William Elong
Cameroonian drone engineer and entrepreneur who pioneered locally made civilian drones and became a leading advocate for African ownership of airspace and aerial data.
In a region where advanced aerial technology was mostly imported, William Elong chose to build it at home. He returned to Cameroon to design drones for African realities, from crop monitoring to mapping and infrastructure inspection.
Through Will and Brothers and the Drone Africa initiative, he launched the first civilian drone services in Cameroon, then unveiled drones assembled locally. His ambition goes beyond flight. It is about African control of airspace and the data captured above it.
Elong represents a new generation of African industrial founders who build hardware, software, and ecosystems together.
Key Numbers
Latest stable public milestones for Will and Brothers and Drone Africa.
Sources: Business in Cameroon (Apr 2017), AfriKaTech, UN Africa Renewal, WeAreTech Africa (May 2024), Flying Labs network pages. Data checked Nov 2025.
The Story
From strategy student to builder of African drone capability.
Elong’s early training combined business strategy and economic intelligence. Instead of staying in consultancy, he chose industrial experimentation. He started building drones with imported components, assembling prototypes in Douala and testing them on real use cases.
In 2015, he launched Drone Africa as both a platform and a service. It offered aerial imagery, mapping, and inspection for agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, meteorology, and security. This was the first civilian drone service of its kind in Cameroon.
Between 2017 and 2018, Will and Brothers raised seed funding to industrialize production, expand the team, and present drones assembled locally. In parallel, Elong pushed a broader message. African airspace and aerial data should be produced and controlled locally.
Ventures
Platforms and institutions built by William Elong.
Will and Brothers Consulting
Founder and CEOTechnology and economic intelligence company that pioneered drone manufacturing in Cameroon and built the Drone Africa platform.
Drone Africa
Founder, Project leadDrone services platform providing aerial imagery, mapping, and inspection for agriculture, tourism, infrastructure, meteorology, and security.
Algo Drone Holding
FounderGermany based holding to scale Drone Africa technology and develop drones and AI solutions for global markets.
Cameroon Flying Lab
Co-founder, CoordinatorFlying Labs knowledge hub affiliated with WeRobotics, training youth and deploying drones for social and economic impact.
Contribution to Africa
What changes because William Elong built local drone capability.
Direct Impact
Structural Impact
- Airspace sovereignty: Africa must control the technologies flying above its territory.
- Data sovereignty: Local ownership of aerial imagery and geospatial datasets.
- Hardware confidence: From market for drones to maker of drones.
- Ecosystem building: Manufacturing, services, and training in one pipeline.
Signal
Business in Cameroon (Apr 2017), AfriKaTech (Apr 2017), UN Africa Renewal, WeAreTech Africa (May 2024), Flying Labs network pages.
Data checked November 2025.
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