Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

 

                                                                  Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world,” Nelson Mandela.

US President Barack Obama

US President Barack Obama

"For everywhere we look, there is work to be done. The state of our economy calls for action: bold and swift. And we will act not only to create new jobs but to lay a new foundation for growth. We will build the roads and bridges, the electric grids and digital lines that feed our commerce and bind us together. We will restore science to its rightful place and wield technology's wonders to raise health care's quality and lower its costs," Barack Hussein Obama II

Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Hon Johnnie Swartz

Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Hon Johnnie Swartz

 

“International collaboration is a critical component for growing a country’s innovation capacity and we thank you for your efforts towards helping Botswana embrace Science, Technology and Innovation as an economic drive,” Minister of Infrastructure, Science and Technology, Hon Johnnie Swartz applauding the strategic role played by Diplomatic corps in facilitation of the global networks that support Science, Technology and Innovation

Alan Boshwaen

BIH CEO Alan Boshwaen

"Now, more than ever, science, technology and innovation matters as a tool to saving lives, feeding the hungry, creating jobs and improving living standards sustainably. Science, Technology and Innovation interventions must be brought into the main stream economic planning and policy landscape. It is important to adopt science, technology and innovation as interventions to enhance productivity, create competitiveness, wealth creation and spur the knowledge-based economy."

Abednico Montshiwa

Green Evangelist Abednico Montshiwa preaches the green gospel 

"The current level of energy consumption around the world is a legitimate measure about the rate of economic development around the world. More energy is consumed as different regions around the world propel their economic interests.  Though, this is good news, the dark side of it is that natural resource are under great stress to match the demand and fossil fuels remains the only dominant source of energy. This poses a serious challenge in as far as environmental conservation and sustainable development are concerned."

 

 

 

Steve Jobs (1955 - 2011)

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011

 

Steve Jobs Pearls of Wisdom 

 

Here’s to the crazy ones, the misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers, the round pegs in the square holes… the ones who see things differently — they’re not fond of rules… You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them, but the only thing you can’t do is ignore them because they change things… they push the human race forward, and while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius, because the ones who are crazy enough to think that they can change the world, are the ones who do,” Steve Jobs.

 

 

 

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma – which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of other’s opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary,” Steve Jobs

 

 

The History of Innovation

“I call my invention ‘the Wheel’ but so far I’ve been unable to attract any venture capital.”

Innovation is defined as the act of introducing something new or doing something in a different way and taking those new ideas and actually implementing them in the marketplace. While innovation has existed as long as the species has, early innovations penetrated society and became established more slowly. For example, printing technology, various transportation innovations, and the use of gunpowder took centuries to reach most levels of society and become part of everyday life, according to Basil Blackwell and Samuel Eilon, authors of The Global Challenge of Innovation.

Innovation usually results from trial-and-error experimentation and sometimes occurs incidentally where researchers produce something other than what they intended. Nevertheless, because of the growth of and accessibility to knowledge and information through the technology and information revolutions, researchers of the late 20th century generally could move from ideas to innovations much more quickly than their predecessors. A confluence of factors contributes to innovation in the business setting, including the research environment, market need, company strategy, and company resources.

The penetration and acceptance of various innovations began to accelerate with the gradual collaboration and cooperation of science and assorted crafts and industries, especially in the 19th century. The partnership between science and industry allowed scientists to produce practical, reproducible technologies, which businesses could reasonably afford. Because of this collaboration, innovation grew quickly resulting in some companies creating in-house research and development divisions assert Blackwell and Eilon. The scholars view this development as a precursor for the emergence of the “Triple-Helix” model of innovation which entails the involvement of (1) the private sector, (2) the public sector and (3) the academic institutions. The benefit of this kind of set up is that the three different sectors can nurture each other to meet the needs and the challenges in the society. The Botswana Innovation Hub has adopted this concept in that the company is owned and initiated by the government having private sector partners and investors as well as a buy in and involvement of mainly the University of Botswana.

Ditec Mobile Claws Its Way Up The Mobile Technology Value Chain

Gary Griffiths, CEO of Trapit, a virtual personal assistant for Web content, observes that, “Since the birth of Silicon Valley and IBM’s System 360 nearly a half-century ago, the narrative in the technology sector has been a bare-knuckled brawl of younger, smarter, and more aggressive competitors grabbing market share from the once nimble behemoths who subsequently allowed creeping sloth and bureaucracy to overshadow the technology and business chops that put them on top in the first place.”

