When one thinks about ICT innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa, a short list of emerging and established technology centers often spring to mind. Ask anyone with a passing interest in African tech about the locations of these hubs and you’re likely to hear a familiar list of cities: Nairobi, Accra, Lagos, Kigali, Kampala, Johannesburg and the Silicon Cape, among others.

Absent from this list are Cameroon’s commercial and political capitals: Douala and Yaoundé, respectively. This is surprising given that Cameroon enjoys many of the same benefits that make it as ideal a center for ICT innovation as these other cities. Among these benefits are an expanding national fiber optic infrastructure, a growing technology sector, a pool of highly skilled software engineers with bright ideas, brisk competition among ISPs, and private technical universities (such as the Fonab Polytechnic) that are reshaping the educational system and training tomorrow’s ICT leaders.

Cameroon made headlines recently with news of Internet costs dropping by an astounding 90% since the beginning of the year. This is practically unheard of on a continent known for having the most expensive Internet access in the world. These cost cuts are due to healthy competition among ISPs, each vying for a share of a growing market, coupled with new, cheaper technology from China appropriate for Africa. The end result is more Cameroonians are coming online each month, at a rate which likely eclipses East African countries who were recently connected to the high-capacity SEACOM fiber optic cable.

So if Cameroon on the whole is fertile ground for a knowledge-based economy, what, then, of our decision to base ourselves in Limbe? Any sensible tech startup would naturally be located in a commercial center—not two blocks from the ocean, right?

Critical Factors for an African Startup
Before we get to the part about our waterfront, let’s examine a few preconditions for a successful African tech hub. Ideally, the location for such a place would contain a combination of all or several of the following critical factors:

1. Reliable power infrastructure
2. Fast, affordable broadband
3. Support from the local tech community
4. Availability of micro-VC or seed capital funding
5. Proximity to a university or technical school
6. Access to an international flight hub
7. Relative ease of doing business
8. A decent place to work and live

Is it fair to assume that hackers and startups would naturally thrive in an environment where these factors are present? This is a bit like asking if, given enough time and resources, it would be feasible to jumpstart a Silicon Valley.

To be fair, we’re not engaged in anything so ambitious as recreating a Silicon Valley in Cameroon. At the moment, we’re a small but growing number of expats and Cameroonians sharing a second floor office in the heart of Limbe. We’re a startup ourselves—a group of software engineers, entrepreneurs and idealists bootstrapped with seed capital and united by a shared vision for Cameroon’s—and Africa’s—future.

Where is Limbe?

Looking back at our list of critical factors, how does Limbe score? For starters, we benefit from an extremely reliable power infrastructure and a fast (for Africa) 512 kbps Internet connection. The University of Buea, a leading educational institution in the region, is located just up the southern slope of Mt. Cameroon from our office. UB is an ideal partner for us as they’re shaping their course offerings to promote careers in entrepreneurism. In the coming months, we’ll be working with UB to connect business graduates with geeks, hold startup competitions and evangelize a startup culture, generally.

Cameroon’s biggest companies are all based in Yaoundé and Douala, true. And those cities, while having a lot to offer, also have several disadvantages common to most big cities: noise, congestion, higher office leasing costs, traffic jams and so on. Simply put, Limbe is a nice place to work and live. Douala, a city of 2 million inhabitants, is just 45 minutes away by car, as is an international airport. So our location is ideally suited for a tech startup—located next to the sea and a short distance to a bustling university town and a major city.

Here's a view of our neighborhood

Quality of life is an important critical factor for us, right up there with fast internet and a reliable power grid. In keeping with this, we’re committed to creating a work environment that is challenging, fun and rewarding.

My colleague Mambe Churchill of Afrovision Group in Buea, upon seeing our office for the first time, remarked that it looked like “a miniature Googleplex”—a reference to Google’s unique offices and work culture. You won’t find any foosball tables, beanbag chairs or volleyball courts…yet. We’re starting small, but we’ve got big ideas for the future. Watch us grow.