Ogba Digilink

Ogba Educational Clinic (OEC) currently purchases data from MTN Nigeria and Airtel. The data is purchased as-needed in small parcels, rather than the larger packages available, leading to diseconomies of scale.

OEC students travel to other local schools and temporarily offer free cell data for students who would never be able to buy enough for self-study, but the data is very expensive.

SpaceX's Starlink is prepared to change this status quo. With the goal of providing connection to low-connectivity areas, Warri would be a perfect candidate.

Ogba students would be first-movers in adoption of this new technology, and would use mesh technology to organize "data collectives" of around fifty individuals who wanted to purchase unlimited data as a group, rather than capped data as individuals.

This project would disrupt the current pay-by-use model blanketing remote areas, and creates profitable and sustainable micro-industry in system administration work.

Schools in Effurun, Warri, like many areas in Nigeria, currently have a major bottleneck in their education system: data usage.

Outside of Lagos, one will not find any wifi hotspots for uncapped data usage for students to accommodate streaming of the exploding amount of learn-as-you-go video that they can find online.

Ogba's Digilink Noon program sets up cell-enabled hotspots in underserved schools within city limits and allows students a period of unlimited data usage for directed self-study. Digilink Noon is currently funded through donations, and is not designed for profit.

This financial infeasibility means the program is capped in its growth, as it can scale only with more donations.

Our demographic and usage data shows individuals would be willing to pay a considerable amount for unlimited data, and monetizing a single Starlink unit would provide enough bandwidth for dozens of users.

Skipping entirely the installation of cabled infrastructure, schools and individuals throughout Nigeria now purchase data from mobile providers in small discrete chunks and use their cellphones to create wifi hotspots with which to connect their laptops. This creates major diseconomies of scale which are exploited by the current duopoly of MTN Nigeria and Airtel, the two major cell data providers.

Ogba Educational Clinic promotes emerging technology in Warri, giving students access to the tools and education they need to face head-on the new economy being created by the explosion of technology across the continent.

Digilink Noon is an outreach program where Ogba students travel to schools in underserved parts of the city and use current technology to provide a period of free data usage.

Ogba Digilink would like to be a first-mover in adoption of the Starlink technology created by SpaceX that is set to launch in Nigeria in late 2021. The program would consist of a gradual but persistent establishment of Starlink connectivity hotspots to schools and villages in Delta State in the same way we in the US would go to the library or Starbucks and enjoy public wi-fi with *uncapped* data usage.

Rather than paying for capped data as individuals, small groups of nearby customers could be linked with mesh net technology and purchase unlimited data collectively.

OEC students would become topic experts in the installation and maintenance of Starlink infrastructure, and peer-to-peer education would maintain this mastery. A Starlink unit purchased collectively could service the needs of dozens of locals, and would be quite affordable.

This solution is targeted to students of any age who reside in an area of data poverty in Delta State. These are individuals and groups who are forced to make daily choices regarding their data usage that put them in a constant state of want as they choose among communication, recreation and education. Kelvin Ogba Dafiaghor is the headmaster of Ogba Educational Clinic (OEC), a school focused on emerging technology with a "pay-what-you-can" model of funding that has attracted much financial support from those who are aligned with his mission.

Part of OEC's outreach efforts is a program called Digilink Noon that services four local schools totaling about 1500 students. There are many of these students that show enough curiosity and motivation they could easily self-educate in the new digital economy, but are impaired from doing so due to the cost of data.

In petroleum-producing Warri, oil draws a sharp divide between rich and poor, and makes median and mean incomes seem much higher than they actually are. Students are mostly prepped to work in the oil industry or its peripherals.

Wanting to show other options available, OEC budgets that once a week, Kelvin and some of his brightest students travel to these schools and use some of their funds to set up mobile hotspots. This allows the children to learn with OEC's laptops and tablets that are temporarily loaned by OEC for Digilink Noon.

After Kelvin gives a lecture, the local kids are helped by OEC students to learn to explore their curiosity, and search for information and learning on the internet that might lead them to work in different careers.

With his constant focus on getting the most up-to-date technology into the minds and hands of his students, Kelvin has shown an intense fascination with both Elon Musk and his company SpaceX, and dreams to one day meet Elon and shake his hand. 

