about 5 projects for them before the end of December2008 or so.
To me outsourcing is one big road to the success of information technology in Cameroon, because our local market is not yet aware of the importance of such solutions. india IT sector had a boom because most US firms were outsourcing to India, so Africa and Cameroon can also get into it that way.
check out the pictures below we took in some of the meetings at AfroVisioN group offices.

The picture below we had a meeting at our developers lounge. Thats where all the www.ubstudents.com and www.executiveasset.com solutions get created and maintained


The picture below is in the same place but now the white guy behind me by the right of the picture is the swiss representative


same location but now i am the one taking the picture so am absent. you can see the AfroVisioN Group Developers, the guys that write one of the best algorithms in Cameroon Information technology space.


we had an online video-audio conference with the swiss guys and I was trying to talk on our partnership with them


this is the skype screen, where we were seeing the swiss guys and talking with them live

Cameroon GCE Results 2008

I got up from bed today and the radio was sounding

"...the 2008 Cameroon GCE results will be out today. And

the results would/should not be published on the Internet. The results will not be sold in booklets

and to the public only the press and radio will have the rights to buy and publish the

results....The results were posted on the Internet in 2006 to exploit money from the students...".

I am so concerned because, in 2006, we created passgce.com[which is now offline] to host the results on the Internet and the main reason for the website was to sensitize Cameroonian youths on the importance of Information Technology, Computers and the Internet. We bought the results from the GCE board at 220,000FCFA to publish it for free access on the Internet mainly because of the sensitization and future benefits for Cameroonian people and our business.

If the results are posted on the Internet, form five and upper sixth students will be pushed to learn about using computers and the Internet. Because they will like to know how to get their results online. It might be affecting sales of news papers (press issues), but that one can be resolved by partnering with the news papers and not stopping Internet publication. More to that every student can be asked an extra fee of about 100FCFA for their results access online. which means the results will sell more than the press can ever sell their papers ( more revenue for the GCE Board ).

I cant imagine the number of students who would have learned how to use the computer ever since 2006. Usman Mbella, a lower sixth student at Inter Comprehensive High School, Great Soppo, Buea, who became a loyal user of passgce.com talks to me online almost everyday. He keeps asking me to do something about publishing the results online, because their cybercafe revenue increased when the GCE results were published online. Which means the publication of the results online could mean more revenue to the Board and more revenue for cyber cafe owners all over the republic, going a long way to improve their living standards. Most of Mbella's classmates were always asking him to teach them how to use passgce.com so they could know how to get their results when next they are released . The GCE results can greatly increase Internet usage in Cameroon. Nigeria is posting results online and most African countries, but in Cameroon I wonder why its illegal.

Anyway there are some disadvantages having the GCE results on the Internet:

- Errors caused by the programming logic, which might make someone fail while the person made it

- Security: someone might hack into the system and change their results

But these disadvantages don't weigh more than the advancement it will bring to the Cameroonian people in the nearest future.

I personally know that the GCE Results publication on the Internet can employ at least 5 Cameroonian youths which will increase their standards of living and keep them away from scamming or falling bush via [www.bushfalling.com].

What do you think about this our current situation, to me I have no conclusions and I will keep working hard everyday to make the average Cameroonian (student, business man, etc) learn how to use the computer and Internet to make clean money with technology because with no opportunities like this, all they do is fall bush or fall scamming. To see how we have been helping follow this link " AfroVisioN Group's One Website for every Cameroonian at 50,000FCFA per year "

Google Knol Has Been Launched - My Views

Google Knol is a wikipedia.org like project by Google, most people think its going to rival Wikipedia and with the Google Brand Behind it, no one will doubt it.
I have some personal views about the product though.... continues after the knol interface picture

My views of Knol:

- The fact that the "write a knol" or something similar to "make a post" button is in green, is a very attractive part of the project. I love it because i think the future is green and most web solutions now don't only take on blue but take on GREEN as a way to make users feel at home on the site. Greener web ;)

- I realise it has more experts writing than anonymous or free writers we have on wikipedia, I wonder if this is an advantage or disadvantage. We shall see with time.

- I realised most of the articles on Knol are related to health or medical studies. Is it knol for the health industry or is it a compliment to Google health or what ?

- My defininition of web 3.0 is an online knowledge base, is knol a web 3.0 solution from Google ?

Well overall I think the knol product and wikipedia will add more value to the world and help many people in their career world wide

How Not to Help Africa

Today while browsing www.afrikeo.com for recent blogs in Africa, I stumbled upon this article by REBECCA TINSLEY that touched me soo bad and I decided to share it here.
This is an extract from the article that realy caught my attention

In West Africa they describe people who waste money as being “as stupid as a white man.”

In extreme cases, such as the notoriously corrupt Cameroon and Malawi, DFID has partly suspended funding. But why were they given budget support in the first place? Don’t the people at DFID follow the latest corruption scandals in Africa Confidential?

An estimated $2.3 trillion of aid has gone to Africa since 1945 with disappointing results. The World Bank reluctantly concludes time and again in its reports that higher aid often leads to worse bureaucracy and more corruption.

My country is actually amongst the worst and I know this is no news. For more information read the full article here

My Meeting In Douala with Etum - Africa2Point0

last week I had an email from Etum ( the blogger behind http://africa2point0.wordpress.com ) asking me if we could meet in Douala to talk out some business. He actually works in France but he came to Cameroon for a 10 day vacation, so he decided to meet me and have a 'tete a tete' meeting with me on some of his startup projects he needs my expertise in.
We were at 'Belavie' in Akwa, Douala were we had to chill and talk about five project we will be working on together from now till December. I wont talk about the projects, but you will get to read about them with time. Below are the pictures I took

The pic below I was in the car from Buea to Douala


The Pic below we were in a Taxi from Rond Point Deido heading to Belavie Akwa - Douala


Here we are at Belavie Restaurant where the informal meeting took place. I am amazed at the number of things that were born in that location.


Below is a pic of Etum Joel or Africa2point0


After our meeting we met Enstine (www.enstine.net) a web developer in Douala and a friend of mine who was just coming from a business meeting