How GEEKULCHA is enabling platforms for Innovation, Creativity and Local Talent

2021 #Top15YoungGeeks Nominee and finalist

Many Young South African, including myself, have somehow been affected by what had transpired on this month, 45 years ago. Though it had been an issue even before 16 June 1976, it is still a problem today. You can easily trace current — related developments and levels of thinking within diverse communities. But, honestly, up to now, I don’t think there is anyone to point a figure at.

As for many, those series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children was an eye-opener, creating a strong reference and guide towards their continuous work and projects. With a sole or collaborative mission to build a sustainable environment and a better future for the next generation of Youth in South Africa.

Jumping back to 2021, a lot has been trialed and tested. However, everything is moving too fast for developing countries to catch up. This is not the case for Africa alone, it’s everywhere most caused by the adoption of technology — its impact and ability to transform almost anything. A lot of prescriptions have been publicly written and made freely available, especially on the internet — on what measures to take to successfully adapt or maintain a balanced evolution like what we have, see now.

The truth is, as much as that’s important, where we find ourselves today looks more like a no-man's land. Sometimes with a feeling of deliberateness to deprive and restrict. Again, the same thing applies here, there is and will be no one to point a figure at. The situation and possibilities are far much open ‘to the serious’ and enthusiastic pack. We just have to be true to ourselves, make time for deep work, and collaborate.

It always seems impossible until it’s done. — Nelson Mandela

Part of the many is Geekulcha. Established 15 March 2013, by Mixo and Tiyani with a direct focus and goal to bring everyone up to speed, either through sharing information, talent or resources within the technology domain to build a progressive movement forward.

Focus

Our focus is on empowering young geeks through ICT skills development and training while giving them a taste of what awaits them in the big world through industry exposure

Goal

The ultimate goal is to ensure that the South African tech ecosystem is competitive and as they build cool technological solutions, there is an element of sustainability as much as possible.

I discovered Geekulcha while trying to answer a similar question;

How might we as a nation reach a point where, everyone is paying attention of what’s happening around them and inspire their thinking and decision making, while protecting, prioritising and advocating a better tomorrow for the next generations to come, especially in Africa?

By that time, I was also in the process of changing my worldview, perceptions, and career. I won’t share that here — now, but it was a great moment of hope even though I did not know much about the ecosystem or the team, finding such a group of people motivated me to go further. To an extent of becoming involved in part of their mission, programs, and initiatives.

Today, I can proudly state that throughout my adjudication journey from Geekulcha VacWork #gkVacWork to Geekulcha Student Society #GKSSC and now Top 15 Young Geeks the desire from many South African Youth and various-diverse communities to learn and start working is unprecedented. But not yet sufficient effort.

Fast-forward today, the organization is on its fifth successful #Top15YoungGeeks edition. from;

• 2017 — Sustainable Geek Culture

The very first edition profile Geeks building solutions or empowering the nation towards a sustainable livelihood.

• 2018 — Igniting A Local Geek Culture

At the forefront of skills development that matters for localized solutions development and striving for mass impact.

• 2019 — Smart Growing World

The world is getting smarter and smarter — the 2019 Top 15 Young Geeks were chosen based on the role they are playing to help civilization adapt in the smart growing world.

• 2020 — Enterprising Mankind

From a social, civic, and economic participation perspective, the 2020 edition of #Top15YoungGeeks was centered towards a Geek Culture that helps elevate mankind.

• 2021 — Hacking The Culture

Herewith the Top 15 Young Geeks doing the work beyond the surface within the local Geek Culture.

With an added feedback from myself, in the end, you will find the top 15 finalists for 2021.

geekulcha.dev

Overview: Top 15 Young Geeks

Having worked and empowered youth even in the most rural and remote areas, Geekulcha realized that we have so many hidden tech treasures in different parts of the country. Against this backdrop, the youth organization decided to create the Top 15 Young Geeks in 2017 as part of Youth Month to recognize, profile and celebrate the young geeks who are going beyond tech solutions development and also playing a role in nation-building through digital skills.

