Arthur Zang is certainly not a household name in the close setting of the Cameroonian scientific circles let alone a national celebrity in the likes of famous footballers or musicians.

But this youthful inventor of the Cardiopad, an instrument which collects parameters of cardiac patients on one location with the possibility of sending these parameters to a Cardiologist in another location, has gone down in the nation’s scientific history as a premier inventor of the first tablets which have just gone on sale across the world.

Arthur Zang is a pure product of the national higher education system having graduated from the Yaounde Higher School of Engineering, Polythechnique a few years ago and his project to produce the first-ever medical tablet drew the attention of the Head of State and, in fact, the entire national scientific community and even the business world. It is thanks to this recognition, coupled with accompanying funding that he and a group of engineers have recently polished the tablet project to the extent that the first set of tablets, some 100, have been released for a highly-demanding markets; demanding because even in its very early stages, orders for the tablet are already very high. The 28-year old engineer had been singled out in 2012 for recognition with a FCFA 25 Million award from the Head of State, then came another award of FCFA 28 Million from Rolex with the aim of improving on the workability of the tablet after which was another award for scientific excellence from the Head of State of FCFA 20 Million offered in July 2015. With a bank loan of some FCFA 20 Million, Arthur Zang had raised enough money to encourage him to go to China where final details were put on his invention, preparing the tablet for immediate use. Since his return from China at the beginning of the month, his engineers settled down to work and the first set of some 100 kits were ready for sale last Friday. Zangsays all things being equal his new outfit will be able to produce some 100 kits a week. The fact that the kits are sold exclusively online has not limited interest. Neither is its cost, a bit prohibitive for an average Cameroonian who may find it difficult to buy the tablet at its projected 3200 US Dollars or FCFA 2 Million. The market seems to be available, confirming the usefulness of the initiative as a provider of the much-needed jobs for young Cameroonians. Arthur Zang has done just what many Cameroonian engineers should be doing, that is providing solutions for many of the nation’s developmental problems and taking the burden of providing jobs off government which has so far been considered as the sole body supposed to be thinking of job creation. He is also a prototype of the kind of future Cameroonians the Head of State has been talking about: those who, in their posture of men of science should put their knowledge at the service of the nation, but should also create jobs rather than seeking jobs. Moreover, the young engineer’s initiative is not only enriching the nation by the foreign exchange it brings in from sales and the taxes paid but also puts Cameroon on the world technological map. Many Arthur Zangs are certainly in our engineering schools and even in the science departments of the nation’s high schools and universities and the fact that the Cardiopad tablet was produced with relatively paltry sums of money is enough to encourage numerous other intelligent Cameroonians whose initiatives should be encouraged and followed up as a matter of government policy. Granted, it is a private invention, but it requires national praise. Kudos to this audacious and inventive engineer!