Aurore Bonny
12 March 2020•Update: 12 March 2020
DOUALA, Cameroon
Tech start-ups are offering smart solutions to tackle poor road safety track records in Cameroon, but it's not an easy journey ahead.
Achiri Arnold Nji, 30, founded the app, Traveler in 2016. It uses sensor and GPS technology to monitor the safety standards of vehicles.
Companies running fleets of buses or taxis have shown interest in the app to monitor their drivers.
Passengers, on the other hand, can alert authorities in case of an accident.
The app has garnered interest in the Central Africa country where more people die in road accidents than malaria, according to World Health Organization (WHO).
An average of 1,000 people died in road accidents over the last eight years, according to the country's Transport Ministry.
The app has 4,000 active monthly users and has been downloaded thousands of times.
However, Nji says the local market is not tech-savvy.
Many transportation companies are afraid of integrating technology in their business fearing the government and other parties will use data collected by the app to control them, he said.
Plus despite sufficient funding, he is looking for a steady income flow.
"We have raised funds and are finally looking for a way to generate income that can sustain our business even if we are not yet where we want to be," he added.
Ride-hailing app Easy Ride, Cameroon's answer to Uber, is also trying to bring innovation in transportation.
However, it too faces difficulties aplenty.
For starters, "Cameroonians have not yet arrived" and are still hesitant to use the service, says Dimitri Moudio Assiene, the sales and communication manager of this company.
"Little by little we are succeeding in educating our different target audiences to make them adhere to our services. We are also encountering difficulties such as power cuts and internet cuts which are hindering our activities in a consequent way. But we have some solutions to overcome this, such as generators installed in our physical branches," he said.