The Top 15 Young Geeks program is in proud association with ITWeb and Brainstorm Magazine and is themed “Hacking The Culture” for the year 2021. Undoubtedly, the past 12 months have been the most devastating months for mankind in recent years. Everything has gone virtual, young Geeks around the world have increased investment in home office infrastructure and spent ample time building solutions that would help mankind adapt and navigate out of the crisis we are in.

As judges, you are requested to help find and profile the Top 15 Young Geeks for the year 2021.

Criteria

1. Tech/Digital Capability: Does this Geek look like he/she has acquired enough skills (especially through self-development) and put them to real use?
2. Strives for Impact: The work they are doing is creating impact or is likely to create impact.
3. Contributions to the local tech ecosystem: Has taken the effort to contribute or has a plan to help others grow in the tech or digital space
4. Future — likelihood to be the next best tech thing: Is the candidate a Geek of the future? What is their mindset? What message are they portraying for the local Geek Culture?

The impressiveness of projects and work: Does the work or projects done blow your socks off or speak to a great need? Are they likely to be able to offer an even greater impact? How is the innovation or localized angle of the work/projects?

1. Tjitjibale Comfort Tlaka

Tjitjibale Comfort Tlaka

Organization: CRSP dsgn (Pty) Ltd

Role: Software Engineer

Github LinkedIn

Tjitjibale Comfort Tlaka is a Software Engineer at an organization called CRSP dsgn. He was born on 1996 March 30 in Limpopo (Marble Hall) and he’s currently living in Pretoria.

He completed his matric in 2014, being passionate about computers he enrolled for a National Diploma in IT with Tshwane University of Technology. In 2018 he was accepted for a scholarship with Google Africa & Andela for mobile Development.

He completed his National diploma in 2019 and he then enrolled for a B.tech with the same institution, He completed B.tech in 2020. In his Tech journey, he has worked as a Student Mentor and Student Assistant for the Tshwane University of Technology helping IT Students with their academics. He has also worked as a Software Developer and currently works as a Software Engineer at a company that is focused on Coding & Robotics.

Projects

• Pothole detection project with Google Africa
• Low-cost robotics with CRSP DSGN
• Build for SDG 2020 with Andela and Facebook developers circle

What it would mean

Being part of the Top 15 would be an honor because it will open many opportunities for me in networking in this industry and growing my name.

Message to South African Geeks

Everything is possible, with determination and working smart you will reach your goals.

Motivation

I believe that I deserve to be part of this list because as a Qualified professional I believe in giving back to the Tech Community, with the vast experience I have been working with Highly known organizations like Google Africa & Andela. I have created a Youtube Channel called Tech_with_comf where I am giving back to the Tech Community by teaching young people about Technology and its impact. I was also part of the group that wrote the new CAPS curriculum for Coding & Robotics in the Department of Education.

I was also featured on the show called 48 Hours about the work I do in Coding and Robotics, With the little, I have put into the Industry I believe I deserve to be part of this list.

Feedback

Personality

A perfect personality, with the firmness of purpose. The traits of his humble beginnings and interest in the tech ecosystem, combined with a rare and less locally promoted domain knowledge shift a needle, to an extent of inspiring a lot of communities with awe.

Motivation

There is a lot of effort and commitment to reach such milestones. Bust with a great open mindset and clear overview of the real world, by just getting evolved, collaborations, and understanding your position and goal the journey will be a fulfilling one with greater opportunities towards your best interests. A network of technology progressives with great ideas building valuable projects, Tjitjibale has created and is following his path making him one of the next proudly African founders/entrepreneurs.

Focus

Today information that can help common groups of interest to solve institutional problems is caught between destructive dialogues, though some are constructive and exposed like education. Either in analog or digital, not much of the general public make it easier or promotes network effects of similar talent and projects. That requires persistent determination and patience, but it is a work in progress.

Content and Willingness to continually learn.