Griffiths analysis of a scenario where, “Money is shifting exclusively to the new, young scrappy technology startups in the enterprisemarket,” is replicated right here in Botswana and while the local plot is not necessarily of the David toppling Goliath mould, Thatayaone Dichaba’s Ditec Mobile narrative bears testimony to the local script of young tech savvy entrepreneurs who are taking the country to the next level of economic development. Dichaba is a trailblazer who was quick to notice the emerging trends in the mobile phone industry and moved in quickly to occupy a niche in the embryonic mobile phone ecosystem. His story of hard work, dedication and perseverance makes an interesting and inspiring read.

Thatayaone Dichaba

Born in Tamasane, he was enrolled for elementary and primary school in Palapye but later relocated to Selibe Phikwe where he completed his primary education at Tebogo Primary School. He proceeded with his junior secondary education at Meepong and went on to complete his senior high schooling at Selibe Phikwe Senior Secondary School. Dichaba later pursued a Mechanical Engineering Technician course at the Polytechnic followed by Computer Science at the University of Botswana.

Upon completion of his studies, Dichaba joined job seeking brigade and landed a job in a friends company where he sold his labour as a web developer for two years. In all this time, the innate entrepreneurial spirit, creativity and tendency to imagine new solutions and finding opportunities for profit or reward had remained latent until sometime in 2003 when the lure of self-employment and chance to make money compelled him to resign from his day job. At this point of his life, Dichaba had married his wife Kutlwano Dichaba and the charm of unlimited possibilities if one is successful in business and the security of having a trustworthy and caring partner to share the load compelled him to take the financial risk as an entrepreneurial couple. “Going into business with my wife as co-owner and co-manager of the commercial enterprise has its emotional and financial rewards and strengthens each other’s commitment to and enjoyment of both the business and personal sides of the partnership,” he says.

Dichaba had earlier in 1998 registered a sole proprietor business and used it to apply for a youth grant. He was given P20 000 with which he bought two advertising billboards. Unfortunately business did not take off as this was a relatively new concept then and had not yet caught the business community’s imagination as a powerful marketing platform. He therefore decided to retrace his steps back to IT where he did networking, general support and web design. The IT business yielded much better results and as the business grew it allowed the couple to incorporate an Adverting subsidiary that deals mostly with branding tools to join the IT subsidiary that does networking and support in the Dichaba Group of companies.

It was during this time that Dichaba developed a habit of dismantling old and broken down mobile phones and putting them back together again. Soon he immersed himself passionately in his new found hobby, investing time and money heavily into the project before he realized the drain it had coursed to his finances. “I love gadgets, I love mobile phones and I continued to assemble phones late into the night at home, unaware of the huge financial hole I was burrowing into my savings and even blowing my Credit Card to finance the hobby. Soon I was taking bank loans to support the hobby and before long I was falling into arrears and ended up in deep trouble with the banks. It was only then that I realized that this was serious and it’s amazing how my financial woes also made me realize my hobby’s business potential,” he says.  

Despite his financial predicament, the 2005 chance discovery of the hobby’s business potential coupled with his proficiency in the use of technology, his knowledge of emerging industry trends and desire to grow his business portfolio, prompted Dichaba to knock on the Citizen Entrepreneurial Development Agency’s (CEDA) office for help. Although the funds were ultimately released after an elaborate and compelling business proposal, the timing was terribly wrong as he was in very bad shape financially with Deputy Sheriffs and debt collectors frequently knocking on his door in pursuit of his mounting debts and at times threatening to attach the businesses assets, but the entrepreneurial couple persevered and against all odds they ultimately honoured their debts and went on to establish Ditec Mobile within the Dichaba Group.

Ditec Mobile is a 100% citizen owned mobile phones design company. “Through research and observation, we realized that, there was a huge gap between feature phones (low end handsets) and smartphones,” he says. He explains that price had locked out the low end segment of the market from accessing the technological advancements in the mobile phones such as WAP (internet).”Pioneer I was developed to close this gap,” he says, “It was a good handset that ran on a very good platform, it had WAP, MMS (Picture Messaging) and other functionalities available in most high end mobile phones. The only challenge was that it had battery problems but we have since upgraded it to Pioneer III, which is very stable.”

Ditec Mobile’s formative years were touch and go with the business barely keeping afloat but thanks to hard work, dedication and perseverance, today the company has grown to be one of the leading experts in the design, development and customization of mobile devices. Representing the latest in Mobile Technology, Ditec Mobile offers a full range of exceptional mobiles each with something unique and outstanding catering to a variety of needs and preferences. The company’s innovative designs and high end specifications combined with portability and affordable prices are ideal for mid-range customers. The company’s custom made smartphone's run on mobile operating system and are manufactured under one of the largest ISO Registered designer house in Asia, with over 10 years’ experience in handsets and Telecommunication gadget manufacturing and a workforce of approximately 3000 stuff, over 50% of which are qualified Engineers.

