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Before the coming of Europeans, Africans had a complete way of life. We had ways of farming, medicine, education, security, family life, governance, communication, art, etc.
Yes, they could be primitive compared to what colonisers brought to us, but the important thing is that they worked. Even today, there are instances whereby doctors would advise family members to “go home and try traditional medication” when modern medical care does not improve the condition of the patient.
Thus, indigenous African knowledge refers to the traditional understanding, wisdom, and practices developed and passed down through generations by African communities based on their experiences, and observations of nature, culture, and environment.
We have uncles who protect their farms using indigenous knowledge. As a result, no one can trespass and harvest without permission. Also, there are localities where incidences of theft are very minimal because they have methods and means of identifying a thief; by name or description. These are just two examples. Each village has a unique indigenous knowledge that is still in use.
Potentials of indigenous knowledge in revolutionizing the tech ecosystem
A niche that is relatively untapped in tech is CONVERTING indigenous knowledge to products without the end user knowing or realizing the origin of such products.
For instance, what is used to protect a farm can be modernised by converting it into hardware, software, laser or the like and sold for securing houses, offices, vehicles, etc. Likewise, a system that accurately identifies a thief by name or detailed descriptions (gender, skin colour, tall/short, etc.) will be valuable to security agencies, corporate bodies and individuals.
However, the first step is to go back to the village, get close to those people and learn. In the process, we should determine the active ingredient. The reason is that some practices like sacrifices, rituals or
inconsequential incantations may be involved which can be eliminated and still get desired the result. In other words, sift grain from the chaff.
The next step is to use our tech specialization (programming, full-stack development, Internet of Things, software engineering, blockchain, DevOps, gaming, analytics etc.) to convert this active ingredient into a marketable product.
I heard that some people have the power to bring a dead person back to life. If this is true, anyone who learns the active ingredient and converts it into a product will surely be the next Elon Musk!
Whowillwin.football
This is a football match prediction website that was designed using converted indigenous knowledge. No database, no machine learning, no data science.
Each request is treated independently by running a predictive algorithm written in Python. The active ingredient is based on predicting a victor and vanquished between two individuals or groups.
Actually, the predictive algorithm will work for any two-team sport events such as basketball, volleyball, handball, table tennis, boxing and badminton, lawn tennis. It can also be extended to determine the winner of an election with two (major) candidates. The applications are countless.
For optimal results, a user’s intent to check the winner of a football match should be real. Otherwise, the likely result will be: Error processing … this match is not scheduled. Currently, users can visit whowillwin.football to check the winner of any match in English Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Nigeria Premier Football League. Other leagues and competitions will be added in due course.
Other predictive systems ready for development include ascertaining the rise or fall of forex, the magnitude of return on investment, whether a potential debtor will default or not, the aftermath of a business relationship or marriage, and much more. We welcome collaborations and partnerships in building predictive systems.
Final Thoughts
Converting indigenous African knowledge to marketable products is an untapped niche. Each and every village has unique indigenous knowledge that can be explored and converted. The sky is wide enough to accommodate us all.