There is almost zero learn-by-building content created by local tech enthusiasts and operators, which is another domain that if our communities learn with the realization of the value and impact such creativity can create and even in turn reward the creator. Giving reason or inspiration to their families, friends, followers, and colleagues, even a first-time user to engage the content of that respective platform directed to be consumed.

Lastly, content creation itself is gaining tremendous momentum in terms of adding value for both the creators and users, from products currently being build worldwide to facilitate and scale these new markets. Over time as Africa progresses in talent, ecosystems, and capital allocation, it is visionaries and orientated entrepreneurs like Tjitjibale who will be at the forefront of building real products and solutions that people want, collaborating in a real project that improves civilization, especially in Africa. Ambitious projects require more technical founders.

Advise

Continue to be a self-led learner, an advocate of collaboration, and a builder of both soft/hardware solving real community problems affecting their daily activity. Some investments for a more open and 360-degree visuals studio will greatly improve the content, impression, and career.

From his clear and often underrated advice, navigate the real world smarter

2. Luke Draper

Luke Draper

Organization: Hero Entertainment / Indie Art Africa

Role: Owner and Lead Developer

Instagram LinkedIn Github

Luke Draper (BaPVA Hons. Wits 2015) is a performer, theatre technician, and game designer who founded Hero Entertainment in 2018 to redefine play and merge arts and technology specializing in mobile game development and Augmented Reality (AR).

He has produced games such as RapSteady that made it to the number 1 spot on the Apple Appstore in the music game category and has created an Instagram filter portfolio that as of today, has been seen by 29 million people, with its most popular filter being “Musical Theatre Roulette”. As well as a proudly South African filter “How Kiff Are You?” created for local artist The Kiffness.

During the pandemic, he acts as the Technical Director for South Africa’s theatre-based streaming network, &SCENE (www.andscene.live), competed internationally in Hackathons and Game Jams, and has started an online gallery www.indieartafrica.com (Which achieved a nomination for the Roshgold Young Business Achiever Award 2021) all with intentions to jumpstart the South African arts sector.

He has had 2 projects shortlisted for the Huawei Innovation Awards in 2020 and won Best Gaming Solution at the MTN App of the year awards 2020. Currently, he is involved in the MTN young developers program as well as the Global Young Innovators program, where 30 innovators from South Africa and 30 from the UK work collectively for 3 months on creative problem-solving solutions.

Projects on the horizon include working with the Art and Technology institutes in America as well as creating educational materials for the Two Oceans Aquarium funded by the Global Young Innovators program with his co-developer from the UK.

Projects

• Creator of www.indieartafrica.com, an online art gallery created to showcase and provide artists with a means to make a living.
• Current Technical Director of &SCENE, a theatre-based streaming network that raised R200 000 for several charities during the 2020 lockdown and has created online escape rooms.
• Created Several AR theatre-based games including Musical Theatre Roulette as well as a proudly South African filter “Kiffmeter” posted on the Instagram account HeroEntertainment58.
• As well as using Augmented Reality and social media for protest with the LightSARed campaign filter.
• #1 Music-based game “RapSteady”.
• A 2-time nominee for Huawei Innovation awards 2020. Winner of Best Gaming Solution at MTN App of the year Awards 2020.

What it would mean:

Artists seem to think that they can’t achieve in Non-creative fields and coders sometimes get stuck in their ways of creating, I want to be an example of how if we break through mental blocks we can create some amazing work. Being on this list would really add some validity to the work I’ve created, and my way of thinking that we don’t all just belong in one box.

Honestly, getting an I.T. job without an I.T. degree is challenging, to be recognized by an organization that recognizes talent beyond academic qualifications could help me buffer my portfolio and help me get onto projects and teams that I would not normally be considered for. I’ve applied to a lot of grant programs for funding for my next projects, and some programs look to invest in the person, not just the idea. So any other recognition I could get would greatly help my process.

Message to South African Geeks:

I honestly think South Africans as problem-solvers are built differently and we don’t give ourselves enough credit for it. If you can meet deadlines where half the time we don’t have electricity or a reliable public transport system, coupled with high data costs and spotty connectivity, then you’ve achieved more than those that would give up experiencing just one of those issues.

