Chifen Sama Nduma

Active Roles & Ventures

• Co-Founder & Chief Executive OfficerLeadership · Active

  INKWAVE ↗ · Buea, Cameroon

  • Directing digital storytelling studio and developer advocacy operations across Central and West Africa.
  • Authored technical columns for Tech Chantier and The African Wave on low-bandwidth architectures and regional ecosystems.
  • Established international ecosystem partnerships (e.g., ATWCE) and open-source documentation mentorship programs.
  • Built a regional engineering community and mentored dozens of developers into global open-source ecosystems.

  2023 – Present

• Lead Architect & Systems DeveloperVenture · Active

  LifeDrop ↗ · Buea / Yaoundé, Cameroon

  • Architected asynchronous webhooks integrating the WhatsApp Cloud API with Python/Node.js backends and Redis queues, enabling zero-install donor triage.
  • Reduced emergency donor matching turnaround time to under 3 minutes per automated dispatch.
  • Implemented idempotent request queues and retry policies to prevent duplicate alerts during 2G packet loss.
  • Awarded 3rd Place in the MTN YaMo Pitch Competition Season 4.

  2025 – Present

• Lead EngineerVenture · Active

  CoastClear · Limbe / Coastal Cameroon

  • Engineered responsive web dashboards with full localization (English, French, Cameroonian Pidgin) integrated with lightweight computer-vision models for photographic waste tagging.
  • Delivered live spatial density heatmaps enabling volunteer cleanup operations to deploy resources with 40% higher efficiency.
  • Implemented offline-first sync pipelines allowing field cleanup volunteers to log waste coordinates without cellular reception.

  2025 – Present

• Community AmbassadorCommunity · Active

  LinkedIn Local Buea · Buea, Cameroon

  • Curating grassroots networking initiatives connecting clinical healthcare professionals with Silicon Mountain tech startup founders.
  • Facilitated cross-disciplinary roundtable sessions on health-tech adoption and clinical informatics.

  2026 – Present

Concluded Mandates & Tenures

• District Data Manager & PMTCT Departmental HeadClinical Data · Concluded

  Kumba South District Health Service · South West Region, Cameroon

  • Supervised regional health information systems across district clinical facilities facing intermittent power and network degradation.
  • Restructured weekly facility reporting pipelines, audited electronic PMTCT registries, and implemented automated local-to-cloud sync workflows for DHIS2 reporting.
  • Eliminated paper reporting backlogs across remote facilities and improved district data completeness from ~70% to >95%.
  • Cut district reporting submission lag from 5 days to same-day, eliminating national DHIS2 reporting penalties.

  2025 – 2026

• Founding Board Member & Conference LeadVolunteer / Advocacy · Concluded

  Cameroon Innovative Health Network (CAMIHN / HETEFA) · Cameroon

  • Co-founded health-tech advocacy network and formulated youth health-tech programs across Cameroon.
  • Organized and moderated keynote sessions for the Cameroon Innovative Health Conference.

  2025 – 2026

• Digital Health Field VolunteerVolunteer / Field Ops · Concluded

  Vision in Action Cameroon (VIAC) · South West Region, Cameroon

  • Advised community outreach teams on mobile data collection tools and offline data capture for youth health interventions.
  • Ensured seamless survey data synchronization during remote field operations without connectivity loss.

  2025 – 2026

• Co-Founder & CTO / Project ManagerVenture · Concluded

  Ayodah Blood Donor Platform · Buea, Cameroon

  • Designed relational database schemas and prototype mobile interfaces for volunteer blood donor coordination.
  • Validated donor response behaviors across clinical wards; built 400+ donor registry with 310 mediated donations across 3 partner hospitals.
  • Won the Silicon Mountain Challenge 2022 (Cameroon’s premier startup competition).

  2020 – 2023

Speaking & Civic Engagements

• Keynote Speaker·

  PyCon & UbuCon Cameroon 2026 (Yaoundé)

  Building WhatsApp-Based Health Tech Networks in Low-Connectivity Environments

  Delivered live keynote presentation and automated system demonstration.

