Smart Living for Africa

The future is ours and the future is now! What an exciting time it is to live in Africa. The world is finally catching up to what we’ve always known; which is that we are more than just a continent of mineral reserves. We are a vibrant, colourful, intelligent and innovative movement in the globe. While surely a good portion of the world now imagines Africa as Wakanda (which we don’t completely mind), there is in fact a new age of smart and connected living that is sweeping the globe and we are not being left behind! The fourth industrial revolution is bringing man and machine closer together, but a little less frightening like the Terminator and more exciting like the first time you got yourself a cellular phone, remember that? We don’t know about you, but for most of us it felt like receiving an invite to connect to a bigger world where a lot more things were possible. Well, guess what? That invite is back again.

Have you heard of IoT? It’s like the big buzz word nowadays and it stands for the Internet of Things. Basically it describes the ability for one machine to connect to another and exchange information or instructions wirelessly through a platform such as a mobile app. Okay, let’s simplify that a bit. You use Bluetooth every now and then right? Ever notice how one phone (machine) can send information to another phone  (machine) without being physically connected to each other? Well that is one the most basic forms of machine to machine communication popularly known to us. BUT, when you add the internet into the mix, that’s where all the real magic begins. Bluetooth is limited to allowing you to send and receive data while in close proximity, and that’s not very exciting anymore. What if you could use that same phone to speak to something else that couldn’t communicate before? Like say, a light bulb, a fridge, a gate and even your curtains, from anywhere in the world! Wakanda-things do you think you could achieve with such power? Oh Great One! (Sorry, couldn't resist). 

So how do we yield these super powers? Well it’s very simple actually. It turns out, if you place a sensor such as a smart plug to any electronic appliance and connect it to internet using a Wi-Fi connection or hotspot, you can get full control of that appliance from anywhere in the world by accessing the smart plug through a mobile app. That’ just three things; a sensor, the internet and your phone, then voila! After that it’s all about how far your imagination can take you. The question is, where can the ability to control things on the go really help? A lot of people whom we tell that they could switch their lights on and off by using their smartphone respond by asking why they can’t just stand up do it? Well, Great One, this is where we say, in the words of Ben Parker, "With great power, comes great responsibility" (to think large if you want to come along to the future). You might not always be home!


We all have a great opportunity to become the most efficient and productive versions of ourselves in the new Africa, with a little imagination. You can start by imagining first a life where you can eliminate the anxieties that limit you on a day to day basis. Just think, with your world at your palm, you won’t have to rush home to switch on the lights before dark anymore or have to ask your neighbour to keep checking if everything is okay while you are away because now your phone will let you control things and also tell you about events as they happen. You could even switch on the night-light for your child while working the night shift - It would be like being there even when you are not. How about your sick relative? Do you want to be updated about their vitals every time they take a reading? Do you want to stay connected to your fleet of vehicles and manage your business while you’re out negotiating more growth? It’s a Connected Home, it’s Connected Health, a Connected Car and a Connected You! Let’s call it a Connected Life. Stay tuned, the future is yours!