Motivation:

As you can see from my bio I do a lot of everything, funding and self-starting all the projects I would like to see in the world. I think that it is all a testament to alternative forms of learning because I achieved all of my technical expertise and knowledge from Youtube tutorials. This means if I can get all of this accomplished through creativity and grit, that anyone else can and I’d love for more people to know that.

I’m 29 and started focusing on developer work because live events closed down because of Covid, and in a world where people are afraid to pivot in their career paths, I want to lead by example. When we were in the hard lockdown I found a way to help train and put together a team to run up to 7 live shows online a day and still made time to code my own projects in the evening, but I realized that no one is going to be successful for me so best I buckle down (we were all stuck indoors anyway).

My passion is blending Art and Technology, and be that through web design, augmented reality musical games, or educational games I’m not ruling out any ventures and I’m not going to be slowing down any time soon.

Feedback

Independent entrepreneur

To have specific knowledge is one thing, but to have that driven by technical skills and passion has evident potential for disruptions and novelty. Creating “Action Tendencies” to move throughout projects and the motivation to make efforts. Luke’s entrepreneurial passion mindset led to higher levels of goal commitments and through continuous iterations finding new products and founder market fit for launch or potential collaborations.

Awareness

As mentioned, it is currently hard to get either employed or recognized locally without any formally perceived experience and unfortunately, this might take a bit longer to resolve. But we are all optimistic there are founders building on that. Other reasons might be due to how conjected the path is, or at least too gated and biased.

Commit to a goal.

However, over time the ways of learning and building successful projects, that ultimately become successful businesses doing what you love were ridiculed and voided as insufficient business models. We see the advent of platforms that remove such misconceptions and friction. It is great to see local operators with an intense positive feeling toward entrepreneurial tasks and activities relevant to the entrepreneur’s self-identity double-downed in such growing marketplaces at a higher level, then creating valuable content to attract other multimedia enthusiasts.

In a broad perspective, Luke’s eloquent “Message to South African Geeks” and Africa’s diversified potential pose a serious reminder: If we need Art and Technology & The Passion Economy to grow while creating value, we need to start celebrating any small wins or milestones within our communities.

Vision, Advice, and Build in public (BiP)

Fun and play are gradually being reinstated back in our daily activities, with no intention of harm, but create recreational, professional, and incremental value. Such commitment reminds me of two favorite blogs by [ https://li.substack.com/archive] and [https://www.matthewball.vc/all] both have somehow clear descriptions of Luke’s vision and path.

To summarize, innovations in the African Passion streams will represent new businesses that allow workers/folks to compete against non-production. In turn, these individuals can develop new products/services that serve previous non-consumers and over-served consumers. This means that across different industries, new Passion Economy platforms have the potential to disrupt incumbents and alternatively restore our identity and culture.

3. Melvin Kisten

Organisation: Sol Plaatje University

Role: Junior Software Developer

Twitter | GitHub | LinkedIn

Personality and Future Ambitions

An aspiring Software Engineer, Melvin Kisten is looking for a challenging role in a reputable organization to utilize his programming and soft skills for the growth of the organization as well as to enhance his knowledge about new emerging trends in the IT sector.

His passion for software development directed him to major in Applications Development at Sol Plaatje University. He completed his Diploma and an Advanced Diploma in Information and Communication Technology. During his studies, he has participated in several hackathon events, that aim to enhance the innovation culture and further establish effective collaboration. Melvin has developed several projects which were designed to meet the current IT trends and he has also acquired certifications from IBM.

He has acquired knowledge in programming styles and solutions that he still implements to this day. Upon graduating, he then registered to study Data Science with Johns Hopkins University, he furthermore started as a Junior Developer at Sol Plaatje University, where he is responsible for assisting with all aspects of software design and coding.

Projects

What it would mean:

Being part of the Top 15 Young Geeks will allow me to persistently work at the forefront of new Information Technology developments within our country and beyond, furthermore leaving a mark and playing a proactive role in the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Message to South African Geeks:

To my fellow South African Geeks, I say keep acting upon that which you believe in.

