Sowertech, mLab Southern Africa’s first gold member, is a comprehensive mobile applications and services company.
Established in 2011 by two founders, the company has already formed partnership with Teamcom for industry network support and started to provide services targeting the security and logistics secto
rs in South Africa. Specifically, Sowertech has benefited from mLab incubation by receiving access to subsidised office space which is equipped with a test bed for Nokia device applications.
This interview was conducted in June 2012 with Nathi Tshabalala, Director of Projects and Technologies and Obakeng Matlhoko, Director of Operations and Finance at Sowertech.
Nathi and Obakeng at Sowertech
iDisc: Is this the first company that you have started, and what drove you towards it?
Yes it is. Sowertech’s primary objective is to stimulate the use of mobile device applications among Africans.
After working together as consultants at a small consulting company we decided to pursue a business “project”. We attended a course in ICT Business Building in the Knowledge Economy that was hosted by South Africa-Finland Partnership on ICT (SAFIPA). This course was focused on creating a mobile technology ecosystem in South Africa. We were also exposed to the infoDev initiative, mLab SA incubator. After we received certification from SAFIPA Obakeng and I decided to organise Sowertech as a mobile applications competency centre.
iDisc: How did you finance your start-up operations and how long did it take for the company to become self-sustainable?
Sowertech was funded by bootstrapping. We were supported by our families, relatives and our industry partner Teamcom at the beginning. We also worked on short consulting jobs during that period. The company has recently won the Gauteng Innovation Challenge that was sponsored by the Gauteng Provincial Government. From this competition the company received seed funding as well as access to sell mobile applications and services to the Gauteng Government and other Government departments.
iDisc: What are your major products and services and how are they unique? What is your competition?
Sowertech along with its partners are currently selling a mobile training solution called Q-ToolTM to government and enterprise organisations. Q-ToolTM is the innovation that we had entered for the Gauteng Innovation Challenge.
We have a mobile application that is in advanced development phase called Afta-Robot. This is a public transport application that is targeted at the local taxi industry. Afta-Robot is due to be piloted in August 2012. We expect this android based mobile application to be used by taxi commuters in the South African public transport context.
For Afta-Robot, our competition is WhereIsMyTransport, TMT, Digicore and Trapeze who offer similar applications. Our strength is that Afta-Robot is being jointly developed by the Sowertech and a Western Gauteng Transport Council. The significance of this relationship is that the application is supported by a taxi operator in the industry which greatly improves technology acceptance.
Other than mobile applications development and integration, Sowertech also provides mobile website services and mobile strategy consultancy to organisations such as SMEs and larger companies.
Nokia Testing Station at mLab
iDisc: Who are your clients and how many do you have?
Sowertech is now service provider to Gauteng Enterprise Propeller, which is an entrepreneurship support organisation, to provide mobile website and mobile application development services for small businesses based in the Gauteng Province. You may say that the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller is our first client as a result.
iDisc: How are you focusing on expanding your user community? How will you promote and market your products?
We will expand our user community through our partners for each project. For enterprise applications we will partner with mobile network operators such as MTN, Vodacom, Cell C & 8ta through their mobile business solutions entities. We will also partner with our joint development partners in projects targeted for consumers (appstore download type applications). The GEP also provides a platform for service providers to access customers for mobi websites and applications.
The mLab community website also provides a platform for Sowertech to advertise its services to members and potential users of our applications.
iDisc: Are you planning to patent/have you patented your product and do you see any obstacles in doing so?
Sowertech does plan produce patentable intellectual property through avenues such as copyright licensing. We have not yet patented a product as we have not released any product in the market yet.
The obstacles that we envisage with this is that it is expensive to register an international patent and that the South African patent office does not have a electronic means of submitting patent applications.
On the positive side…Sowertech is based at The Innovation Hub, and through the Hub we have access to subsidised intellectual property advisory services.
iDisc: What was the biggest challenge in starting an innovative business in South Africa?
The South African business environment is quite bureaucratic and therefore, it takes an estimated 6 weeks to register a company, 4 weeks to register for tax compliance, as part of compliance all business have to be verified for Preferential Procurement (BBBEE Act).
South Africa has a business environment that is dominated by multi national corporations that also compete for business with SME companies.
Banking regulations make it tough for SMEs to access startup finance.
Lastly, information about government support services is not freely available. Internet data packages are expensive as compared to other countries in Africa.
iDisc: Who are the shareholders of Sowertech (Pty) Ltd.?
There are three shareholders of Sowertech (Pty) Ltd, namely, Nathi Tshabalala, Obakeng Matlhoko and Chris Heinermann (industry partner/seed investor).
iDisc: How has your company benefited from business incubation?
Sowertech has benefited from mLab incubation by receiving access to subsidised office space which is equipped with a test bed for Nokia device applications. The test platform is equipped with the current mark devices including their new offering, Nokia Lumia phone.
We also have had access to technical training (programming) and market information from the mLab.
This has greatly reduced the startup cost that we would have incurred should the facility had not been available.
We have yet to access funding from incubation but we would be glad if we could meet potential funders, preferably angel investors via the online platform.
iDisc: What is your message to funders/supporters and what is your message to the users of your product?
We would like to inform funders that Sowertech is a growing mobile innovations company in one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. We are committed to succeed in stimulating the usage of mobile devices by building applications that can make peoples lives easier. Sowertech is set up and ready to deploy products in the African smart phone and feature appstore market.
Bios of Sowertech Directors
Nathi Tshabalala : Director – Projects and Technologies
Nathi is a director and co-founder of Sowertech (Pty) Ltd, he has graduated with an IT Diploma at Vaal University of Technology and is in the process of completing his Bachelor of Technology in Business Information Systems at the University of Johannesburg. He has worked for Matlhoko Consulting (Matcon) since 2008 as an IT Manager and consulting as a project manager.
Nathi Tshabalala is the Projects and Technology Director at Sowertech (Pty) Ltd and is responsible for the execution of software development projects. His recent involvement in a software development project was in 2010 where the scope involved the successful development and installation of the Public Transport Management Information System for the North West Provincial Government. The project was developed in a joint-venture with Steward Scott International.
Through the South Africa – Finland Partnership on ICT (SAFIPA) he received training and a certificate of achievement in the ICT and Mobile Business Building Programme.
Obakeng Matlhoko : Director – Operations and Finance
Obakeng is a director and co-founder of Sowertech (Pty) Ltd, he has graduated with a BCom Accounting Degree at the University of South Africa and has completed a Programme Certificate in Logistics Management at the University of Johannesburg. He has worked for Matlhoko Consulting (Matcon) since 2008 as a Finance Manager and consulting as a project manager. Obakeng has also worked at all the “Big Four” Audit Firms in South Africa on different assignments from vacation student to an auditor.
Obakeng Matlhoko is the Finance & Operations Director at Sowertech (Pty) Ltd and is responsible for the administration of software development projects. His recent involvement in a software development project was in 2010 where the scope involved the successful development and installation of the Public Transport Management Information System for the North West Provincial Government. The project was developed in a joint-venture with Steward Scott International.
Through the South Africa – Finland Partnership on ICT (SAFIPA) he received training and a certificate of achievement in the ICT and Mobile Business Building Programme.
Download the company brochure here.