William Elong

Cameroon

A pioneer of made-in-Africa drones in 2015, this bold entrepreneur believes Africa must become a producer of its own defence technologies.

Having earned his high-school diploma at 15 and later becoming the youngest graduate of the School of Economic Warfare (EGE) in Paris, William Elong, born in Cameroon in 1993, began his career in France’s defence industry at Thales before deciding to devote his skills to the prosperity of the continent. The turning point came at a trade show, where he noticed that the overwhelming majority of African visitors were there as buyers, rather than exhibitors… The young prodigy set out to address the “scandalous technology gap” between Africa and the rest of the world. In 2015, he set out to raise $300,000 to turn his ambition into reality. He first founded Will & Brothers, a start-up focused on economic intelligence and technological innovation, which developed Drone Africa—the first range of drones manufactured in Cameroon, with practical applications in security, agriculture, national parks, tourism and mapping, and equipped with onboard AI… The venture subsequently became Algo Drone Holding. William Elong aims to take the lead in the sub-Saharan African drone market before expanding into the rest of the world. He also wants to harness artificial intelligence for human health—for example, by contributing to cancer research through the development of algorithms capable of detecting diseased cells. His advice to young African entrepreneurs is simple: “Dream with your eyes open, and work with resilience. If you are in Africa, don’t think the grass is greener elsewhere. Even in a chaotic environment, there are opportunities to seize.” The 21st century is the age of data, and of analysing and interpreting it: “Building a factory costs millions; writing code requires a computer. That changes everything.”