Africa economy
Benin: Richard Odjrado, the "serial entrepreneur" keen on new technologies
Audio 02:18
Richard Odjrado, creator of the AS World Tech brand, the leading manufacturer of glasses and connected watches in Benin.
© Olivier Rogez / RFI
By: Olivier Rogez Follow
3 mins
Connected watches and glasses, computers specially designed for the African market, the startup AS World Tech is making waves in Benin.
And its leader, Richard Odjrado, 32, has become in a few months, the most famous Beninese geek in the country.
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From our special correspondent in Cotonou,
We are in downtown Cotonou, in the brand new showroom of the startup AS World Tech.
Computers and connected glasses are displayed on luxury displays in an atmosphere reminiscent of an Apple Store.
Richard Odjrado's flagship product is his connected watch:
This adventure we are talking about, AS World Tech, started from an evening during which my two smartphones were stolen, I started looking for a solution, and I developed the AS Watch, the first watch African connected, it is equipped with the first anti-theft and anti-forgetting system for smartphones.
When it is connected to your smartphone and you move more than three meters away from it, it triggers a vibration and an alert on the smartphone.
An attractive gadget despite a high price and which has already sold several hundred copies.
Richard Odjrado now designs a range of connected products and computers with a high repairability index, that is to say laptops that can be upgraded or easily repaired.
Designed in Benin, made in China, an attractive and flexible model that Richard Odjrado dreams of developing.
"
The goal is to set up our assembly plants here very soon
," he hopes.
“
Transfer technologies and skills, train the workforce, qualify it, and then move on to the final stage which will be to be able to manufacture from A to Z on the continent, mainly in Benin
.
»
The products of the AS World Tech brand created by Richard Odjrado, the leading manufacturer of glasses and connected watches in Benin.
© Olivier Rogez / RFI
Move forward by putting your ideas into practice
But Richard Odjrado is not only a geek passionate about gadgets, he is above all a
serial
entrepreneur who has been advancing for ten years by concretizing his ideas.
I attended an accident, and the victim lost his life because he was treated too late.
I was so shocked that I said to myself: no, it's not possible, in the digital age, we can no longer die so banally for things that can be avoided.
From this trauma, will be born isecours, a digital health record.
“
Then, I developed ByeByeCovid, a platform whose objective was to unclog hospitals and help the health system to be more efficient in the field
.
»
An initiative that has earned him recognition from the public authorities.
But what the 32-year-old entrepreneur expects from the Beninese authorities is less recognition than support.
For example, he would like the state to equip its administrations with computers designed by his company.
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