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 18th to 22nd 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.
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
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