Dichaba believe that any technology no matter how good becomes irrelevant if it doesn't solve or address existing problems. “Our handsets are different from existing handsets in that they are highly specked handsets targeting specific segment in the mobile market. They are also competitively priced so that those who could not afford features previously found only in high end handsets can now enjoy them.” He emphasizes that their handsets also have an opportunity for value adds such as the opportunity for software developers to come up with relevant applications tailor made for the local environment.

Asked about the common refrain that Botswana’s limited market constrains local commercial enterprise, Dicahba explains that, “Botswana has one of the highest mobile penetration rate in Africa at over 90%, when you look at the average mobile penetration rate of African countries which stands at 65% you see a massive opportunity of a market that there, ready to be served. So our target market is low end segment of Africa. Our products are mostly export oriented. At the present moment we are working on preparations for the launch of our products in other markets, we have partnered with local companies in various countries as distributors and most of the advertising cost of the products will be borne by them.”

On who their competitors are, he mentions well established companies in the likes of Huawei, ZTE, Samsang, and Nokia. He goes on to say, “Mobile business is not only technology driven but is also very capital intensive, you cannot develop a technology and be on the lead without your competitors catching up with you. We are always improving our products, as I mentioned earlier, we have improved Pioneer I and the upgraded Pioneer III includes Bluetooth, calendar, WAP, and longer battery life.”

He said their biggest obstacle was doubt. “We meet with a lot of resistance from people who do not believe that a fellow African can also produce a handset. We have managed to work at this over time and we are beginning to notice a thawing of the frosty reception we’ve been getting as we have signed major contracts,” he says.  He mentions financing as another major challenge. “As I said earlier on, this is a very highly capital intensive project and it has been quite a challenge to convince our financiers that we are the right people to partner with,” He says. He mentions that they got the finance to produce the first prototype from CEDA and was grateful they are still working with them.

He said technology was a fast evolving phenomenon and that one always has their finger on the pulse if they are not to be left behind. “We are thankful that we haven’t really been affected by the current economic meltdown and that research actually shows that mobile penetration rate in Africa will average 85% by 2015. People continue to use mobile phones regardless of the current prevailing economic conditions,” He states.

Dichaba says, while they are currently only designing the phones, they plan to ultimately move into manufacturing and hopes BIH will facilitate the next phase of the development of Ditec Mobile. “I think working with BIH, well help us position our company well for export, as production of goods and services that meet global standards is part of their mandate and being a member of the hub comes with benefits such tax exemption or reduction. This will help us cut our costs and avail funds for the critical research and development of our products,” he says. 

 

Tebogo Letlhogile Mogaleemang Puts Back the Zing in Mathematics

A 2012 survey by the UK based Telegraph finds that half of the children in their sample find mathematics and science too difficult or too boring despite seven in ten wanting Maths and science-based careers. David Brockley of the British Royal Society of Chemistry Maths agrees and states that, "Maths does suffer from an image problem.” The situation is no different in Botswana where even amongst the crème de la crème of our students there are many who view Maths as a necessary nuisance towards a better paying job.  Even so, our situation is not assisted by the lack of practical application of the subject beyond the class room in our case.

Maths however, has always been primal in the evolution of man. Anthropological evidence reveals that numeracy predates writing.  As far back as we know Maths, was an evolving tool that was needed for counting and then commerce. It is often joked that the first math problem was most probably about how to share a fire between two or three groups of cavemen and that the second handy approach to the tool was our fingers. Studies reveal that the evolution of mathematics might be seen as an ever-increasing series of abstractions, or alternatively an expansion of subject matter. The earlier uses of mathematics were in trading, land measurement, painting and weaving patterns and the recording of time. More complex mathematics would appear later around 3000 BC, when the Babylonians and Egyptians began using arithmetic, algebra and geometry for taxation and other financial calculations, for building and construction, and for astronomy. The systematic study of mathematics in its own right began with the Ancient Greeks between 600 and 300 BC.

Mathematics has since been greatly extended, and there has been a fruitful interaction between mathematics and science, to the benefit of both. Mathematical discoveries continue to be made today. According to Mikhail Sevryuk, in the January 2009 issue of the Bulletin of the American Mathematical Scociety, "The number of papers and books included in the Mathematical Reviews database since 1940 (the first year of operation of MR) is now more than 1.9 million, and more than 75 thousand items are added to the database each year. The overwhelming majority of works in this ocean contain new mathematical theorems and their proofs."

