Technology
news is full of many developments, but some of them are true milestones
and deserve special recognition. As the New Year begins, we will focus
on seven projects that are worth celebrating.
These
initiatives from the past year all solve thorny problems or create new
ways of using technology. They are breakthroughs that will remain
memorable for years to come. The most interesting part of it all is that
they are youth-driven which shows a promising knowledgebased 2020.
Tech support Incike initiative – Young ICT Entrepreneurs
A
group of Young ICT Entrepreneurs under PSF ICT Chamber – kLab came
together to respond to a call that addresses one of the problems faced
by a portion of survivors of the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, locally
known as “INCIKE”. These are people whose family members were all
decimated during the Genocide, and they are left all alone today. It was
launched during the 20th commemoration of the Genocide against the
Tusti.
These
youth entrepreneurs developed a USSD & SMS fundraising application
(*654#) which raised Rwf 1.3m on launch night and much more over the 100
days of commemoration. They have recently broadened it further to work
better next year. Wait for it.
TorQue Workspace – TorQue Limited
TorQue Workspace is a cloud based inventory and distribution channel
management system that records sells transactions and forecasts, tailor
made for Rwanda and Africa. With its development roots at kLab, the
start-up is now incubated in Think and finished with version 10.0.
They
are also the reason multimillion companies like Bralirwa don’t need to
carry big files of paper anymore but store all inventory information
online. The software is also extended to insurance companies and moving
to other countries soon.
Electronic payment system on public buses – AirClerk Ltd
Technological
leaps in transport have led to countless fantasies – self-driving cars,
pods on rails – most of which haven’t come to Africa but Rwanda has
decided to be the first African country to have one card for public
transport in the entire city. With zone 1 already loaded with passengers
waving their cards to get on the bus, this youth run company is surely
putting meaning to developing of a cashless economy.
With
just one month in use, the card has gone viral and passengers have
embraced it. The company is rolling out the same project in Cote
d’Ivoire early next year. Dreams do come true.
Nuntu – Hehe Limited
It
shouldn’t be the first time anyone hears of Hehe Limited as it has been
in the news a couple of times. Well, this year, it run in our top
developments with apps that merge education and gaming, and more
recently they announced a platform called Nuntu. Nuntu is somewhat
similar to Google’s Play store and Apple’s App Store, but Nuntu focuses
on providing access to applications that are especially relevant on the
continent in the form of music, reads and more. In short, African
content now has a home.
Some
of the apps on Nuntu were developed by secondary school students that
won the MTN app challenge where they beat developed companies hands
down. There is a great future ahead of them.
SharjaVuba – African Renewable Energy Distributor (ARED)
Henri Nyakarundi is an entrepreneur who has designed and franchised solar-powered mobile phone charging kiosks.
“The
lack of electricity was a big problem in the region,” says the ARED
founder. “About 60% of the population has a cellphone but less than 15%
has access to electricity.”
The
kiosks are small enough to be towed by a bicycle to wherever people
will pay a small fee to charge their phones. The kiosks can charge up to
30 phones at a time and Henri now has 24 franchises operating across
Rwanda.
“You
see a lot of people that want to be in business for themselves but they
don’t want to be in business by themselves,” Nyakarundi says. “When you
look at statistics, the franchise business model has a higher rate of
success than traditional business. 80% of franchise businesses succeed;
80% of traditional businesses fail.”
Stereoscopic 3D – Guez Show Ltd
Arguably,
the youth brains behind this innovation are indeed doing a great job.
Guez Show, a 3D animation and graphics company, was the first to bring
Digital Cinema Packaging and also famously known for making the
Transform Africa 2013 advert which left many people all over the world
mesmerized by how much Rwanda can do.
To
put that into perceptive, Guez Show gives an image or video width,
height and depth (length). Our physical environment is 3D and we move
around in 3D all the time. In the movie sense, the glasses we wear
enable us to see two different images simultaneously with each eye and
provide a stereoscopic vision to the viewer. Now, we don’t have to wait
for it only in the movies, we can make it ourselves thanks to the
sleepless nights of the Guez show team.
House of Tayo App – House of Tayo and Full Circle
Even
though this isn’t up and running yet, it built a bride that most
thought wasn’t possible. With a fashion industry that was ignored for so
long, House of Tayo gets into the industry but doesn’t only stop at
doing what they do best but integrate technology to give a better
experience to their clients with their QR based mobile app.
There’s
a special collection of bow ties the fashion house is making right now
and the box will have a QR code and when one scans the QR code, they can
see the bow tie being made. It’s bridging that gap between the customer
and the person making the product in a way that I haven’t really seen
being done before. Unfortunately we are done for this year, and the year
following after this gets better and bigger but just 7 spots available.
Who will be there?