Motivation

I believe that I should be part of the top 15 given that I have demonstrated an outstanding proficiency for innovative strategies and programs for information technology systems along with my educational achievements and broad experience in this field.

Feedback

There are few trade-offs in the field of software engineering, which are very diverse, and there are many different areas of focus people may want to study. Melvin has already demonstrated an actionable mindset to navigate the best course of action. He has already considered directions to take and areas of software engineering to work on. That is essential, to recruitment and further potential collaborations.

The software industry is huge and it continues to grow every year. Having a burning desire to jump right in and learn everything you can, might help your career or position in this domain. However, it is important to recognize that even the simplest of apps can be extremely complicated with many layers of code under the hood.

Traditionally application development can be split into two areas: front-end and back-end development. The domain knowledge in these two areas is huge, and it’s rare to find somebody that knows both of these areas extremely well.

Focus and Goals

To wait for a reputable organization can definitely help in terms of security and ease of unforeseen burdens, it’s also important to understand your surroundings and what you currently have to boost your relevance. As an inspiring SE once you join such an organization, expect less of breaking and iteration, but more scaling or pivots.

To my recommendations, he has already acquired knowledge in different styles and committed to remaining a life-long learner. Making him a perfect candidate for new startups and markets. Africa is on the verge of accomodating such inspired candidates. Again, the space is not clearly open.

SA in particular already has new/different types of products and platforms evolving to address serious issues, where application software dominates the majority of product decisions: e-commerce (omnichannel businesses), marketplaces, and call on demands. Due to time, I cannot list them here, research a few, use their product and write and talk about them (praise or critic) as much as you can.

Forget about imposter syndrome and attention, overtime such content and technical experience will build up and speak on your behalf. Be it in seeking co-founders, accelerator projects, or impressions.

Though it may currently seem difficult to start and build stuff, it is always rewarding to become involved early on in the idea or project

Overview and Advice

Even though a decision has been made, figuring out which area interests you the most, and heavily concentrated on mastering that area.

Few points that can be of assistance:

~ In such early day, it’s better to: Focus on One Particular Area of Study

~ Always Keep Learning

~ Understand the Code

~ Communication is Key

~ Make Each Job Interview or meetup a Learning Opportunity

4. Simphiwe Radebe

Organization: Brain Cap Developers

Role: Founder & CEO

Twitter

I am a 17-year-old teenager who enjoys programming, listening to music, and playing games. I’m very kind and think of myself as smart, but can also be a bit impatient. I enjoy listening to beats to help me write code faster. People say I’m very quiet at times and humble. I enjoy helping others. It’s something I aim to do.

I’m a software developer, and all my experience is self-taught. I specialize in mobile applications and work very well with mobile apps. I was introduced to programming at the age of 14 and I’ve been learning at home about making websites. After that, I was interviewed to appear in my local newspaper for making my school a website at 16 years old, while learning from home. I inspired a few friends of mine and they decided to learn more about programming too. That’s when we started my company called Brain Cap Developers at the age of 16.

I thought that making websites isn’t enough, that’s when I started playing around with android applications. I enjoyed working with them more, so I decided to learn as much as I can in my free time, whilst still in Grade 11. In 2020, lockdown began and I didn’t have much to do. I continued sharpening my skills and when we went back to school, I saw the long process that must be done every day before we get into school. After identifying that problem, I came up with a solution to help make the process move faster. I created an app that will allow the learners to submit the screening info so we can get to class faster. That was too plain for the app then I thought of more features to add.

My most “prized possession” is my HELP App which sends your location to your enlisted contacts and sends them your location in an emergency. The app is targeted at women and the emergency is only triggered with the word HELP. No need to take your phone out of your pocket/bag.

I aim to bring as many easily accessible solutions to the country. That’s my passion. And I try my utmost best to do that, no matter what is in my way.

