Global Partners is a Benin based start-up specialised in developing and providing drone solutions for agriculture, land use planning, surveillance, and biodiversity conservation. With its team of GIS analyst, agronomists, researchers, and drone operators, Global Partners uses the latest drones equipped with advanced sensors and take advantage of geographic information systems and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to generate high-end products that set the standards in their respective markets within the commercial drones’ services industry.
THEIR STORY
The startup was founded in 2014 by Dr. Lawani Abdelaziz who was first introduced to the use of drones by his GIS professor Dr. Jeremy Crampton. Before his studies in the U.S thanks to the Fulbright scholarship, Dr. Lawani initially worked in the Pendjari Biosphere reserve and was well aware of the poaching and illegal practices that affect the biodiversity in the area under protection. With the support of his GIS professor, he develops an anti-poaching program using drones to help protect the wildlife at risk in the biosphere reserve. With the financial support of the Department of Agriculture at the University of Kentucky, the Clinton Foundation, Idea Wild Foundation, and the Students Sustainability Council at the University of Kentucky he was able to launch the project in Benin, Burkina Faso, and Niger. He also benefitted from the support of the German international cooperation agency GIZ and the training support of Kashmir World Foundation where he learns how to build conservation drones.
