Technological advancement has elevated the internet as one of the most important elements in human existence as far as the 21st century is concerned.
Almost every aspect of national development is dependent on one area of the internet or the other. This includes aspects such as education, politics, internal and external security, innovation and several other areas.
High-speed internet is crucial for development of West Africa
In recent times, there has been a substantive correlation between the industrial and economic growth of nations and their respective advancements within the cyber space.
Over the last decade, the number of people connected to the Internet worldwide has grown rapidly, rising from 910 million in 2004 to nearly 3.8 billion in 2017. Even though this exponential increase is predominant in the developed nations, the advent of smartphones has encouraged internet use in developing countries as well.
Guinea Bissau is known as one of the countries that is ripe for technological innovation. This is reflected by the welcoming approach exhibited by the government of the day who have created a more investment friendly environment, setting the pace for unlimited opportunities especially in the areas of technology.
With the encroachment of telecommunication companies like MTN and Orange, there is warm reception of modern technology which Internet service providing company, Cajutel is poised to explore.
A market waiting to be explored
In terms of telecommunications development, especially internet service, Guinea Bissau is a virgin market. Presently occupied by just two mobile services in MTN and Orange that are operating at bandwidths that are very much below competitive quality in the industry, any robust option will definitely grab the existing virgin market.
This in turn will lead to a symbiotic relationship where the economic development of the entire nation will be revolutionized and the servicing company profiting from the existing market.
Cajutel sarl is a Guinea-Bissau company under Swiss ownership that is set to embrace the opportunity of developing the whole company through the power of the internet.
The CEO of Cajutel, Andreas Fink says:
“Our vision is to build the most cost effective broadband access network and to provide state of the art communications for its customers and thus create a big boost to the education and economy. CAJUTEL will bring affordable, reliable internet communication to the local market and is focused to provide the best performing mobile data network for Guinea-Bissau and Guinea. CAJUTEL will be the fastest internet provider in the area for the public, outperforming the existing operators offering by a factor of 10x to 100x with an at least 30% cheaper price. This enables internet technologies not present in West Africa simply due to lack of bandwidth and too high prices. It makes it affordable for the general public to get access to the internet. That is why only less than 2% have access today. So there’s 98% available to be grabbed by us.”
Fink is an experienced Telecom Engineer and Software developer who has rolled out several successful projects in his telecommunications career which spans over three decades.
A unique method of crowdfunding
In order to achieve this goal, Cajutel is embarking on an Initial Coin Offering so as to raise funds in pursuit of the project.
However, unlike the traditional ICOs where tokens once purchased become independent entities from their original projects, therefore existing like every other coin in the cryptocurrency market, Cajutel tokens are different.
Fink explains that the Cajutel tokens will also represent shares of the company. Therefore, any investor who buys such tokens automatically becomes a shareholder of the company, thereby retains the privilege of benefitting from future growth of the company.
Fink also notes that his company chose the decentralized technology of the blockchain to market its shares in order to open up the opportunity for all classes of investors across the face of the earth. He also acknowledges the ICO process as a surer method of crowdfunding for a project such as his company is embarking upon.
Real world solutions for an entire nation
Indeed, Cajutel claims to be targeting the entire country of Guinea-Bissau and Guinea as its market, hence it is poised to proffer real world solutions to real world problems.
The need for the internet as a medium of economic solution for a country like Guinea-Bissau is glaring. The readiness of the country’s population for such a development is proven by their reception to already existing systems. Hence, it is apparent that the West African nation may be set to begin its journey out of the dark room of poverty and backwardness into the sunny side of global participation and prosperity.