What Billion Dollar Ideas are you hiding?

Uber has 9000 drivers in Nigeria. One of the core promises that it made to the market as it listed on the New York Stock Exchange this month was this — the company will focus on developing driverless technology. basically, UBER is working hard to eliminate the need for human drivers.

This is just one example of automation taking away human jobs. But I think that a lot of the irrationality in the world today about automation is unreasonable.

At the beginning of the last century, there was an occupation of ice packers — people who took ice to people’s homes to help them keep food cold. The invention of the freezer took those jobs away, but it also created space for new opportunities to emerge.

Not every invention has to be high tech. 100 years ago, Mary Phelps Jacob invented and patented a very useful piece of equipment that has since become indispensable to women. This technology was the humble bra.

Think of it, the United States patent office granted a patent for a bra! That was then you say? In the last 20 years, Sara Blakely patented the spandex and has gone on to become one of the youngest billionaires in the world.

Technology, at its most simple, is just a better way of doing things. And the most fertile place for new technology is in challenging places like Africa.

What silly billion dollar ideas are you hiding?

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