Hardware Things: Introducing Super Display
Hope you’re doing well.
It's officially Q2, which is around the time I stop saying 'Happy New Year.' Last month's Community Chat with Kayode Alade was particularly interesting, we learnt a lot about intergrating DevOps in embedded development. Kayode's slides are available on the website.
In case you missed it, here’s the last newsletter.
Introducing Super Display
Over the last few months, I've been working with the winning team from the Welcome To Nigeria Challenge to build their product: an open-source, physical display of welcome text in Nigerian languages. I'm happy to share that the product has been completely built and their documentation (include ME, EE, and software) is now available on hardwarethings.org.
Part of the challenge with producing the device was the team working remotely across different parts of Nigeria (Lagos, Ilorin, and Abuja) and finding vendors who could make parts at consistently high standards. Going into the project, that was expected. What was particularly new to me, and positive to learn, is that the supply chain issues are largely better than they were previously. One can order a part from Aliexpress to Lagos or Abuja, and have a third-party courier give you a call when it's available for delivery. You don't have to deal with post offices anymore.
I'm looking forward to organizing more challenges like this one, going from a concept to delivering an actual product and completing useful documentation. All that's left now is to install the product at the Lagos Airport — if they ever allow us.
Interesting Things
WAGA develops second-life applications for Lithium Ion batteries. [Tanzania]
Totosci makes USB cables for low-power devices. [Kenya]
Sayari Labs launched their first proprietary nanosatelite.
Things To Apply For
Ampersand Mobility, a motorbike EV manufacturer, is hiring for a number of technical roles (including R&D, production, and operations) in Kigali, Rwanda
Deadline: Rolling.
Greenovations Africa is receiving applications from African startups working in the agribusiness, clean technology, and recycling spaces for seed grants and mentorship opportunities.
Deadline: April 23.
Company Spotlight
In Kenya, Octavia Carbon is developing Direct Air Carbon Capture (DACC) machines that capture CO2 from the air and store it in rocks underground.
Side note: James Irungu Mwangi makes a compelling argument for solutions like Octavia Carbon's in Kenya's Rift Valley in his TED Talk from last year. I think you'd enjoy it.
Until next time,
Chuma.
This month's Community Chat has Percy Lemtukei of Savannah Circuit Tech as our guest. He'll be speaking about integrating DevOps into embedded software development. Join us!