Young Chadians develop digital cures for social, economic ills
N’DJAMENA: In a dusty alleyway in Chad’s capital, veiled women sell peanuts laid out on handkerchiefs and children bring home firewood on donkeys, as if from another era. But behind tall iron gates, a group of twenty-somethings, armed with laptops, business books and a red motor bike have established a digital start-up, aiming to help propel their country into the 21st century.
MossoSouk (Chadian Arabic for “trade-market”), Chad’s first online store for merchants, shopkeepers and individuals with goods to sell, is the brainchild of 26-year-old Andreas Koumato, who hopes to turn it into the Central African country’s version of electronic marketplace Amazon. In reality, Koumato and his team face huge obstacles to carving out a new digital culture in this landlocked, desert state beset by militant threats, economic woes, widespread poverty - and now a US travel ban. Internet penetration in Chad is at barely more than 1 percent, one of the lowest rates in Africa. But the digital entrepreneurs are undeterred, and have spent the past two years going around N’Djamena’s markets, trying to persuade traders to open online shops on the MossoSouk.com platform.
“Some of the sellers don’t understand what the internet is,” said Koumato with a nonchalant shrug, walking through the group’s small office, located in a residential area of the city. “We say to them: ‘You are here, in the centre of the market how can someone in another neighborhood know you’re selling this? You need visibility - this is what we are offering. People everywhere in Chad can see your products - even when your shop or stall is shut for the day, even at night, even on holidays’.” More than 120 individuals and businesses have agreed to give it a go. In September, the company won the Digital Innovation Prize, a national award worth $18,000 run by Swedish non-profit group Reach for Change and mobile network provider Tigo.
For those unsure about e-commerce, MossoSouk provides training based on expertise Koumato gained while studying at Illinois-based Northwestern University as a participant in the Young African Leaders Initiative run by the US State Department. While developing MossoSouk, Koumato and his team are training other young Chadians in digital entrepreneurship. Koumato is also a founding member of Chad’s “Generation ABCD” (AnyBodyCanDream) venture, funded by UN children’s agency UNICEF, which seeks to promote innovation and pro-active citizenship among youth. “Our basic message is don’t wait for the government to do something, don’t wait for someone else - do something with the means you have and ask for partnership,” said Koumato.
Opportunity in a crisis
Yet entrepreneurship is not easy in Chad. In 2015, N’Djamena’s main bazaar was the target of suicide bombings by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, whose stronghold in Nigeria’s Borno state lies less than 50 km (31 miles) away. And the country’s leadership, headed by President Idriss Deby since 1990, has often been criticised for high levels of corruption. Transparency International’s 2016 Corruption Perceptions Index ranks Chad as Africa’s sixth most corrupt country, jointly with Central African Republic, Burundi and Congo Republic.
Out of a population of 14.2 million, almost half of Chadians live below the poverty line, with life expectancy at just 51.6 years, one of the lowest in the world.
The travel ban imposed last month by the United States on nationals of Chad, among other countries, presents yet another hurdle, making it harder to learn from the American example, said Koumato. It was met with frustration among the capital’s community of young activists and entrepreneurs, he added. Moreover, due to a 50 percent slump in crude oil prices since 2014, Chad has faced an economic crisis that has shuttered many businesses and rendered tens of thousands unemployed. — Reuters