Cameroonian-born Joel Rostand Nteupe is passionate about Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence (AI). In February 2020, he completed the Co-operative Education program, earning an MSc in Industrial Mathematics at AIMS Cameroon, specialising in Big Data and Financial Mathematics. While at AIMS, he compared the performance of the different techniques and algorithms currently used in the industry and developed a high-performance Chatbot for the Cameroon Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines, and Crafts (CCIMA).

Now Artificial Intelligence developer at MANOBI Africa, Joel is a part-time Machine Learning researcher in a group of researchers from Konyang University, South Korea. The latter collaboration involves work on forecasting prices of agricultural commodities from satellite data using Artificial Intelligence. “Thanks to AIMS, I have had several opportunities,” he says.

Before joining AIMS, Joel earned a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Sciences from the University of Buea, subsequently earning an MSc in Mathematics from the same institution, where he was a tutor for one semester.

“My curiosity about the real use and interest in Financial Mathematics brought me to the prestigious African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) Cameroon, where I was selected as a Mastercard Foundation Scholar. I had the opportunity to work with excellent professors worldwide, who stimulated my interest in Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence. I had the opportunity to do an internship at the Chamber of Commerce (CCIMA), where I used my expertise to develop a Chatbot (AI conversation tool). After obtaining my Master’s degree at AIMS, I was retained for the Mathematical Science for Climate Resilience (MS4CR) Internship organised by the AIMS Industry Initiative. I worked with the International Crop Research Institute for Semi-Arid Tropics and MANOBI Africa. There, I automated the extraction of house information from Very High Resolution Satellite Imagery, later gleaning my current position as AI Developer at MANOBI Africa,” explains Joel.

Joel Rostand Nteupe believes in the power and importance of Mathematics. For him, “Mathematics is the foundation of all science and engineering subjects. Without Mathematics, you cannot be a good physicist or engineer, amongst others. To build our continent, we must have a solid mathematical foundation.”

 Trained by AIMS Cameroon as a problem-solver, Joel’s dream and action plan cover the entire continent of Africa. “Let’s all wake up for African development. We cannot solve our problems in the same way we were used to. We need to create better, different and optimised solutions. I am putting all in place to play a critical role in Africa’s medical and agricultural sectors. I will be forever grateful to AIMS and all its sponsors. AIMS is THE PLACE TO BE for all great scientists.”