Projects

• Dumela (Secure Chat and File Transfer system for Government)
• Educare

What it would mean:

No matter how young you are, you can do anything you want to do. If you have a passion for programming, attempt to learn as much as you can. There is so much to do that could be very beneficial to you and the people around you. No idea is ever too little or too big, don’t dismiss your ideas. Work towards them and achieve your goal. We can all do this, let’s say focused and do all we can to reach our goal, nothing will stop us. I’ll end with this quote: “Knowing Is Not Enough; We Must Apply. Wishing Is Not Enough; We Must Do.” — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe. Thank you.

Motivation

I deserve to be part of this list because I want to inspire the youth to get into this space and learn more about this interesting industry. My school has many people who don’t know what to do with their life after school. And I think learning something in programming will give them hope for a better future. I want to show people that solutions can be created using programming and technology by young people.

Feedback

Most predominant businesses and startups today were influenced by the founder’s early curiosity. But essentially through persistent determination, iterating from anything OK to something people may want or solve a specific problem. Ultimately building loyalty and adding value to users. In this case, Simphiwe’s profile and personality traits are a beacon of hope for both his career and the local developer ecosystem.

Determination

Though, times have changed for better collaborations and access to resources. He is conscious of such factors. Hence, the willingness of using inspiration, building-projects-in-public, and introducing peers to new possibilities keeps him hopeful for a better future. That should serve anyone paying attention, the level of confidence he has as a young entrepreneur.

The simplest form of determination is sheer willfulness. When you want something, you must have it, no matter what, sometimes even trickier to isolates its components. Because determination implies your willfulness is balanced by discipline.

I for one like being on the ground, because that’s unfortunately where one can really see problems at first sight and build relationships that will help you build better products or platforms just by observing what’s around you. He understands that;

“ There is so much to do that could be very beneficial to you and the people around you. No idea is ever too little or too big, don’t dismiss your ideas.”

None of the ideas or projects people should be working on now are supposed to be a success, but continuously learning, patience, and desire a lot can be archived in this industry.

Summary

To build an MVP or ideate is easy, the process of validating a hypothesis from idea to action, the product life-cycle and successfully bringing the product to market is another team intensive skill. So far the focus to mobile-first is a good path for reach. Brain Cap Developers can become an important project or community of devs with the same interests, but diverse domain expertise for stronger collaboration and next software businesses.

A drive and motivation to work on difficult problems are at their best high. Such an audacious solution requires more support(co-founders), advice, and capital for them to scale. For now, a lot get inconvenienced by the same thing as him, but fewer people can dive in and quickly solve the problem. Going slow to go fast, with a handful of people will definitely make the vision of “Applying and Doing’ a reality.

5. Azile Mdleleni

Organization: University of Pretoria

Role: MSc Geoinformatics Student

Twitter | Github | LinkedIn

I obtained my BSc and BScHons in Geoinformatics from the University of Pretoria and am currently pursuing my MSc Geoinformatics. For my honors degree, my research focused on investigating daily struggles in informal settlements and visualizing them using various visualization tools. A web map (i.e. highlight areas that need upgrading) and a story map (i.e. narrative illustration of a typical day in the community) were produced as tools to communicate with the community and other stakeholders, such as local government. For this project, I was awarded the 2020 Esri Young Scholar Award and the project was presented at two international conferences. Currently, for my MSc, I am investigating the value of addresses for individuals in informal settlements compared to the general perception.

During my BScHons, I had the opportunity to participate in an international transdisciplinary module, called integrated Project Oriented Learning Environment (iPOLE). For this module, I worked with students from different disciplines at international universities (i.e. China, United Kingdom, and Switzerland) to create a product that would promote the canton of Aargau in Switzerland for organizations that are losing employees due to the brain drain. This module allowed me to learn new technical skills for visualizations, but also taught me soft skills as working with individuals from different cultures and in different time zones was a new experience.