While Maths is important in the advancement of science and technology and the understanding of the workings of the universe as well as being associated with considerations of curiosity, performance, beauty, playfulness and the transcendence of wisdom, it has still failed to shed off perceptions that it is difficult and boring. However, in our midst there are Maths enthusiasts intent on dispelling the myth that Maths is uncool and charting a path that will see a complete makeover of the loved and dreaded subject. Tebogo Letlhogile Mogaleemang is a young Motswana who prefers to describe himself as an Applied Maths hobbyist with some heavy bias towards the use of mathematics in solving optimization problems in the real world. He was quick to point out that optimization problems are everywhere, and that  mathematical models are essential in guiding informed and verifiable decision making given limited resources in areas such as engineering, finance, economics, statistical data analysis and management. This area of applied mathematics is referred to as Operations Research; its scientific approach to management decisions has some interchangeably calling it Management Science.

 

Maths Wizard Tebogo Letlhogonolo Mogaleemang

 

Mogaleemang graduated with a Master of Engineering Electronics specializing in Telecommunications degree from the University of Southampton (2008) in UK. He has also completed part I and II of BSc (General) where he claims his mathematical skills were horned before going for overseas studies.  I met Mogaleemang by chance early in February at the BIH offices when his appointment with our Custer Development Director, Budzanani Tacheba PhD was called off at the last minute and I was asked to step in. I found Mogaleemang to be talkative and enthusiastic about what he wanted to discuss with BIH.  Within a few minutes of talking to him he sounded like a true ambassador for applied education, especially Maths and Science with his passion palpable in our discussions. He highlighted the importance of mathematics in modeling and solving real world problems in an efficient manner, and how that is important and necessary in supporting management decisions.  He states that he is also a huge advocate of Applied Education and that he is looking forward to participating in this year’s annual Maths and Science fair, and to lend his supporting stimulating early interests in the subjects given their importance in the development of any country. As a student he says he competed in the same fairs and would like to see students getting some practical exposure he never had in his student days. He says one of his ambitions is to see the re-modelling of our education sector to force local institutions to empower students with practical skills for the solution of real world problems and most importantly to address our local socio-economic challenges.

 Management Science is a sub-field of mathematics that deals with the application of advanced analytical methods to assist with effective decision making. The discipline employs techniques from other mathematical sciences, such as mathematical modeling, statistical analysis, and mathematical optimization, operations research to arrive at optimal or near-optimal solutions to complex decision-making problems. Because of its emphasis on human-technology interaction and because of its focus on practical applications, management science research has overlap with other disciplines, notably industrial engineering and operations and operations management, and draws on psychology and organization science. Management Science is often concerned with determining the maximum (of profit, performance, or yield) or minimum (of loss, risk, or cost) of some real-world objective.

Mogaleemang says he saddened by maths Cinderella syndrome when in fact maths is the foundation of science and technology. He wonders why maths is vilified when it holds the key to the world’s problems. He states that Minister of Finance and Development Planning Hon. Kenneth Mathambo alluded to the fact that the 2013 National Budget was prepared in the context of considerable uncertainties in the world economy and that these uncertainties impact negatively on the country’s projections for the domestic economy and government’s revenue in particular. In these circumstances, the Minister emphasized that prioritization must form part and parcel of every dimension of the country’s planning, with the ultimate goal of getting the most from each Pula of expenditure to achieve the priorities. The challenge therefore is an optimization problem given the constraints identified. He cites that it is therefore critical that devise informed strategies to minimize the negative impacts of such constraints on our governance and development objectives given the global economic constraints.   

Mogaleemang reasons that, “Current optimization inefficiencies in our sectors have created a huge demand for Operations Research which requires mathematical skills not present in the current tertiary education setup. Every problem is an actually an optimization problem, there is some inherent duality challenge; lowering costs and maximizing returns all dictated by the state of the environment in which the problem exists” he says.  He maintains that this is the case across many areas such as Network Optimization, Business Analysis, Project Management, Financial Analysis and Economics, Operation Management, Policy Analysis, Decision Making Impact Analysis, Inventory Control and Supply Chain Management. All these could exploit Management Science methods to improve service delivery while lowering costs which will free up capital for both the private sector and the public sector domain. “The solution to the seemingly intractable optimization inefficiency challenges is maths,” he declares with some conceited confidence. He says his focus shifted to this application area of Maths due as he started thinking more about our local service delivery challenges. ‘I am actually just re-using the same mathematical concepts I learnt to model telecommunication challenges as a students. It gives me an opportunity to apply what I have in my education background to address our local challenges. These are skills I can’t use in our local engineering industries.’

