At just 24 years old, Yaya Waliyudini says he is confronting one of Cameroon’s most persistent technological paradoxes, a nation that trains thousands of tech students yet remains almost entirely dependent on imported software.
From his roots in Ndu, in the Northwest Region of Cameroon, Waliyudini’s journey into technology began not in a classroom, but with curiosity. As a teenager, he started manipulating a basic local phone, known as “chronological” discovering an innate talent for understanding systems.
This early passion led him to formal computer science studies, where he quickly identified a glaring national issue, Cameroonian businesses and institutions were running on outdated, foreign-made software that was expensive to update and ill-suited to local needs. “We have systems in this country that we consistently import from abroad, yet we are training engineers here,” Waliyudini observes, pinpointing the core of the problem. “Our instructors teach students, but when those very schools need software, they pay foreign contractors.
That makes the training seem senseless. Are we fooling our students?” Rather than simply criticizing the system, he decided to become a solution. After initially working for others and operating under Walis Media, he made the pivotal decision in 2023 to fully dedicate himself to his vision, rebranding his venture as Nexbyt Technology.
His says his mission is clear, to empower local businesses and young engineers by creating intelligent, scalable, and context-aware digital solutions. Empowa360 is an all-in-one enterprise platform featuring customer relationship management tools and the Vigilantbot a system designed to monitor privacy and protect companies online.
Despite challenges, including limited resources and the inherent difficulties of pioneering local tech development, Waliyudini’s ambition is boundless. He believes that with the progress Nexbyt is making, it has the potential to become “the next Google in Africa within a decade.” His influence is already expanding beyond national borders, with international companies like Africo and Afriqmart securing his services.
Yet, his focus remains firmly on solving local problems with local talent. For Yaya Waliyudini, the goal is not just to create software it is to cultivate technological sovereignty, one line of code at a time, and ensure that the next generation of Cameroonian engineers are not just consumers of technology, but its creators.