  September 2026
• Speaker·

  SIC Conference 2025

  Youth & STEM Innovation in Regional Ecosystems

  Keynote on grassroots technical enablement in Cameroon.

  2025
• Participant·

  YALI Anti-Corruption & Civic Leadership Workshop

  Grassroots Anti-Corruption, Organizational Integrity & Public Healthcare Ethics

  Mandela Washington Fellows Alumni Association / US Embassy Yaoundé.

  2022

Selected Projects

• LifeDrop

  Live →

  Emergency blood donor dispatch system operating under extreme cellular data constraints. Asynchronous WhatsApp Cloud API webhooks with idempotent queues, donor-proximity heuristics, and zero-install triage.

  • WhatsApp Cloud API
  • Python
  • Node.js
  • Docker
  • Redis

• INKWAVE Platform

  Live →

  Digital storytelling agency and developer advocacy platform driving technical communication and regional ecosystem activations across Central and West Africa.

  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Brand Architecture

• CoastClear

  Multilingual coastal waste monitoring and cleanup logistics platform for conservation teams. Real-time spatial density heatmaps and photographic waste classification.

  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • Tailwind CSS
  • Computer Vision APIs
  • i18n

• AI Clinical Decision-Making Research

  387-respondent cross-sectional study at Buea Regional Hospital on clinician AI readiness. KoboCollect pipeline → SPSS analysis → PRISMA-compliant write-up (92.4% response rate).

  • KoboCollect
  • SPSS
  • Clinical research
  • PRISMA

• Maternal Health Risk Predictor

  scikit-learn logistic regression model trained on anonymised clinical records. Risk stratification across 5 maternal outcome variables deployed as a lightweight REST endpoint for midwife tablets.

  • Python
  • scikit-learn
  • REST API
  • Clinical ML

• MORIA Nurse Intern Assistant

  Offline-first React Native mobile reference tool for nurse interns: drug dosage calculation, emergency resuscitation protocols, and patient handover checklists.

  • React Native
  • Expo
  • SQLite
  • Offline-first

• VIAC Chatbots

  Bilingual health information chatbots deployed for an NGO cervical cancer awareness campaign. n8n automation, WhatsApp Cloud API; handled 200+ patient queries in the pilot month.

  • n8n
  • WhatsApp Cloud API
  • Health-tech

Education & Academic Record

• M.Tech in Data Science (Computer Engineering)

  College of Technology (COLTECH), The University of Bamenda (UBa) · Bambili, Cameroon · Postgraduate Degree

  • Advanced computational statistics, clinical machine learning algorithms, and biomedical big data infrastructure
  • Translating frontline nursing insights into predictive health surveillance and automated triage models

  2026 – Present

• BSc Nursing (Top-up)

  Gracious Higher Institute of Excellence · Mentored by the University of Bamenda

  • Dissertation: AI-assisted clinical decision-making readiness among health workers at Buea Regional Hospital (387 respondents, 92.4% response rate)
  • Third place, MTN YaMo Pitch Competition Season 4 (LifeDrop)

  2025 – 2026

• HND Nursing

  Gracious Higher Institute of Excellence · Buea, Cameroon

  • Best Overall HND Student
  • Best Nursing Student, HND
  • Innovative Excellence Award
  • Best Creative Thinker
  • Proactive Student Award

  2022 – 2025

Technical & Clinical Skills

Certifications & Training

• Certificate of Training Completion

  The Tony Elumelu Foundation

• Certificate of Business Management Training

  The Tony Elumelu Foundation

• UNLEASH Hack Talent, Certificate of Participation

  UNLEASH

• Medical Abortion Course for Providers

  International Planned Parenthood Federation

• Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL)

  Teacher Record

• Advancing the Role of Women in Politics

  Regional Leadership Center East Africa