Youth-led inventions that give us hope for the future

The 2018 Annual Global Innovation report released by Cornell University ranks Kenya in third place (after South Africa and Mauritius) among the most innovative economies in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Globally, Kenya rose from position 80 to 78 as the most innovative economies in the world.

Judging by these figures, it is clear that young Kenyans have been at the forefront of creating new technological solutions that create new jobs and improve the quality of lives.

This week, we examine some of the most enterprising inventions by Kenyan youth.

Mwaniki Ngatia

PowerYako

If you’re the one tasked with paying electricity bills for your household, you may have noticed that your monthly bill sometimes fluctuates inexplicably.

Many have experienced reasonable bills for a few months, only for the figures to rise significantly in other months even though their electricity consumption hasn’t changed.

The worst part, usually, is that even when you receive your bill, inflated or not, you have no way of verifying that it was indeed the true value of your consumption.

Often, one is forced to accept the readings as provided by Kenya Power. It can feel like the odds are all against you, which is why Mwaniki came up with PowerYako, a management system that helps one monitor their electricity consumption in real time.

INVENTION

So timely and effective was this invention that it came top in the Student Innovations category of this year’s KAM Energy Management Awards.

He says that the frustration he endured whenever he thought about his inconsistent electricity bill is what drove him to come up with the brilliant idea.

“At my parents’ house where I grew up, there was a post-pay meter that belonged to the then Kenya Power and Lighting Company, but officials from the power company rarely checked it. It only provided general estimates of our family’s consumption, so one month the bill would be quite low, only for it to issue a very high figure the next month.

“My father would send me to KPLC’s customer care department to raise a complaint on this matter, and I observed two things. First, I always needed to carry a paper with the meter readings written on it, and secondly, we first had to clear the disputed bill before we could lodge the complaint or risk disconnection. I felt that I had to do something to change that,” he explains.

The PowerYako system is made with a hardware gadget that is connected inside the user’s house, right next to the circuit breaker.

It also comes with an app and a website where consumers can see exactly what they are using their energy on, and how much.
This enables individuals to do their own audit and know what to do to cut down on their power consumption and save on costs.

ENERGY CONSUMED

For farmers, the tool comes in handy as it allows them to quantify the amounts of energy consumed by their machines, which they can factor in their cost of production when coming up with their budgets.

Mwaniki is a member of a start-up called Neverest, which is made up of software and hardware engineering students and fresh graduates. To get the product user-ready, he collaborated with three other engineers.

“I worked with Dennis Kariuki and David Wanjohi who are both software engineers, and Marystella Natasha who is a hardware Engineer.

“I designed the hardware and built it from the ground up. I tested and calibrated the sensors, did the power calculation, and then had the data transmitted to the servers. As the main innovator, my role has also been to harmonise the team and guide them in coming up with a user friendly product,” he explains.

Marystella worked with Mwaniki on sensor testing and calibration, while Dennis Kariuki designed the web interface and data handling for the cloud servers. David designed and implanted the Android application.

ELECTRICITY

PowerYako’s software and hardware prototypes are now ready, and once the device is allowed into the market, it could significantly change how we consume and pay for our electricity.

But first, Mwaniki and his team need to test the gadget’s viability in an industry or institution.

“I am in talks with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, which is my alma mater, and if all goes well, we will be in business by April next year.

Ramah Kipkorir, Winnie Biwott and Kiptoo Magutt

Twende Carpool

Carpooling is the practice where two or more people share one motor vehicle to a common destination to do away with the need for each of them to drive separate cars to the same location.

This helps both the car owner and those sharing the journey to save money, reduces the number of vehicles on roads, thereby reducing motor vehicle traffic, as well as the harmful emissions, which then leads to cleaner air.

This system has been a huge success in countries such as Germany, the US and England, and it has now begun to take root in Kenya.

Twende Carpool is a company that was created by three friends who saw the carpooling idea become a success in the US, and decided to start their own company back home.

Ramah Kipkorir is the start-up’s Chief Executive Officer, Kiptoo Magutt serves as the Chief Technology Officer, while Winnie Biwott is the Chief Operations Officer.

