The Sunday News
AT a time when the Government, through the Zim Asset blueprint, has reiterated the need for home-grown solutions to solve some of the country’s problems, a 26-year-old Bulawayo man has managed to provide an answer to the country’s focus in developing a competency in technology. The app, called MYSELF (My Simple Early Learning Facility) is designed for schoolchildren and is helpful especially for early childhood development.
Sunday Leisure correspondent Bruce Chimani (BC) caught up with computer whiz-kid Luke Ngwena (LN) to find out more about his work. Luke is the first born son of Mr and Mrs Ngwena from Nketa 9 in Bulawayo.
Excerpts of the interview are below.
BC: Tell us about the app that you developed?
TN: MYSELF is software custom made for Zimbabwean preschool children, teachers and parents. The software introduces children to the proper use of computers and software applications at an early stage, at the same time teaching them various fundamental ECD (Early Childhood Development) concepts.
The app is made up of a user-friendly interface for the child that can use any local language such as Ndebele, Shona or English. It is thus very consistent with the Zim Asset initiative that seeks to see locally designed solutions to local problems. The system is a desktop application that does not require the host computer to be connected to the internet for it to function, making it efficient and affordable for local schools and homes.
The software is useful in a pre-school setup as it achieves the following:
- The system enables the adult to register pupils to the database, as well as remove them;
- The system enables a pupil to login and to view tutorials;
- The system provides an instructional voice facility for every tutorial/activity;
- The system allows children to answer provided questions by selecting an appropriate response from a given selection of possible responses (multiple choice based questions) as well as view immediate feedback on a selected response;
- Ultimately, the system can be tailor made to teach the pupils specific lessons as is required by the teachers and this can be done in any language of choice.
BC: It’s pretty interesting that you thought of developing that software. So, when did you develop an interest for technology or ICTs?
TN: My interest, or love, rather, for technology started from a very tender age. In fact, I could say from the time I was in preschool, I developed a fondness for technical gadgets and gizmos, games and the earliest applications and it became my dream to become a name to reckon with in the field of ICTs. When my friends were making wire cars, I was trying to figure out how to make a broken calculator work! My view is that technology solves problems and is thus a revolutionary tool to improve the lives of people, in Zimbabwe, and all around the world.
BC: What and who has been your greatest inspiration on this particular trail?
TN: Growing up, I drew inspiration from the likes of local icons such as Econet Wireless founder Dr Strive Masiyiwa to international greats such as Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg.
However, my greatest inspiration has always been my mother who has been in ECD for over 10 years and has contributed immensely in my fondness for small children.
BC: Where do you see Zimbabwe’s technology currently?
TN: As a country, a lot still needs to be done to improve our standing in the fast paced technological world but our strides, though not major, are in the right direction. At a recent Computer Society of Zimbabwe Regional Summer School, it was made open by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that Zimbabwe ranked close to the bottom of the list in terms of the ICT economies.
However, if more policies and platforms can be put in place to support local ICT products such as the MYSELF preschool app, we will get there. Provision of technological solutions is a fertile field for socio-economic growth that is just waiting to be harnessed.
BC: So what kind of improvements would these be? Policy-wise do you think we as a country are in the right direction?
TN: The Zim Asset blueprint is an excellent way to assert the impact of ICTs on the growth of our budding entrepreneurs such as myself as it gives an opportunity for us to profitably market home grown solutions.
Nevertheless, it is still very challenging to set up an IT business from scratch, as my current and ongoing experience is teaching me. Access to funds to establish the business still remains a daunting task. The Government, as well as the private sector, must endeavour to sponsor or incubate young minds until a point where we can fly using our own wings.
BC: Where do you see yourself in the next five or 10 years.
TN: In the coming years, I project big things. It is my steadfast vision to have spread the software across all the preschools and primary schools of Bulawayo by the end of next year, and to infiltrate other cities of Zimbabwe forthwith, such that after five years, the MYSELF app will be a formidable force to reckon with nationwide. I want to be so big such that by then I will be installing the system free to charity houses, children’s homes and orphanages countrywide to also cater for them as every single child is so important. Well, in the next decade, Africa, and the world is simply there for the taking.
BC: What challenges have you faced?
Among other drawbacks, chief among them mobility issues – having to commute or walk great distances in an effort to market the product to different schools. There is also arduous business formalisation processes and of course issues to do with lack of start-up capital to fully establish the venture. I also struggle to balance between formal day job, which is a necessity in order to meet day to day expenses, and development of the software.
