Batswana amongst finalists
Two citizen entrepreneurs have emerged amongst the top 50 finalists for Africa’s Business Heroes competition, emerging from a group of 21,000 applications ranging from all across the continent.
The competition, now in its fourth edition, was established by the Jack Ma Foundation and aims at supporting entrepreneurs who are not only building successful businesses but who are also running mission-driven organisations that generate growth for their local communities across Africa.
The foundation behind the competition was established by Jack Ma, a Chinese magnate and entrepreneurial icon who co-founded Alibaba Group, the multinational tech group best known for its e-commerce platform.
Annually, the competition awards grant funding to 10 outstanding African start-up founders with the winner receiving $300,000, the first runner-up receiving $250,000, the second runner-up receiving $150,000, and seven others in the top 10 each receiving $100,000 cash. In the running amongst the top 50, this year are the founder of Deaftronics (Pty) Ltd and the co-founder of Conexus Proprietary Limited.
“The 50 entrepreneurs are currently undergoing several rounds of evaluation panels leading up to the grand finale in November where 10 outstanding finalists will share the grant of $1.5 million, on top of training, mentorship, and access to a community of international leaders and innovators, industry experts, investors, and accelerators,” the competition’s organisers stated this week.
Mmegi had an opportunity to speak to both local finalists this week on their entrepreneurial journey and the focus of their business.
Tendekayi Katsiga, founder of Deaftronics (Pty) Ltd
Mmegi: What led to you engaging or venturing into this business and what challenges or opportunities did you face?
Katsiga: The inspiration came from a hearing impaired team with whom I was working at a non-governmental organisation called Godisa Technologies Trust based in Otse, Botswana. During our interactions, I realised that the batteries of the hearing aids were running out and they were not available in rural settings and they were expensive. The input to the design came from hearing impaired people.
The company’s exceptional pricing model is of significant value to the hearing impaired, especially in developing countries, such as Botswana where access to disposable income is limited and the correct batteries for hearing aids are scarce. Deaftronics aims to empower the hearing impaired by creating employment opportunities and helping them better integrate into the community.
We realised that in order to meet our goal of lowering hearing loss and its burden we would need to bring the hearing assessment and resources out to the communities that lack access to specialists or the ability to pay for high-cost equipment.
This is where mDREET comes in. mDREET, which stands for Mobile, Detection, Research, Education, Equipment, and Training, is a tried and tested health care programme that looks to break down these barriers by taking a holistic approach to solving the challenges posed.
With our innovative smartphone hearing test app, pure tone, we managed to bring a cost-effective and mobile way to screen for hearing impairments to those communities that traditionally lacked access.
Traditional hearing screening costs $50 whereas Deaftronics mobile screening costs only $1. This massive reduction enables screening for everyone hence improving easy access to quality healthcare services for the most vulnerable communities in Africa. However, Deaftronics is facing challenges in finding distributors in African countries and making sure that the product is sold at an affordable price with distributors.
The uptake of hearing aids in Africa is a fraction of the need.
Mmegi: What social issue were you responding to in venturing into this business?
Katsiga: Hearing impairment is a hidden disability. Without appropriate intervention, it may have a significant impact on quality of life. Its impact can occur at any phase of a person’s life cycle. Hearing loss impacts a child’s development by causing delays in language acquisition, impeding school progress, and by developing a negative self-image. Hearing loss impacts later in adult life and causes serious problems by impeding vocational development and employment and by creating economic difficulties.