While studying in America four years ago, Kiptoo used the carpooling system and witnessed first-hand how effective it was.

Ramah, on the other hand, had spent a large amount of money on fuel when making his regular trips from Nairobi to Eldoret, and was thinking of ways to make things better. In their hour of need, Kiptoo and Ramah realised that there wasn’t any successful ride-sharing digital platform in Kenya.

Winnie, an Economics and Environmental Policy graduate from Duke University in the US, is the third co-founder. She is the one who ensured that Ramah and Kiptoo’s ideas reached the implementation stage.

When they came together and decided to create Twende Carpool, Kiptoo, an Electrical Engineering graduate from Princeton University, was tasked with creating a mobile application.
To use this service, a user simply downloads the app and creates an account.

The registration process requires the passengers and drivers to give their personal details, and a verification process is then conducted via a South African company called Smile Identity.

VERIFICATION PROCESS

Once the three parties have passed the verification process, the driver decides the “travel contribution” to be paid by the passengers - the figure is based on the length of the journey, fuel prices, and the expected extent of wear and tear.

The three friends launched the invention late last year, and Winnie believes that Twende Carpool will grow even bigger in the coming years.

“The reception has been good. We launched it last year in September, and started by offering rides along the Nairobi-Nakuru-Eldoret-Kitale highway only. So far, we’ve completed 700 trips offered by over 350 drivers, for 1,500 passengers who have given positive reviews of the service,” she says.

Before the app was launched in September last year, Winnie was jobless, but now, she has one thanks to the innovation.

“That is how important and useful technology is.

It creates jobs. The Kenyan tech space is promising. There’s so much potential, especially when youth come together and focus on creating such products and services,” says Winnie.

Abdinoor Alimahdi
Mlugha

Whereas access to education is a basic right which all Kenyans are entitled to, some learners in the North Eastern part of the country have a difficult time accessing it because of the language barrier.

Whenever a teacher who is not from that community is posted to a school there, he or she often finds it very difficult to communicate with the learners, because most children of school going age are only proficient in their mother tongue. As a result, many students from that region have been unable to perform well in school.

Abdinoor Alimahdi endured these challenges while growing up. He could not read or write until he reached Grade Six, and only started doing well in school when he relocated to Nairobi.

However, whenever he visits villages in Wajir, Mandera, Marsabit or Turkana, he sees that children still encounter serious learning challenges.

“I know of students who are in secondary school, but they cannot read or speak fluent English or Kiswahili,” he says.

RURAL AREAS

When the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development issued a decree that children in rural areas be taught in their mother tongue, Abdinoor knew that was his chance to make a difference.

He created an app called Mlugha, which translates the education syllabus into local languages. It also translates local languages to English and Kiswahili, so that those who do not understand their mother tongue can learn their language using the app.

“We first get a native speaker to make a recording in their mother tongue, then we get another person to verify the speaker’s output and delivery. If the language has different dialects, we look for a common word that can be understood by all. So far, we have managed to translate 16 Kenyan languages to English and Kiswahili,” he says.

The recordings are made available via an app that can be downloaded on Google Play Store under the name Mlugha, and they are also loaded onto tablets which can be used by learners in the rural areas. “By doing that, we are killing two birds with one stone.

We ensure that learners in marginalised areas become more competent in English and Kiswahili, and we also introduce them to technology at an early age, he says.

EXECUTIVES
The greatest challenge holding him back, is that he is yet to get a consent from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD). To get their approval, Abdinoor is required to pay a Sh2 million fee to KICD, so that the body can curate the app and give them the green light. Abdinoor is unable to raise that amount, but his determination has not diminished.

He is part of a group called Start-up Istanbul, which brings together founders, investors and executives in South Asia, Middle East, Africa and Europe.

This year, the company received 150,000 entries from young innovators from 164 countries, and Mlugha was among the top 100 submissions that were selected.

Early this week, he got to pitch his innovation to potential investors, and as he awaits the judges’ decision, he prays that he will someday find a way of getting the app to learners in marginalised communities so that they can improve their fluency in the two national languages.