The power of digital transformation is now exponential. Most companies in the leading sectors are now becoming more digital. A no-brainer for the art of contrarian trading to profit from crowd behavior in financial markets. That is why, data is where the money is now.

Since data has become a form of currency, information held by businesses pose significant risk if stolen and abused. Good thing, the European Union came up with GDPR or General Data Protection Regulation and it will come into effect in May 2018.

What is GDPR and who does this legislation affects?

It is a ground breaking and non-directive privacy law in the world. It aims to strengthen and unify the export of data protection for all individuals within and outside the European Union. It affects worldwide businesses and organisations who collects and processes data of EU residents.

What are the penalties for non-GDPR compliance?

Organizations will have sanctions and can be fined up to 4% of the worldwide turnover or €20 Million for breaching GDPR. This is the maximum fine that can be imposed for the most serious infringements. There is a tiered approach to fines e.g. a company can be fined 2% for not having their records in order, not notifying the supervising authority and data subject about a breach or not conducting impact assessment. It is important to note that these rules apply to both controllers and processors. Therefore, clouds are not exempt from GDPR enforcement. - EUGDPR

What should you do to avoid it?

1. Awareness

There’s a saying prevention is better than cure. So, how do you prevent getting sanctioned or penalized? Start by having awareness. Key people should be aware of the law, understand and consider its impact in order to come up with solutions.

2. Create Data Governance Program

From small, medium, and large companies, all organizations should design systems and implement appropriate privacy policies and solutions.

3. Breach notification

During a data breach, processors must notify every customer and local DPA or Data Protection Authorities within 72 hours.

4. Subject Access Request and Drop Information

Consumers have the right to get consent from the data controllers. In the same way, when the data is no longer relevant to its target, they can have their data deleted.

5. Data Portability

Allows consumers to obtain and reuse their personal data across different platforms.

6. Duty of documenting

You should document what personal data you hold, where it came from and who you share it with.

7. GDPR audit

Risk assessment are very important and mandatory. Analyze your security program if it’s protecting data information. You need to organise an information audit here.

As Helen Rabe once said, “GDPR isn’t going away. If you want to stay an active part of the digital ecosystem, and ensure your reputation and revenue generation is in-line with these demands, you will need to respect the notion that data regulation is key to success.”

Welcome to Wilderness Technologies first blog post. This article comes from the heart. I was born and breed in the UK, but both my parents originate from Nigeria; and like many Africans migrated here for a better life for themselves and there family over 30 years ago. My parents believed that it was vital that I understand the reason I was born and raised here wasn't because they don't love there homeland. However, they understood that this concept would be hard to understand at a young age. So they sent me to Nigeria to grow up in my early teenage years, where I learnt so much. Africa is a hopeful continent with an exuberance driven by minerals, hydrocarbon, and commodities.

These present drivers of its economy, however, are under threat from technology. Nigeria’s earning from crude oil is dropping because of America’s shale gas renaissance. The long-view trajectory of electric vehicles suggests a future where electrons will power more cars than carbon compounds. Without the ability to create knowledge through quality education, the sustainability of Africa’s new-found optimism remains questionable. Of the 400 top global universities, only three are in Africa.

Ten years ago, I enrolled at SEF(Supreme Education Foundation). My first semester was transformative; I experienced top-rate academic quality. I used the knowledge to start a company, pioneering my own start-up in London on my return, with partnerships from U.K. & Nigerian companies. All through, Africa was on my mind as I benchmarked my new environment to what I left behind. Over the years, I have visited more than 10 African universities. It is my dream and ambition to create an African Academy of Technology to help universities in the region develop capabilities in emerging areas like microelectronics, biotech, and nanotechnology.

In quality and quantity, tertiary education in Africa needs to be fixed. Despite secondary-school enrollment increasing by 48% from 2000 to 2008, access to university education remains severely limited. Even at three times the U.S. population, Africa has fewer than 5 million students (versus the U.S.’s 21 million) in its four-year tertiary education system. More than 10 million African students take the college entrance exams, but fewer than 1.5 million are admitted annually. An estimated 50 million working adults who want to improve their skills through further education have access challenges.

Africa is attracting top companies to drive the era of tech consumerism, but without good universities, no strong capability will emerge for running creative high-tech processes. Great universities will spur firms to design and manufacture products locally. Today’s model is using African diasporas where companies hire native Africans living abroad and then send them to the continent to expand their operations. While IBM can do that, I will prefer readily available local talents for cost and locally supported organic succession.

Education drives technology. Any nation that cannot create new ideas devoid of intellectual property, will never lead. Today, technology is wealth. With Facebook’s $115 billion market cap on its IPO day, Mark Zuckerberg created wealth nearly equivalent to half of Nigeria’s GDP in 2012. The value created by Facebook and a few other tech IPOs exceeds the GDP of most African regions. The continent will better accelerate development and human welfare by listing companies in NASDAQ, than by finding more oil wells to lease.

Through my experience, I’ve seen how a university could improve its community. But in Africa, most universities are decoupled from the societies and markets, as they do not invest in research which drives innovative solutions. An engineering school can exist for decades in a community without drinking water, yet offer no effort to fix it. Most want to be global without a local creed. They want to build automobiles when handicapped citizens that need mobility beg for bread in their gates daily.

We need to encourage technological advancement and education in Africa to ensure the continent’s future. One way to do this is by supporting Africa’s universities internationally. The First Atlantic University, leans on the help of Silicon Valley, even being nicknamed “Silicon Valley’s African university.” The university will be located in Nigeria with an in-campus technology park to be managed by one of Tokyo’s best firms in the field.

Africa has the potential to make a place for itself, but it doesn’t have to do it alone. With international support, African universities can seed a new economic layer. A layer that offers a redesigned continent that is driven by the brain power of its citizens. Though diasporas have become change agents in the continent, local talents are indispensable. Africa has many latent talents; quality education can unlock them.

GDPR What is it and why is it important?