“This year, our young innovators made a 3d printer from electronic waste which is the first of its kind from eastern and central Africa,” said Jumanne Mtambalike, who is Manager for Buni Hub and an entrepreneur and a young technologist trained in India.
Mtambalike said at Buni Hub was where young graduates or school dropout innovators submit their creative ideas, which are panel beaten and turned into a product ready for development. Graduands of Buni Hub move a ladder up to Dar es Salaam Teknohama Business Incubation (DTBi), where high tech companies are hutched by some of the country’s eggheads.
“One of our young innovators called Rahim has also developed a drone from e-waste, which is in abundance in this country as we import many used electronic products,” said Mtambalike who noted that the World Bank was already supporting some of Buni Hub’s innovations.
Narrating his wish list for 2016, Mtambalike said he wants to challenge his young innovators to make their own motor filament which is the heart of a drone. “Currently we are importing them from China,” he noted.
Buni Hub’s best brains move a step or two up by joining DTBi where innovations get further scrutiny before commercialization, it’s a nest for startups.
The year 2015 has equally been successful for Collin Gumbu who is DTBi’s Business Development Manager.
“One of our young graduates developed software for local governments billing system, which enable Kinondoni municipality to more than double its revenue last year,” said Gumbu who said, Wilson Raphael’s Day One Softcom Technologies has since won World Bank backing to provide his software to 18 more district councils after its success in Dar es Salaam.
Gumbu’s young brains have moved mountains this year as another graduate, Magila Technologies Limited developed software to protect mobile phones from theft. “This company has already signed an agreement with Tigo and the software already has more than 20,000 subscribers after only three months in the market,” pointed out the DTBi Business Development Manager.
Another young man formed Digital Brain Limited after developing software to help online enrolment of university students which has already won accolades with Tanzania Universities Commission (TCU). The TCU has since 2012 established a centralized admission system.
But perhaps DTBi’s all-time most successful company is Maxcom Limited with its brand software of Maxmalipo which has taken the domestic market by storm. Maxmalipo is a payment software which allows people to settle their bills online using mobile phones or any other online gadget.
“When it joined the incubator in 2011, Maxcom was a small little known company but after graduating from here, it’s a household name,” bragged Gumbu while pointing out that apart from winning big contracts with Tanzania Revenue Authority and Tanzania Electric Supply Company, the company has employed a staggering 120 people, a big number for a high tech firm.
“Our four graduate companies have annual revenue of over US$1.5 million so far,” revealed Gumbu who promised more fireworks from the country’s savvy technology brains in 2016 as several other graduate companies are set to seal multi-million shilling contracts with companies.
COSTECH through DTBi signed a collaboration memorandum of understanding with US software giant, Microsoft Inc. in 2013. Established in 2011 with the support of COSTECH and World Bank, DTBi nurtures and grows ICT start- ups to develop income generating ICT products and thus contribute to the socio-economic growth of Tanzania through the provision of an array of business development support services.
Over the past 30 months, DTBi, the flagship ICT incubator in Tanzania, has successfully mentored about 84 ICT start-up companies, generating more than US$2.0 million in annual turnover, and creating more than 475 direct and 10,000 indirect employment opportunities, said International Communications Union in a recent statement.
At 2015 ITU World, DTBi showcased two newly developed innovative solutions: Carl Mobile TV- which provides access to digital television content via mobile devices without the need for internet connectivity and SCANCODE which is an efficient, robust and convenient mobile barcode scanning application that enables consumers to scan a barcode and automatically extract product information through mobile phones.
COSTECH Director General, Dr Hassan Mshinda, is also upbeat that 2016 will yet be another year when his budding young scientist will register more success in innovations.
“It’s been a tough year financially but our researchers and scientists have made great strides,” Dr Mshinda said.
Dr Mshinda said so far this fiscal year which ends next June, the Commission has only received 2bn/- from Treasury against 19bn/- allocation it used to get in the past decade.
Former President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete made history when he declared that his government will be allocating one percent of gross domestic product for science and research annually between 2005 and 2010 period.
Dr Mshinda however pointed out that the commission still expects to get more funding from Treasury this year to enable its numerous innovative scientists continue looking for solutions to make local life better.
“For a country like ours to develop rapidly, there is need to embrace science, technology and innovation,” he stressed.
He named some of the successes made this year as those made by young scientists at Dar Teknohama Business Incubator (DTBi), and Silicon Dar model where a number of software have been developed to solve local problems.
“But we have also made significant progress with our Buni Hub where a number of young scientists have earned us global fame with their innovations,” Dr Mshinda noted while paying tribute to a number of donors including Norway, Sweden and United Kingdom for their support.
The COSTECH chief pointed out that he expects a lot more success in 2016 because of government continued support and availability of ambitious young scientists.
“We want to establish our own brand of Silicon Valley where major innovations will be made,” Dr Mshinda who is credited with having turned a cash strapped ceremonial science commission into a vibrant institution supporting the best in science research and innovation, said.
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