 As a patriotic young Motswana imbued with a profound sense of national service, Mogaleemang approached many government departments and Ministry’s offering his services to help the entities address their efficiency challenges. However, the silence of these entities to his proposal speaks volumes about the regard with which they view his peculiar methods to the country’s challenges. They view his proposal as completely unrestrained by reason and judgment and have not been keen to engage him. While frustrated by the cold shoulder he received from some of the government departments he approached with a proposal to assist by substantially increasing the efficiency of their service delivery processes while simultaneously lowering their service delivery costs, he is not deterred by the setbacks as he is inspired by people with exceptional intellectual ability, creativity, originality and unprecedented insights in the likes of Archimedes of Syracuse, Pythagoras of Samos, Leonardo da Vinci and albert Einstein, men of impeccable genius who were thought to be insane at one point or the other.

With a never say die attitude, Mogaleemang has elevated the matter of his rejection by institutions he is convinced need his assistance to the Office of the President and awaits a response. In his correspondence to OP, he has requested an opportunity to demonstrate how the methods are important to governance and can bolster efficiency of diminishing resources. He buttresses his point with the challenge thrown by the Minister of Finance and Development Planning Hon. Kenneth Matambo whose cautionary 2013 Budget Speech emphasized that despite a constrained budget, the country’s strategy is to return to sustained high growth for the benefit of all Batswana while ensuring that the country positioned itself to deal with unforeseeable shocks. “This requires that all our policies should be focused on productivity, competitiveness, and diversification, complemented by well-structured social safety nets,” he said.  

For Mogaleemang, the take home point in the budget speech is for all of us to be efficient in all we do. Our efficiency can be achieved through the application of advanced analytical methods to arrive at optimal solutions to complex decision-making challenges. “It is time we kick start the evolution towards a knowledge based economy, and we can only achieve that if we place higher value in ideas that address our challenges as a nation,” he said.

Mogaleemang has been connected to the Botswana Innovation Hub technology entrepreneurial development programme, First Step Venture Centre Manager, Tshepo Tsheko who appreciates that Mathematics is the scaffolding of science and technology and while impressed with the mathematician’s ideas will have to work with him to make a business case for the brilliant ideas. 

If a business case can be found, the young mathematician will be placed on the programme and hand held in the commercialization of his ideas, meanwhile Mogaleemang continues on his benevolent crusade to put a sparkle on mathematics and make it the subject more appealing to the younger generation. He believes that giving youngsters a solid foundation in Maths, the country’s future is better placed as the younger generation will be better placed to apply Management Science techniques to synergies many government processes in service delivery and policy implementation for the evolution towards a knowledge based economy and tack suck challenges as youth unemployment, stimulate efficiency in service delivery processes, innovation and the evolution towards a knowledge-based economy. 

 

Mathematics

 

Ideal Technologies Team wins the Mobile Innovation Hackathon

The World Bank’s Information and Communications for Development Report states that the pace at which mobile phones spread globally is unmatched in the history of technology. “With some 6 billion mobile subscriptions in use worldwide, around three-quarters of the world’s inhabitants now have access to a mobile phone.” The report goes on to say the mobile revolution is right at the start of its growth curve with mobile devices becoming cheaper and more powerful while networks are doubling in bandwidth and expanding into rural areas. This scenario presents major opportunities to advance human development from providing basic access to education or health information to making cash payments to stimulating citizen involvement in democratic processes.

In Botswana, an enabling mobile ecosystem has seen the country’s mobile penetration rate rise to 184%, one of the highest in Africa. While this has gone a long way towards improving the country’s business climate, a lot more still has to be done to revive the economy and set it on a solid trajectory for future competitiveness and economic growth. The Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH’s) has been established as a catalyzer for technology-driven businesses to meet the national strategic goal of creating a conducive national innovation ecosystem that diversifies the country’s economy through technology entrepreneurship and contributes to national competitiveness, economic growth and job creation. To achieve this, the company has been involved in numerous projects and programmes that support the further development of an enabling innovation ecosystem.

Recently the company hosted the Mobile Innovation Stakeholders Roadshow within the framework of the Southern Africa Innovation Support (SAiS) Programme and infoDev, (the global partnership program in the World Bank Group). The Roadshow which took place from 18^th to 22^nd March, 2013 was jointly ran by BIH and Orange Botswana. The event comprised of a Stakeholders Workshop, infoDev Global Business Innovation Management Training, Mobile Innovation Boot Camp, and a Hackathon for mobile applications developers, entrepreneurs and startups. The weeklong activities delivered cutting-edge content, networking, dynamic presentations and interactive discussions that addressed the latest developments and opportunities within the mobile innovation sector.