Throughout my studies, I have worked to gain work experience starting with vacation work in 2016 until 2018 at ARUP and Siyazi Consulting Services and work-integrated learning (WIL) internship at the University of Pretoria in 2019. During the internship, I registered as a candidate GISc Technologist with the South African Geomatics Council and will complete my examinations and final registration in 2021. While completing my MSc, I am working as a research and teaching assistant in the department. As part of my work at the university, I have the opportunity to review and evaluate new technology that will be taught to the students and have presented some of the lectures, as a result, I have expanded my skill set. In this role, I also work closely with the students and hope to be a mentor for them.

The University of Pretoria YouthMappers chapter is the only chapter in South Africa. I have been involved in the chapter for just over three years and have served in various positions. Currently, I am the president of the chapter (I am the first female to hold this position) and work with more junior students to arrange a wide range of workshops and activities for the students. We also started a podcast, GeoPod, to expose the students to the various job opportunities available and the vibrant geospatial community in South Africa. Internationally, I have been assisting with the day-to-day administration of GeoforAll and the ISPRS WG IV/9 Geovisualization, Augmented, and Virtual Reality. I served as a mentor for OSGeo during the 2019 edition of Google Code-in. In 2020/2021, I serving as a tutor for the UN OpenGIS Initiative series of courses on PostGIS that aims to support UN Peace Operations through training 100+ individuals globally.

Projects

Azile works on visualizing stories of communities in informal settlements. For this work, she has been selected as the Esri Young Scholar in 2020. Additionally, she is also a research assistant and helps with teaching student programmatic data analysis at the University of Pretoria. In 2021, Azile became the first female president of the UP YouthMappers chapter, after serving as VP for 2 years. In this position, she leads the effort to build capacity amongst the students. She is respected amongst her peers and a real rising star.

What it would mean

This would be an amazing opportunity for me as it would hopefully bring attention to the work that we are currently doing and still needs to be done in informal settlements and in addition to hopefully making people see the value that geoinformatics has in every field.

Message to South African Geeks:

Thank you for the opportunity to show girls and young women the potential for the space that they can take up within tech in a field that has so much potential.

Motivation

I would be honored to be named one of the Top 15 Young Geeks as this would highlight the field of geoinformatics which is up and coming in the tech space and hopefully inspire girls and young women to pursue a career in this field due to all its potential. Geospatial is everywhere and not enough people are aware of the value proposition that it offers.

Feedback

Every successful, and more civilized nations understand the importance-value of balance in human knowledge or education. Hence leading in most scientific references and today’s innovative trials. Though we might wish everyone to become digitally literate, and have decent starting points. Legacy problems require a more different approach and specific knowledge. Especially in our current conditions, where dense areas continue to grow without improvements, but slowly degrading with extreme unforeseen harm.

The branch of Geoinformatics is indeed at its nascent stage, but the industry is growing at an impressive pace. Azile’s overall contributed project demonstrates a burning desire for call-to-action on a higher level, to sharing basics about the domain along the path to her goals, which is scientifically a lot of work. But with that passion for the subject, a belief of how ideas and solutions from various collaborations can benefit many it’s impressively motivating.

Engineering and Science

There is probably more reason such domains are not publicly celebrated, one being perceived as things that don’t matter. But in science; Studies take time, research takes more trials, and information ends up lost in the middle. Probably reasons why lack of community participation on such initiatives fails, or people are not educated in a lower level(Basics and fundamentals). Creating more and more barriers to improvements and other innovations.

For most, if not all the Geeks on this list understand such conditions Azile’s aiming to solve, consequences that might happen if nothing gets done and how their next ideas can be negatively impacted. Unfortunately, this is a hard problem, baked within historically made decisions, demanding all parties from Business analysts to public offices to make data-driven decisions.

Summary

The road is being paved, most of us don’t know how such domain can be disrupted, mainly because of no interest or lack of information. Bio and Geo projects will become the next global focus in a decade with tools and accessible resources that build efficient solutions enabling many people’s understanding of the biological, geological, social, temporal factors that are responsible for contributing to some of the world’s most challenging problems. Then working from there

Creativity and content(podcast & visuals) created by people who speak clearly about experienced conditions and solutions that might help in a language that other people will understand, with a space for dialogue will always reach the right people and add value. Impact-first begets incentives.