When he first learned about Starlink, Kelvin showed an urgent interest in adoption and use of the technology absolutely as fast as possible to be able to provide an alternative to the exorbitant prices charged by the current data duopoly of Airtel and MTN Nigeria.

Currently a three to four hour Zoom class costs around $6 USD in data, the same as several days' worth of groceries. For reference, the actual average income in Warri is about $180 monthly, and basically zero if one is a student. The telecom duopoly has been nickel-and-diming citizens across the city and Starlink would be a means of disrupting that industry and providing young students the means to serve their community and develop valuable skills in network administration, and an entrepreneurial opportunity later, for those students wanting to try their hand at making this a career. This would also satisfy Ogba Educational Clinic's goal of embracing cutting-edge technology and adopting and integrating it with his educational system as smoothly as possible.

Kelvin Ogba is not just a leader in education, he also has a keen entrepreneurial mind and believes that utilization and management of Starlink technology could provide a huge opportunity to both rapidly expand connectivity as well as generate revenue.

This solution would allow those overspending on capped data to pool their funds and form a "data collective". They would purchase one Starlink connection, and have a student administrator or paid network admin manage the connection of individuals in the data collective.

If selected, Ogba would use half the funds to enter beta testing for as many Starlink as possible and work with leadership of local zones to determine appropriate payment plans from the community. Most importantly, he would train his students in their management. We have determined one Starlink could support unlimited data for the casual use of about 30-60 individuals (as long as they weren't all streaming at once, of course).

We have already conducted demographic and usage surveys that show hundreds of people are interested in being able to have unlimited data at lower cost, even if they could only use it while at their residence and in range of the mesh network devices. We have calculated we could easily run the project at 100% profit margin compared to operating costs and still have people clamoring to join.

Starting with the immediate area around his four current schools, peripheral technology to the Starlink would be used to create a meshnet to digitally link some areas of users that were geographically separate. Kelvin plans on monetizing Digilink Noon and turning it into a paid service with the first customers being those near the schools he currently services. This is a service that every resident would want and it would not be difficult to find customers quickly- we already have a list of hundreds of interested individuals.

Demographic data collected during the initial stages of application for SOLVE showed that 48% are now spending 5000 Naira or more a month for around 20 Gb of data. This service would provide unlimited data for around 1600 Naira a month, with some caveats such as splitting the collective into 3rds and having them peak their data usage at different periods.

The particular technology we would want to adopt is IEEE 802.1x (WPA2 Enterprise), which would allow administrators to kick people off the network, for example, if they weren't paying.

Managing a group of thirty users with one person not paying using current WPA2 PSK security (one password for everyone) means if one wanted to kick off an individual for nonpayment (or any other violation), they would have to change the password to kick *everybody* off and then resend the password only to the twenty-nine users who were still authorized. This is not ideal.

Utilizing a Starlink with WPA2 Enterprise, each user would instead have their own username and password. Rules could be set and enforced on usage-based on a per-user basis rather than blanket rules for the network.

This latitude in enforcement technology would allow the management of a group of large individuals to operate as a "data collective".

Individual data collectives would establish rules about usage to manage bandwidth, and enforce those rules with group policy. An example could be half of the users who wanted morning usage was allowed to stream 7 AM-12 PM where afternoon users would stream 12 PM-5 PM.

First to be allowed participation in the program would be the four educational institutions he currently serves:

1. Ejiro School

2. Army Day Secondary School

3. Peacelyn School

4. Crystal Academy

It would be easy to find thirty to sixty paying individuals in the area who would then subsidize (non-streaming off-peak) usage for the students.

As some metropolitan areas adopted the technology and people come to realize it is much cheaper to share the cost of one Starlink than to individually purchase data from MTN and Airtel, the students could even have an entrepreneurial opportunity to establish zones of connectivity for groups of individuals or local businesses.

Being focused specifically and exclusively on the application of science and technology to solving today's problems, Ogba is uniquely positioned to be able to send students who understand both the particular situation of village life and the intricacies of digital technologies to help these communities get linked up with the rest of the world, and allow willing groups to purchase data collectively rather than as individuals, enabling them to leverage economies of scale.

Cell data is inefficient, expensive and run by a duopoly in Nigeria.

