Across the continent, startup competitions have been giving forward-thinking entrepreneurs the opportunity to claim seed capital for developing the most innovative and status quo-breaking concepts. This year, ActivSpaces is proud to be involved in Cameroon’s first open challenge for technology-based startups organized by Sanaga Ventures and VC4Africa.

Sanaga Ventures, VC4Africa and ActivSpaces invariably have the same objective: to foster tech entrepreneurship and innovation across Africa. Entry criteria, eligibility, success measures and all details for Cameroon Startup Challenge 2012 are available in the press release.

ActivSpaces will be organizing and hosting a variety of workshops and power sessions during this period in both the Buea and Douala locations and we would like to forward three reasons for stepping up to the challenge:

The Sanaga Ventures Motive
Sanaga Ventures is a seed stage investor and the prize for CSC2012 is a no-strings-attached $5,000 award. Even if you don’t win the cash, you’ll be placing your venture in sights of Sanaga and they may have some useful tips for you. If you do win, there is the possibility of follow up investment given that your venture gains traction in the marketplace.

The VC4Africa Motive
VC4Africa is the largest social network for connecting entrepreneurs and investors in Africa and, as part of the entry criteria, challengers must be registered VC4Africa members. By putting your venture on this platform, you’re not only open to CSC2012 opportunities, but to the potential of all the investors connected to VC4Africa.

The ActivSpaces Motive
ActivSpaces is Cameroon’s leading technology incubator and innovation is constantly cooked up at the hub. While the winning venture is eligible for incubation at ActivSpaces (both the Buea and Douala locations), we’re hoping to see several more projects get involved in our program through this challenge.

Follow @sanagaventures, @VC4Africa, @ActivSpaces and the #CSC2012 hashtag on Twitter for all updates and news about the challenge. Alternatively, share your contact details with us so we can keep you posted via email newsletters as well.

It’s time to rise to the challenge!

This weekend R&B superstar Akon performed live in Douala to the fanfare of all his Cameroonian fans. He had a couple at ActivSpaces too but they were pinned down on this month’s #subCMR workshop. We had so many volunteers we were able to split tasks between two different projects. We set to work on ActivSpaces’ latest startup — DataZone — and were able to lend a hand to the first #subCMR project again.

As a project that has already benefited from #subCMR twice, we decided to ask the founder, Otto Beseka, a few questions about TopUpDesk and #subCMR:

“For a non-techie like myself, I believe #subCMR is one of the greatest inventions of ActivSpaces.”

TopUpDesk

Website: TopUpDesk
Facebook: TopUpDesk
Twitter: TopUpDesk
Location: Buea, Cameroon
Founder: Otto Beseka
Founded: January 2012
Listed: activspaces.com/ventures/topupdesk/

ActivSpaces: Tell us about your project.

Otto: TopUpDesk is a first phase of the implementation of an e-commerce system that enables online purchases in Cameroon for people without a credit or debit card. We are starting with the sale of telecommunications airtime for MTN Cameroon and Orange Cameroon through the online utility http://topupdesk.com.

ActivSpaces: What challenges have you faced since conception?

Otto: Getting a good web programmer to work for the project as a co-founder. I had talks with all the great programmers in Buea, but none of them could actually give their time to working for the project, given the fact that I never had the money to pay upon delivery.

ActivSpaces: What are the latest developments?

Otto: Currently, the system is more intelligent and robust. Before, members could top up only their registered telephone number. Now, members can refill any number whether for self, family, friends or any other. One of our volunteers this weekend was the CEO of iyam.mobi. He helped us implement an SMS feature on the platform. Generally, the utility has become more user friendly.

ActivSpaces: How useful has #subCMR been for you?

Otto: For a non-techie like myself, I believe #subCMR is one of the greatest inventions of ActivSpaces. It has enabled a technology based solution to be implemented by a non-techie. Though I understand how these technologies work and make great use of them, I do not build them. #subCMR is empowering people like me with little or no programming background but have a clear understanding of what is needed to solve a unique problem to take on these challenges by the horns. I believe #subCMR is going to take us places. I love it.

ActivSpaces: What can you tell us about the volunteers?

Otto: It is hard to find so many people committed to a project with no financial interest. The volunteers are selfless and very driven to do the undone. Meeting with guys like Herve, Eloge, the ActivSpaces guys and Eric from the US Peace Corps who contribute their time, energy and intellect for this project has redefined my own definition of real contribution. These guys are awesome. I can only say thank you with hugs!

It feels like Techie Thursday all over again. However, this Friday ActivSpaces is joining a number of African tech incubators in hosting a “Drupal in a day” training for the benefit of African developers. Valery Colong and Fua Tse of graduated ActivSpaces project Zinger Systems are covering the program. As clear demonstration, the Zinger Systems website is actually running on Drupal ;)

PROGRAM
9:00 – 12: ‘Hello Drupal’ – An Introduction to Drupal

After this session you will be able to:

• Explain how Drupal sites are built
• Use specific Drupal terminology such as views, nodes, blocks, entities and fields
• Determine how to decide if Drupal is the right solution for your project requirements
• Know where to go to find career opportunities in Drupal.
• Experience using Drupal, and learn about the community

13:00 – 14:30: Break

14:45 – 18:00: Introduction to Module Development’

At the end of this session you will:

• know how to build a module from scratch
• understand the hook system
• know how to manipulate Drupal’s internal workings
• gain insight into Drupal’s performance and caching mechanism
• learn how to connect to external systems and call webservices from within your module

Come for the software, stay for the community.

After a thrilling weekend at #subCMR in Douala, we decided for a little comic relief at ActivSpaces Buea with a “Techie Thursday”. Sebastian Prengel, an über-geek member of ActivSpaces, thought it would be cool for us to initiate the newbies at the lab with a little hacking ritual. So today we’re having a little fun by learning how to hack into each other’s networks under Sebastian’s guidance. Rest assured, we’re not training cyber-criminals here; the exercise is intended only to instill knowledge that may help with implementation of projects.

DVD Night: Pirates of Silicon Valley
We already knew we weren’t going to be in the mood for a lot of work after all the above, which is why we resolved to end our day with a DVD that africatechie told us to check out. If you’re in the neighborhood we’ll be kicking back and watching Pirates of Silicon Valley tonight on the big screen at ActivSpaces from 7:00pm. Your welcome to come by for some entertainment, refreshments and networking.

Most Thursdays are boring but this one’s not :) Tweet @ActivSpaces for more details.

It’s the eve of the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope. Both athletes and tourists are pouring into Buea to experience Africa’s most grueling footrace; a 24 mile sprint up a live volcano and down again. Conquering the mountain means braving cruel conditions: 50 degree temperature fluctuations, altitude sickness and a harsh path of volcanic stones. 50% of the participants will give up, defeated by the gods of the mountain.

Mt. Cameroon Race Of Hope - covered online by Wasamundi

As entrepreneurs, the Race of Hope is analogous to our daily lives. The stats are even worse; 90% of startups fail within their first year and the ones that survive can’t claim to have done so without taking a good beating. So perhaps it’s symbolic that our inaugural session of #subCMR starts tomorrow morning as we’ll be taking off on our own mini “race of hope”.

We’ll be using CoverItLive (the frame below) to communicate and live-blog our progress. Be sure to join us and learn about the project — TopUpDesk — meet the volunteers, give feedback to the team and share the marathon with us ;)