OneQuantum Zimbabwe - your local quantum tech community connected to the global ecosystem

The journey to OneQuantum Zimbabwe | A quick reflection and the next steps .

Lorraine Tsitsi Majiri

Jul 29, 2021

Hie everyone,

The OneQuantum organization’s mission is to provide a supportive and authentic community platform for anyone active or interested in Quantum Tech no matter their background, skills, origin, gender, race, or goal.

Wow, it has been 7 months now since QuantumInZimbabwe. Time flew by so fast. I was unsure about taking a leap into quantum. I enjoyed the ambition and drive the community showed. I would like to announce that we will be taking a short pause to allow smooth transition from one phase to another, QuantumInZimbabwe to OneQuantum Zimbabwe. We are bringing everything we have been working on together under the effort of OneQuantum Zimbabwe. With support from our parent OneQuantum, we hope to build a strong Zimbabwean community, provide mentorship, career opportunities and collaborate on impactful projects, thanks to partnership between OneQuantum and Strangeworks.

Ferris Bueller said it best, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it”. With that said, let us take a moment to have a quick glance at what we have achieved. We have definitely grown and we continue to do so. We have managed to bring the first ever quantum workshop to Zimbabwe and 15 diplomas were awarded to local participants. I am happy to have more Zimbabweans asking and showing interest in quantum who are keen to participate in the efforts we are making. We also have 10 Zimbabweans participating in the mentorship program though the OneQuantum with Keysight Technologies mentorship program. Some of you may not be aware that Africa came together for the first OneQuantum Africa Summit this year in May thanks to great efforts by Farai Mazhandu, OneQuantum Africa Chapter President, who also happens to be from Zimbabwe. You will also be happy to know that we have great quantum tech talent in this country that has been representing the country at different activities and events globally including at the recently hosted Qiskit Global Machine Learning Summer School. Moreover, we have seen high scholars, like Muvaki Nhlema taking active interest in this second quantum revolution to show how quantum is for everyone.(Watch video here)

To give you an indication of what is to come, we will be moving our meetups to a new platform, Run The World, with amazing features and optimized for talks, conferences and social events. It will offer a streamlined way to have one on one networking and taking groupfies.

Why quantum is important in Africa

We have heard from various experts across the continent on different aspects and categories, of quantum technologies and their potential. One of the talks that stood out for me at the OneQuantum Africa summit was by a Lesedi Modise, from South Africa, who is Real Estate M&A Associate at Goldman Sachs, on taking quantum products to market in Africa. Interestingly, despite her business and finance background, she is actively involved in quantum computing.

In her talk she also discussed;

Potential for quantum computing in Africa’s economy

Businesses that are likely to invest in quantum first in the continent

High level considerations for quantum entrepreneurs

The recording is available here.

At the same event, Prof Ahmed Younes from Egypt also led an interesting discussion focused on importance of quantum in Africa. You can watch the recording here.

OneQuantum Zimbabwe is a community effort. I am happy to hear from everyone how best to move quantum forward in our beautiful country. We are always looking for volunteers and partners to help us expand and improve our efforts.

Please reach out to me with your goals at lorrainemajiri8@gmail.com.

Please share this with your colleagues and let’s move quantum forward in Zimbabwe and join the global ecosystem NOW!

Lorraine T Majiri | President | OneQuantum Zimbabwe

Next Wednesday, OneQuantum Africa will host William Hurley, who is the founder and CEO of Strangeworks, a platform we will be using for projects and you can sign up below.

Yesterday we had Andrew Forbes, Director of WitsQ and Distinguished Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand, who talked about his quantum research at Wits, his vision for quantum technologies in Africa and how Quantum Information Science will build foundational technologies that will affect all of our industries & goals in the near future - see this recent report.

Check out The African Physics Newsletter.

Out now, with a lot of important updates on quantum in Africa.

NANOTECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND INNOVATION BOOTCAMP 2021

The African Materials Research Society (AMRS) in collaboration with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) is organizing a Nanotechnology Research and Innovation Bootcamp. The Bootcamp is aimed at developing Undergraduate students, Graduate students, and Postdocs with an interest in using nanotechnology for the development of Africa.

To learn more and apply click the link: https://africanmrs.net/nanotechnology-bootcamp-2021/.

Here is the Zoom link to register for and attend the Bootcamp

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUpdemsqTsoH9BYk486SGKm2k_5tG5I_INQ

Opportunity for Educators from Qubit by Qubit

We’re looking for innovative high school partners who are interested in being one of the first schools in the world to offer a course in quantum computing.

Our partner schools provide their students with academic credit for completing this first-of-its-kind STEM course and are able to enroll their students for FREE. The course is online and taught by Qubit by Qubit’s instructors from leading universities. Students will learn foundational quantum computing skills, run code on a real quantum computer, and hear from leading academic and industry experts.

Learn more and register here and we have volunteers at OneQuantum who can help you with the application.

Nu Quantum is looking to fund a 3-6 month-long internship starting during summer 2021. The internships are full-time, paid, and based in Cambridge where possible.
Ideal candidates are either well into their PhDs, or recently finished. The projects will be carried out at the Nu Quantum headquarters and optics lab in Cambridge, collaboratively with the team which is now 15-strong.

How to apply

To apply, visit the recruitment portal at https://apply.workable.com/nu-quantum/

News, events, and updates

Flashback —->> Thoughts and aspirations for the quantum community in Africa. A keynote speech at the unofficial launch of the OneQuantum Africa Chapter on September 11, 2020.

Honeywell Quantum Breakthroughs

Cybersecurity in the Quantum Future

Kenya Innovation Week Webinar: Why, What and How

An Overview of Recent NASA QuAIL Activities Related to Quantum Annealing