By Emeka Aginam

GOogle’s Developer Relations Manager, Mr. Chukwuemeka Afigbo, has said that if universities produce quality developers, the shortage of locally relevant content on the web will be a thing of the past in Africa.

According to him, a lot of the startup tech companies today who are looking to expand their businesses are having issues finding young affordable talent for hire.

“Universities need to produce quality developers because in Africa today, there is scarcity of affordable talent. A lot of the startup tech companies today who are looking to expand from one man developer team to a 3-4 man developer team are having issues finding young affordable talent for hire. This is a challenge that only the universities are in a position to provide a permanent solution to. This is why we are doing a lot in this area and will continue to do more.”

Mr. Chukwuemeka Afigbo

Afigbo addressed the need for developers to start taking a closer look into designing and building products or apps that take into consideration lifestyle and culture of the Nigerian or African.

He said: “Google for example has provided the platforms like Android and Google Cloud platform, but the question as to how to use these platforms to create solutions that delight and enrich the lives of the taxi driver, the banker, the barber and the musician in Nigeria is one that can only be answered by the Nigerian developer.”

He also expounded on the role of government in growing the developer space. He said: “The government has already done a lot by either initiating or supporting initiatives like Tech Launch Pad, the DEA Hub among others. I also know that a lot of work has gone into creating a broadband strategy for Nigeria.

One area of concern the developer ecosystem needs a lot more support from the public and private sector is the universities. Nigeria critically needs to be producing not less than 5,000 skilled computer professionals every year. At the moment, there are far more jobs available than there are skilled computer professionals.

This is a gap that only the universities can adequately fill and for this to happen, we need a massive intervention of the public and private sector.”

Speaking on the rationale behind Google’s developer initiatives, Afigbo said:

“As you know the internet is very important to Google as the web thrives on content: Websites, mobile apps as well as a variety of services that enable content creators and service providers like entertainers, bloggers, online newspapers, e commerce companies, banks and so on get their content and services across to the end user.

This ecosystem is particularly crucial in African countries like Nigeria where there is an acute deficiency of locally relevant content on the web. Nigerian developers have a big role to play in making the internet relevant.The web is the platform. It is where the majority of software innovation is taking place today.

Google efforts in this space will come along the lines of four things that we are always working to help developers and technology entrepreneurs achieve namely: Design , Develop, Distribute and Monetize.”

With regards to “Design”, the google spokesperson opined that if a product fails at the design stage, it will ultimately fail.

He said: “We have always tried to put the spotlight on user-centric product or software design where we encourage the software developers and product managers to focus on the user when they design their products.

When we talk about “Develop” we mean initiatives that encourage developers to learn and collaborate around software development best practices, tools and platforms . One example of this is the Google Developer Groups which are independent communities of developers supported by Google who come together learn and share around Google and Open technologies.

There are currently 18 Google Developer Groups in different cities across Nigeria from Kano and Lagos to Enugu and Port Harcourt with more forming every other month.

When you talk about “Distribute”, we mean that after you have designed and developed your product , you need to find the best way to get it across to the end user.”

“At Google we believe that one should not only be able monetize their innovation but that they should be able to actually go on and build a business from it.
“This is why we are happy to announce that we recently launched Google Play Merchant payments in Nigeria which allows Android developers in Nigeria today get paid when users from all over the world download and use their applications.

“We actually think its a big deal as Nigeria is the first country in Sub Saharan Africa where this is possible. It is a big deal not just for software developers but also for content owners because this means that you can now directly make money on your content via mobile. Payments will be made via wire transfers straight into the accounts of the developers” he explained.