Ideal Technologies, a 100% citizen owned company which is a member of the Microsoft BizSpark start-up project emerged winners of the inaugural Mobile Innovation Hackathon. Hackathon is an event in which computer programmers and others in the field of software development, like graphic designers, interface designers and project managers collaborate intensively on software projects to create usable software, although occasionally, there is a hardware component as well. Ideal Technologies is jointly owned by Evangelist Loago Raditedu and his wife Tshegofatso, offers ICT solutions and marketing tools to clients. In addition the company also offers Website Design and Development services as well as the Botswana Website Directory and Botswana Mobile Directory and Botswana eBooks.

Members of the Ideal Technologies Hackathon Team comprised three members. The team is led by, Evangelist Loago Raditedu who does not have IT expertise but has demonstrated that one does not necessarily have to possess proficiency in the field in order to excel in its trading space. Raditedu, who refers to himself as an ICT Entrepreneur, Preacher, Motivational Speaker and business man, is former Executive Director of the Botswana Exporters and Manufacturers Association (BEMA) and is its current President. Other members of the team are Leene Mogobe who has over eight years’ experience as Brand Designer. His main responsibility in the Hackathon project was to plan, design and build the brand for the Agricom mobile application. Nelly Monyaradzi Motorito is an IT Intern with Ideal Technologies and his role in the team was to design the prototype. He is a graduate of Multimedia University Melaka, Malaysia in the faculty of Information Technology. Motorito holds a Honors Degree in Artificial Intelligence.

 

Ideal Technlogies team leader, Evangelist Loago Raditedu, said the winning Mobile Application they submitted is called Agricom. He said the application was, “An interactive mobile communication and trade platform which allows agricultural practitioners and stakeholder to market and sell their products and services, network, manage resources and provide access to latest events, news and weather forecasts.” He said the solution was developed to address problems of lack of a robust mobile adverting platforms for the agricultural sector absence of a mobile market for farmers produce, absence of a mobile application to manage records, resources and produce, lack of mobile platforms to broadcast news on audio and/or text and other info dedicated to agricultural industry and the lack of a database accessible by mobile devices to view farmers profiles, networking, agricultural products /services and suppliers.

Raditedu said his team had identified farmers, Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural based government parastals (LEA, CEDA, Youth & Culture, etc ), Financial Institutions (commercial and non-commercial banks), Network Service Provider (Orange, Masco, BeMobile), Botswana Innovation Hub and Agricultural Suppliers (Equipment, medicine, machinery, etc.) as its customers and users of the software.

Ideal Technologies Team Evangelist Loago Raditedu, Nelly Motorito and Leene Mogobe

 

The prize for the winning entry includes P15, 000.00 worth of business intervention form SAiS Consultant, full sponsorship of Global Business Forum in South Africa by InfoDev, Knowledge Hamper including laptop and books from BIH, radio coverage by Yarona FM and RBI and possible incubation with First Steps Venture Centre. The second prize went to Modisar who won themselves a Knowledge Hamper (Laptop and books) from BIH, radio coverage by Yarona FM and RBI and possible incubation with First Step Venture Centre. ERL took the third prize winning themselves a Knowledge Hamper (Laptop and books), radio coverge for Yarona FM and RBI and possible incubation with First Steps Venture Centre

 

Evangelist Loago Raditedu, Orange CEO, Elisabeth Medou-Badang and Business Incubation Specialist, Sophia Muradyan

Local Softaware Development Company Wins the 2012 Apps4Africa Competition

Moro Technologies Group MD Monametsi Kalayamotho (R) with the winning software developers (L-R) Mosetsanagape Motlhabane, Patricia Motsumi and Donald Taboka Masole

Of the four BIH Focus Sectors, the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector has taken off at a much rapid pace compared to the others. This rapid growth could be attributed to the country’s benefits from being globally networked by increased public and private based investments in undersea optic fibre cables such as West Africa Cable Systems (WACS) and The Eastern Africa Submarine Cable System (EASSy).

Chief Executive Officer Alan Boshwaen has said, “Each new cable laid helps bring more African communities into the age of high speed internet, making e-commerce, cloud computing, real-time video and IP - based voice a reality and allowing African individuals and companies to conduct business more competitively on the global stage.” These developments have seen Botswana emerge as an ICT Hub resulting from a 59% wholesale cost reduction, excess bandwidth capacity and increased public uptake of ICT services, all of which have encouraged innovation in the ICT sector.

