Through his way of thinking a Senamé Koffi is a true UFO in the high-tech African landscape, he does nothing like the others. After pursuing studies in industrial design, history of art, architecture and anthropology, in 2010 he founded The African Architecture to “propose concrete solutions and make sure that modern Africa had its own reference systems.”
Creator of concepts and a believer of “radical innovation” Sénamé dreams to democratize the NICTs on the continent by making technology accessible to local communities, that would not have the means to access it normally. He is slowly but surely managing to do so: in Lomé, his hometown, he created the WoeLab, a creative and collaborative Fab Lab[1] that welcomes all type of profiles, – builders, joiners, students etc. – but very few engineers or IT professionals. This creative emulation has given birth to the W. Afate, the first African 3D printer, made only with recycled electronic waste. It was also elected “best invention from a Fab Lab over the last ten years.”
Where does your interest in the digital world come from?
In 2012 I ventured -sort of accidentally- in anthropology as well as in the hackerspace in Paris. I saw that these spaces that praise autonomy, were linked to models of financing, events, concepts etc. They all adhere to principles that go against the centralized capitalist model. A sort of conjunction that I call the movement of the common.
In my opinion, the digital revolution put forward by “Ethical Hackers” allowed to open a new chapter in the production philosophy, that can now grasp an aspect that it had always failed to theorize: the death of the industry. It is a perspective in which Africa has major cards to play.
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[1] Global Fab Awards, Barcelone, 2014
