My next business venture is selling drones

Kelvin Macharia, Director of Sunrise Tracking, displaying one of the car track gadgets in Nairobi on April 26, 2016. PHOTO | EVANS HABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Sunrise Tracking provides fleet management services, where a company with over 100 vehicles can track each of these vehicles using their mobile phones.
  • Kelvin Macharia Kuria designs the software for his innovation from scratch, then sends it to companies in India and Europe for prototyping, since Kenya does not have the capacity to produce printed circuit boards. The device is then mass produced and shipped to Kenya.
  • He was also voted Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the 2015 Africa Youth Awards, hosted in Ghana. Besides running a business, the 25-year-old is a fourth-year bachelor of commerce student at the University of Nairobi.

In 2012, Kelvin Macharia Kuria had just returned to the country from South Africa, where he had been awarded a scholarship to pursue a diploma in entrepreneurship and leadership from the prestigious African Leadership Academy.

About the same time, his uncle was carjacked, an incident that would stimulate the idea that gave birth to his company.

“My uncle’s vehicle had a tracking system, yet he was unable to track it or immobilise it when it was stolen. He never recovered the vehicle.”

The then 21-year-old decided to start a company that would offer innovative security solutions for vehicles and buildings. While his age mates were struggling to juggle between studies and a social life, Kelvin invested his life-savings, Sh30,000, to create a company that is now valued at over Sh15 million.

Asked how Sunrise Tracking has managed to flourish in the crowded industry of vehicle tracking, Kelvin says he is successful because he stays ahead of the innovation curve and offers human-centred designs.

“With any venture, the recipe for success lies in approaching the market thinking like a customer, instead of the manufacturer that you are,” he advises.

Sunrise Tracking provides fleet management services, where a company with over 100 vehicles can track each of these vehicles using their mobile phones.

“Our product uses GPRS (General Package Radio Services) and GPS (Global Positioning System) to identify the vehicle’s position. Through the technology, one is also able to listen in to conversations inside the car and get access to reports that indicate where the vehicle is. A car owner is therefore able to restrict the vehicle from leaving certain areas by taking advantage of the geo-fencing feature.”

“The system also notifies you whenever someone tries to siphon fuel from your car, and for every time that the engine is ignited, the car-owner instantly receives a text message to notify them,” explains Kelvin.

But perhaps the most striking feature of the technology is the ability to immobilise the vehicle by simply sending a text message.

“Once the car owner sends a stop command to a specific number, the vehicle’s fuel acceleration function is immediately cut off until a resume command is sent,” he expounds.

Kelvin designs the software for his innovation from scratch, then sends it to companies in India and Europe for prototyping, since Kenya does not have the capacity to produce printed circuit boards. The device is then mass produced and shipped to Kenya. Their devices have been fitted in over 1,000 vehicles in Kenya.

Presently, Sunrise Tracking has seven full-time employees. The company has two branches, one at the fourth floor of Windsor House in the city centre, and another in Nakuru town.

“We are looking to open branches in all East African countries over the next two years,” he says.

Thanks to his innovation, in 2015, Kelvin, under the Mandela Washington Fellowship, an initiative by US President Barack Obama, attended the prestigious Dartmouth College in the United States as a Young African Leader for six months.

He was also voted Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the 2015 Africa Youth Awards, hosted in Ghana. Besides running a business, the 25-year-old is a fourth-year bachelor of commerce student at the University of Nairobi.

Where does he get the time to study and run a multimillion-shilling company simultaneously?

“I wake up at 4am every morning, and I’m always in my office by 5am, way before my employees check in. I spend the morning hours studying and practicing my programming skills.

"Later in the day, I shuttle between meetings, classes, and installing security systems for our clients at our garages. I leave the office at 10pm, long after my staff have gone home.”

“My staff have been the greatest influencers of the successes that Sunrise Tracking has achieved,” Kelvin says, while emphasising the importance of choosing the right team.

His advises the youth to focus more on being entrepreneurs than seeking to be employed.

“When one builds a business, they are able not only to enhance their own lives, but those of others by offering employment. It is also the best thing we can do to strengthen our country’s economy.”

What are his plans for the future?

“Sunrise Tracking will be the first Kenyan company to commercially sell drones in the country by the end of the year,” he promises.