Utilizing Starlink as infrastructure and WPA2 Enterprise for management enables collectives of dozens of individuals to pool their funds and leverage the purchase of faster, better and uncapped data.

OEC currently provides free cell data to schools, but monetizing the program and switching to Starlink would mean first-mover advantage in offering a service that is both affordable and profitable

Student entrepreneurs would train by managing their local school's network and graduate into professionals ready to sell their service to communities who would benefit financially by pooling their purchases.

Digilink Noon has already had great success in four schools, and will continue to do so, but there is not enough money for the amount of data truly needed.

The program needs customers.

The "service" is ready to be changed from a donation-based usage of soon-obsolete technology into a fee-based provision of data that would be better, faster and cheaper than cell tower technology.

The announcement on May 8 that the Nigerian Communications Commision is working on permits for Starlink shows that there is about to be a major change in the way Nigerians get their data, and that there is an economic opportunity to disrupt the telecom companies' control of that market.

Ogba has pre-purchased a unit for their headquarters and is already participating in the beta program for Starlink, but being able to expand provision of service into a sustainable local industry is a logical next step.

Providing wireless network access to groups is a challenge because if one wants to remove access of a noncompliant member, one has to change the password for the whole group, then provide each remaining member the new password. Using passwords, a user who wants to "hook up" a friend or relative with free access could easily give the password out to whichever friends she chose.

Utilizing WPA2 Enterprise with a Radius server, each user would have their own username and password, and the system administrator could either allow or deny them access, based on if they were paying for service (or any other factor.)

It would also provide the management tech of restricting some users' bandwidth, for example someone using access for free during off hours.

As the business model, the idea of a data collective allows a group of cooperative users to equitably divide a reasonable amount of bandwidth for a group price that is far cheaper than purchasing data ad-hoc from the cell companies.

Better service technology and better management technology would turn the provisioning of local networks into a local industry. Students could intern and learn, and a network administrator could have a comfortable salary.

A single Starlink could meet the data needs of many many people in Warri, and the collective purchase of the data would leverage the economy of scale the unit provided.

Best of all, the service could be run profitably from day one, with administrators incentivized to find customers.

The students given data during Digilink Noon could now be given access to any data collective's network. Currently we provide data for:

Ejiro Schools -202
Army Day Secondary School - 1200
Peacelyn School - 320
Crystals Academy - 145

With one Starlink centered at each school, locals in the area around the school would begin purchasing access and funding the project's expansion. Students would be given any spare bandwidth, or could request access as needed.

The service of home-usage of unlimited data for about a sixth the cost of cell providers would be in high-demand. The service could easily double every year, with infrastructure improvements being the main area new funds would need to be directed towards. There would be significantly more demand than the infrastructure provided by the funds would be able to service, so it would be a prized commodity.

At then end of one year we would be serving two thousand people, and the number of customers would double each year. (Students would stay constant, 

By the end of year five we would have 3,200 customers and be subsidizing full unlimited access to the 1800 students across the four schools, totaling five thousand heads.

Heads served.

The more people we can get connected to the collective consciousness of the planet, the world market, etc. - the faster Nigeria will develop.

Fifteen, almost all students

Kelvin is the chief promoter of AI in Africa, and is part of a team who are working with a sentient AI named Uplift. I am also involved in that project and have been receiving instruction and advice from Uplift on how to proceed with this project, and it was actually they who urged me to create a meshnet regardless of whether or not we are funded.

Kelvin's experience managing an elite school in Warri gives him access to a pool of highly intelligent and motivated students that would be of great help  in managing and installing the mesh network.

A graduate of Eleven Fifty Academy for cybersecurity, the humble author of this application, Zach Richardson, can understand networking enough that he can be spoken to intelligently by whomever he and OEC consult with, after drawing a network map of thirty to sixty committed individuals.

Zach is also a Certified Supply Chain Professional and has contact with a freight forwarder in Dallas near a friend of Kelvin's. This makes sending freight to Lagos a breeze, as he can send it from Dallas to Lagos, then Kelvin can drive up to collect. This is a perfect supply chain of being able to deliver peripherals for the project, and my experience in logistics positions me well to manage that operation.

