Kountché poses for a portrait in his workshop in Niamey. An aeronautics-mad entrepreneur, Kountché launched his civilian drone company, Drones Africa Service in 2016. — AFP
NIAMEY: From the outside, the house is a typical upmarket residence in Niamey, but inside it looks like no other.
Three drones straddle large tables with their albatross wings, amid improvised building materials and tools.
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Kountché poses for a portrait in his workshop in Niamey. An aeronautics-mad entrepreneur, Kountché launched his civilian drone company, Drones Africa Service in 2016. — AFP
From childhood dreams during weekends at the Niamey flying club when he was not on the benches of Niger’s posh French high school, he has created a company that claims a turnover that doubles every year. — AFP
Kountche works only for the Nigerien state and its partners among NGOs and in the United Nations. — AFP
With deteriorating national security because of terrorist incursions on the borders with Nigeria and then Mali, Kountche and his drones provided civil servants and NGOs an opportunity to continue mapping work, monitoring the pastoral movements of nomads and their livestock and preventing poaching. — AFP
Kountché’s first major success was a contract in 2016 with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). — AFP
A general view of one of Aziz Kountché’s drones in Niamey. — AFP
Kountche’s drones were used to monitor human movements and host villages in the southeastern Diffa region, where thousands of people have been uprooted. — AFP
Kountché says he has to pay 50% of the value of his imported products in customs duties, but relocating is not an option. — AFP
Kountché holds a drone in his workshop in Niamey. — AFP
Kountché employs three people full time and his head is full of ideas. — AFP