Alan goes on to say the power of transformative technologies is evident everywhere in Africa from small village communities to large cities through the ubiquitous mobile phone. By September, 2011 the mobile phone penetration in Botswana was estimated at 118.8% in a population of 2 million. “Technology,” he says, “has a profound impact on how life is lived in Africa as it has been evidenced with the rapid adoption of the cell phone and its related mobile services.  

Technological innovation has been identified by the World Economic Forum as a fundamental pillar for competitiveness. Its Global Competiveness report of 2011 - 2012 highlights the need to create an innovation supporting ecosystem as the driving force of economic growth. BIH has adopted a deliberate policy to introduce and support an entrepreneurial and innovation culture through competitions, training, workshops and seminars. 

In its drive to provide a unique platform and catalyser for technology - driven and knowledge intensive business to develop and to compete in the global market, the Botswana Innovation Hub supports entrepreneurial programmes, competitions and networks that are the driving force of economic growth, innovation and job creation. 

The Botswana Innovation Hub in collaboration with UK based SpotOne Global Solutions company and the US State Department hosted the Apps4Africa brainstorming session for the Apps4Africa competition for web and mobile software solutions to social challenges in Africa in March earlier this year. The brainstorming session brought together local software developers and climate change stakeholders, including experts, academia, policy makers, NGO’s and the general public to explore the impact of climate change and how innovative web and mobile software application concepts can be developed to mitigate the effects of climate change.

Local software development company, Moro Technologies Team comprising Donald Taboka Masole, Patricia Motsumi and Mosetsanagape Motlhabane scooped the 1st prize of $15,000.00 for their submission of a health and sanitation related application concept, ‘myHealth (Botswana)’, to address Malaria.  Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that is endemic in sub - Saharan Africa where 85 - 90% of the malaria fatalities occur. The World Health Organisation estimates that there were 216 million cases of malaria in 2010 resulting in 655,000 deaths most of whom were children under the age of five. Pregnant women are also especially vulnerable to the disease. Moro Technologies Team’s submission helps users take precautions by providing information about the weather and diseases related to the weather such as diarrhea and malaria. The application concept helps users schedule appointments with doctors for appropriate care.

A total of 60 participants registered and participated at the event which provided software developers with an opportunity to meet potential collaborators that they could work with on solutions to enter into the competition. The categories for entries included agriculture (distribution); early warning and/or disaster preparedness; resources management; forestry/deforestation; transportation/traffic/emission; food security; livestock; and health and sanitation.  

In addition to the $15,000 first prize, the Moro Technologies Team will also have access to additional follow-on opportunities provided by some of the competition partners including Indigo Trust, TED, and SpotOne Global Solutions in the form of additional grant opportunities, local and international publicity and business advisory. The Team will now work towards the full application development with a possibility for more funding opportunities. The win has not only raised the country’s flag high in the global software development arena but has also profiled the country favorably in the global software solutions stakes and inspired local developers to compete on the international stage.   

The second prize of $7,000 was awarded for a Service Anti Cyclone application from Madagascar. The application concept alerts users to pending cyclones which are very common and cause significant damage to the region.  Zimbabwe’s UnsApp got the third prize of $3,000 for their application concept that spreads awareness through a web forum where adaptive management techniques may be considered in improving food security in the future.

The 2010 Apps4Africa competition was won by Kenya’s iCow agriculture software application concept for small scale farmers. The application which was officially launched in June 2011 offers farmers a cow gestation calendar and access to veterinary and artificial insemination offices across Kenya through mobile phone.  

Innovative Thinking

Sophia Muradyan, Business Incubation and Mobile Innovation Specialist at the World Bank.

 

"As World Bank we support and recognise the liberal mobile market and its development through innovation of new ideas that match our environments and can help our communities to develop and move forward," Sophia Muradyan.

Permanent Secretary Mokotedi says, there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology Dikagiso Mokotedi
 

Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology Dikagiso Mokotedi said he was pleased to notice that the majority of attendants at the Mobile Innovation Stakeholders Roadshow Workshop were young people. He said it was encouraging to see young people actively participate in initiatives that sought to improve the lives of Batswana. Inspired by the palpable spirit of youth that prevailed at the workshop, Mokotedi drew the audience attention to the analogy between the participant’s youthfulness and his Ministry’s fledgling phase. He said the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology (MIST) is fairly young having been established in 2009. At the time of its inception, the Ministry was besieged by a growing number of young artisans and builders who were unemployed and roamed the streets despite governments massive spend in the construction industry. “We took a deliberate decision to hand-hold these passionate but inexperienced tradesmen and give them an opportunity to get a foot in the door of the cut-throat construction industry,” he said. Today these budding entrepreneurs are the toast of the industry running thriving businesses.   

