Solar IT power for rural schools
AYOUNG Durban entrepreneur is designing solar-powered IT laboratories and internet cafés for impoverished rural communities throughout the country and across borders into the rest of the African continent.
Jonathan Michael, 36, director and founder of information technology firm giveITback, together with his wife Marina, based in Briardene, has supplied internet-enabled, solar-powered IT laboratories to 40 rural schools over the past three years and recently completed testing of his latest IT solution, “Dandylion”, a wi-fi sharing hotspot. His firm, which he started with one bakkie, now employs 10 people and was named among the finalists in the KZN Exporter of the Year Awards in the new exporter category last week.
The awards ceremony, on October 19, is hosted by the Durban Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with Transnet Port Terminals.
Michael, who matriculated at Woodlands Secondary in Pietermaritzburg, obtained an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) qualification and went on to obtain a post graduate diploma in business advertising at the Sydney Institute of Technology in Australia (now TAFE NSW). He returned to South Africa in 2003 and worked in various positions ranging from insurance salesman, IT technician, project manager and training co-ordinator before officially opening his IT business as a side venture in 2011. His first business was one of the first online stores in South Africa, selling saris, which he said failed because customers wanted to try garments on before buying.
“At the end of the month I would spend my money quickly and I thought ‘instead of wasting it let me spend it quickly on something that could potentially give me income’. I bought a whole lot of gadgets, paid for research and development, a website and bought the domain,” he said.
He also registered his current business and bought business cards, several years before he intended operating the firm.
“Never start a part-time job. If you are stuck and need extra money never give in to the temptation to go and work an extra job because that is your opportunity to start a part-time business,” Michael said.
While Michael was working as a project manager for a Durban firm, he decided it was time to open his IT business on the side and started supplying schools with IT laboratories.
“And then the project management job just fell through and I was just grateful that I had all the other things in place for the business, the cards, website and bank account. I used to put my savings from my salary into the bank account, ” he said.
Michael said he initially started supplying rural schools with IT laboratories set up in existing classrooms, sponsored by corporate companies. He would sit with a database of schools, shortlist them and contact the principals before visiting to assess infrastructure and security.
“I was specific and told them ‘I am not giving you a computer lab, I am only visiting your school so we can assess it’. Then I would walk in already knowing that these people don’t have the infrastructure. The teacher would take me to a room that has 70 children and say ‘you can use this room’. Their classrooms were either too small or there wasn’t a spare classroom, sometimes there was no electricity or not enough security,” he said.
“But after all of this saying ‘no’, I thought ‘there must be something else, a way to bring the computer lab to the children’,” Michael said.
He came up with the idea of setting up a computer laboratory in a shipping container, but he battled to get sponsors to accept the concept.
“I just built one and thought, if they see it then we will be able to sell because people want to touch it and see it working,” he said.
Poynting was the first corporate to sponsor a solar-powered container laboratory for Umhloti Primary School in 2015, and in May this year, giveITback exported its first multi-purpose solar power container to Rwanda. There are plans to supply a client there to export to the rest of the continent.
“It’s the only one of its kind. Half of it is a clinic and the other side is an internet cafe,” Michael said.
Michael’s company has also established two internet cafés sponsored by multi-national renewable energy firm Enel Green Power in the Eastern Cape, which have been handed over to the community to run as small businesses.
“It was created with the entrepreneur in mind and how much they could make a day. I am trying to franchise it so people can apply to the bank for a loan,” Michael said.
His latest innovation is Dandylion, a community wi-fi sharing hotspot he is marketing to sponsors and tuck-shop owners to provide internet access to customers.
The device allows multiple users to buy R5 tokens to connect to wi-fi for 30 minutes.
“I like Always On but it can’t help kids in rural communities, so we designed our own wi-fi sharing hotspot and the best part is that it has an offline content server which provides free access to educational content that children can use to do their assignments,” he said.