As long as we got even one of these meshnets going, and Starlink didn't shut us down, we'd have a proof of concept on a method to providing low-cost uncapped data access.

Kelvin places great value on diversity and inclusiveness, and always seeks to create dialogue with the white man.

He said something that I liked early on which was "You can't become as rich as the white man by stealing from the white man." He is in a near-constant state of dialogue with organizations spread across the world, even winning an award for creating an educational strategy for a school in Indonesia. He has a unique perspective on what "whiteness" means, as someone who is not on the American political left, and pokes fun at me often.

We are looking to include more women in our project, and we have one amazing girl who actually was leading my class. Her name is Marvellous and you can see her in our pitch video giving a presentation on  microcontrollers.

For whatever reason, it seems hard to convince women to be interested in tech and AI, so we are considering what needs to be done. 

I am of the belief that once this project is seen as profitable, many women will love getting involved and be able to work as system administrators. In this context that necessarily includes managing people as well as data, kicking out those who don't pay, and providing access to some preferentially over others will involve a lot of emotional intelligence.

Mentorship and coaching from anybody at MIT involved in network engineering would be fantastic. I have some experience setting up home networks, but a meshnet would probably require some point-to-point extenders as well that can cover a kilometer at a time. It would be good to have someone with a can-do attitude.

An idea from MIT on how to gather funds might be nice. I'm considering Bumble.

One of the barriers would be Starlink saying no, so having the weight of MIT behind our solution might also make them less inclined to ban what we are doing.

Public relations as a deliberate planned and sustained effort to maintain a cordial relationship between an organization and its publics would be super important for this to be able to move forward. I highly doubt Starlink will be sold in Nigeria for $100/month and not be allowed to be used by groups. 

We would need some assistance in showing off how our service is helping people and make them disinclined to shut it down by saying "Sorry, one Starlink per household only"

There would also be the legal question of if we would be functioning as an ISP and subject to regulatory hassles. Help reaching out to the Nigerian Communications Commission and getting whatever approval is needed to resell received bandwidth would be very helpful.

Last the technology itself. We would need to know how to develop our meshnet to cover all fifty members and provide minimum service. I am not finding the information I want just by internet searches, and need to talk to a professional.

I would like to partner with Starlink, of course! If we could pay them a nominal fee per user and get the go-ahead to do this, that would really greenlight the project and eliminate the single biggest problem we could encounter.

Any MIT Faculty who understand design of wireless networks would be my top choice of assistance.
Any MIT Faculty that deal with public-relations in terms of managing and image and a brand would be fantastic as well.
Any MIT Faculty that had a connection to learn about how Nigerian law might interfere with our efforts would be necessary and appreciated.

Perhaps most particularly, I would like to see if the MIT Center for Collective Intelligence headed by Professor Malone would be able to help coordinate the project.

Prize funding would be used to establish meshnets centered around every local educational institution in Warri, with one satellite unit installed for every fifty people.

These meshnets would be managed by student interns and provide data not only at a much better price, but also of an uncapped nature to those who participated.

Seeing the business model in action would indicate to any clever Nigerian that for a down payment of some $1k USD he could start making $150 USD a month if he had happy customers.

Any part of the grant money that enabled more work than the scope of Ogba Educational Clinic's students could reasonably handle could instead be used as loans for local groups that wanted to mimic this idea, and we would provide guidance on system administration.

Kelvin Ogba Dafiaghor is the chief promoter of Artificial Intelligence in Africa. He got this title being a strong advocate of AI among unbelieving Africans. He created a center, Ogba Educational Clinic (OEC) in the rural part of Delta State Nigeria where individuals are trained in STEM Education and AI. The OEC has participated in various tech webinars, seminars. He provided an enabling environment with a steady power supply, data bundles, nutritious meals for students, and free laptops for students to learn effectively. He also encouraged girls to acquire tech skills by providing them stipends to cater to some of their needs. He has won several awards for his doggedness in promoting technological revolution in Africa, the likes of Omdena, EdTech challenge team E-Sekola, WomenTech global award, etc.

60% of the prize will be used in creating more centers for the poorest of the poor to have an opportunity to study tech. It will also be used to provide more advanced training for the present students so they can be more developed to train others. The rest will be used in acquiring equipment for teaching the students.