Mokotedi said he was immensely impressed by the youthful enthusiasm of the ICT sector and pledged to personally ensure that the same benevolent gesture that his Ministry extended to the construction industry is accorded to the ICT sector. “You are assured of government’s commitment to walk the talk and assist start-up businesses in the ICT sector. Governments commitment is demonstrated by an eight figure Innovation Fund that will be announced soon,” he said. He said the Ministry was tying the loose ends for the administration of the fund and that BIH through its subsidiary technology entrepreneurship programme, First Step Venture Centre, will identify, develop, and nurture viable technology oriented start-up businesses with a potential to grow into international markets. The announcement was received with a round of applause and assured mobile app entrepreneurs of the proverbial pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Mobile Innovation Stakeholders Roadshow

 Botswana currently enjoys low technological entry barriers and fixed cost, the mobile industry can therefore offer vast revenue and growth potential for entrepreneurs and jobs creation. In turn, a favorable ecosystem that integrates policy-makers, mobile network operators, investors, donors, and other stakeholders, must exist in order for mobile app entrepreneurs to thrive. In its endeavor to stimulate the development of an innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem for mobile applications enterprises in the country, the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH) hosted a weeklong Mobile Innovation Stakeholders Roadshow from 18^th to 22^nd March, 2013. The event was held within the framework of the Southern Africa Innovation Support (SAiS) Programme and infoDev, (the global partnership program in the World Bank Group) and jointly ran by BIH and Orange Botswana.

The Roadshow which comprised of a Stakeholders Workshop, infoDev Global Business Innovation Management Training, Mobile Innovation Boot Camp, and Hackathon for mobile applications developers, entrepreneurs and startups delivered five full days of cutting-edge content, networking, dynamic presentations and interactive discussions to address the latest developments and opportunities within the mobile innovation sector.

 

MIST Permanent Secretary Dikagiso Mokotedi flanked by SAiS Chief Technical Advisor Juha Meittine (L) and Orange Botswana Head of Legal Corporate Services Lepata Mafa (R)
 

Officially opening the Mobile Innovation Stakeholders Workshop, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Infrastructure, Science and Technology Dikagiso Mokotedi said the Mobile Innovation Roadshow initiative is one among many national efforts by which government and its associated partners are trying to inject passion for innovation among the youth while at the same time facilitating for the creation of a conducive environment through partnerships to nurture skills and entrepreneurship necessary for economic diversification. “Africa and indeed Botswana has a high mobile penetration, and is quickly adapting the new technologies. Numerous products borne out of African innovations are now being seen on the global market place. Hence there is a lot of potential to grow more solutions going forward,” he said.

The workshop which convened key players for innovation ecosystem building and mobile industry promotion in the country discussed benefits and opportunities of the knowledge-based entrepreneurship and innovation promotion (such as mobile innovation) for Botswana and outlined key challenges and issues.

Speaking at the same occasion, business incubation and mobile innovation specialist, at the World Bank, Sophia Muradyan, said with 75% of the world's population having access to mobile phones, innovators need to come up with ideas that can strengthen agribusiness and tourism sectors through mobile gadgets.

 

Sophia Muradyan Business Incubation Specialist

"As World Bank we support and recognise the liberal mobile market and its development through innovation of new ideas that match our environments and can help our communities to develop and move forward," said Muradyan.

For his part SAiS Chief Technical Officer Juha Miettinen said in order to unlock individual ingenuity, it is important to establish and sustain a holistic and interconnected environment, which has a foundation built on both knowledge and practice. "Innovation is about mind-set, thinking differently in new ways," he said adding that the SAiS programme promotes collaboration between the innovation systems of African countries in order to provide greater impact on economic and social development. Miettinen said that the key components when guiding innovation include learning from the best, capacity building by strengthening and enhancing human resource, networking for innovation support partnerships and fostering institutional capability by building elements of the systems of innovations on a national and regional level.

He said the SAiS programme is currently being piloted in four countries namely Botswana ,Mozambique ,Namibia and Zambia from 2011 -2015 with the aim of addressing the challenges found within the innovation systems of each country, by enacting their innovation capacity both individually and collectively. Miettinen further declared that the Finland Ministry of Foreign Affairs has pledged 6.2 million Euros to Botswana towards innovation development and ICT.

Participants at the Mobile Innovation Stakeholders Roadshow Emergnov Training Session