Cameroonian young entrepreneur takes on digital archiving to boost local economy

Philippe Nkouaya returned from France a few months ago after studying and established a digital service company in Douala, Cameroon’s capital.

His company, Philjohntech specializes in electronic archiving and has created an application that allows digital archiving of documents. His digital services make it possible to safely store documents using soft wares.

Nkouaya tells Africanews correspondent Lambert Ngouanfo that it is high time Africans joined the digital revolution.

“Today in Cameroon and Central Africa as a whole, there are many companies that have archiving problems..For instance, it takes one to two weeks to find documents. Now with this application, you can directly locate archives and files and in just one click and within three minutes you can directly find the document..It saves time and satisfies all customers’‘, Nkouaya said.

The advent of digital technology has had a significant impact on the way documents are handled within companies. Nkouaya says beyond physical archiving, companies must now consider electronic archiving.

Many Cameroonian companies are opting for digital archiving. Only a few years ago, banks and insurance companies started digitization projects. Today, SME’s, town halls and even individuals are opting to archive electronically.

Line Lobé is Director of Maya Marketing.

“We now use digital archiving because in time past, it was very difficult for us to find documents. It took us days, sometimes even weeks to find a document. So now that we have the solution, it is easier for us to find a document, it only takes one click to find a document and print it “, Lobé said.

Industry players say, digital archiving is the next challenge of the 21st century. This digitization was also the focus of a forum for insurance professionals held on May 15 in Douala. Participants reiterated the need to secure data through digitization to avoid lost.

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is fully supporting the project here. In late May, it organized the first international conference on the development of the digital economy for Central African countries in Yaoundé.

“Digital archiving is a necessity now and any serious entity must devote itself to ensure maximum efficiency. It is also to avoid the mistakes that can be made by the lack of memory”, said Vice rector of the University of Yaoundé 1, Prof Jean Emmanuel Pondi.

At the end of the session, African countries were encouraged to utilize the opportunities offered by the digital revolution.