Lastly, the debate of which between engineering and science drives humanity forward it’s currently not a priority one, the fact is that they are both important. For us to have operators or scientists willing to even share their experience and content about such important matters to the public, it’s a few steps forward.

Science is discovering the essential truths about what exists in the Universe, engineering is about creating things that never existed

6. Talhah Patelia

Organization: High School

Role: School Learner

Github | LinkedIn | Youtube | Twitter

16-year-old Self-taught developer

TADHack 2019 Team Scietmeer — won the rising star award

TADHack 2020 Team Nimble — came in Top 12 Apps and was awarded a one-year internship with the Software company Contactable during 2021.

In 2020 he was the only student in his school to achieve 100% for the IT Olympiad.

Talhah is 16 years old

He is a self-taught developer

Talhah won 1st position and Gold at various science fairs in the field of Robotics, Science, and Technology. He represented SA in Tunisia in 2020 and at the Taiwan international science fair in 2021 in the fields of robotics, science, and Technology

Talhah was 13 years old when he coded his first robot.

He has developed knowledge skills and expertise in 3D printing, 3D design, coding in Node Js (express, react), CSS, HTML, Python, Arduino (C++), C#, SQL, Dart (Flutter), Bash, Pascal (Delphi), Java, IOT (internet of things), electronics, mechanics, mechanical design, manufacturing, machining, robotics, chemistry, and associated areas.

Talhah is committed to sharing his knowledge of coding and IT as well as his 3D designs with other interested students.

Talhah’s vision is not only to develop himself to the best of his ability but to develop other young minds who are interested in Technology.

Projects

• TadHack 2019 — Rising Star Award
• TadHack 2020 — (Team Nimble) Top 12 Apps, Internship with Stay Contactable, Tata Prize
• The only student in his school for achieving 100% for the IT Olympiad
• Eskom Expo 2019 — Gold
• Represented SA in Taiwan 2021 — Science Fair
• Represented SA in Tunisia 2021 — Science Fair
• North Gauteng Science Fair 2019 — Gold, 1st position GrottoBot category, 1st position 3D printing competition
• SAYESS National Science Fair 2019 — Gold
• TUT Science Fair 2019–1st position

What it would mean

I will be over the moon in excitement and happiness. I am very competitive — so I will feel fulfilled.

Message to South African Geeks

Don’t be scared to strive to make a difference and to challenge the impossible, and always remember that inefficiency is the unbeaten war against humanity.

Motivation

I have been working nonstop to learn for the last ~5 years. I would like to get acknowledged in this regard. I am hoping that this award could assist me with getting into universities and jobs. I have won many awards in the past from international all the way down to the district. And I also know some great programming jokes 😂.

Feedback

So far people who are within and understand the brutal — complex nature of the tech industry know that there is no final victory and no place is never assured, so long as there are competitors aimed at acquiring the same pool of potential customers shared across the market. It’s refreshing acknowledging that the country has young tech enthusiasts and future founders like Talhah driven to start viable businesses or projects out of at least some sense of competitiveness.

• Remain focused on what you do, less on what others do
• Continue pushing yourself and your projects/company
• Going against the grain is difficult, given not only the chance but also the manner of the failure. Trusting yourself; it’s what you did when you decided to start your own business, and it’s what you should continue to do in the face of new challenges that arise.

Summary

Like any successful ecosystem today. Talent remains the primary indicator to attract capital and a possible future exists. Talhah’s project set a high bar profile for most recruiting or collaborators in the market. With all his experience, commitment, vision to share knowledge and develop other young community minds. It’s high time to find available mobile-first/friendly platforms or build one to test a Synchronous and asynchronous offering at a wide scale.

Robotics and building hardware tools/products are not publicly discussed a lot, the reasons might be infinite but not excuses. For instance, I had organized a project last year, scheduled to begin 2021/03 with [https://www.firstinspires.org/node/3011] but the funding was a big issue, leading to a shutdown and return the money to initial investors and doners. Low marketing might have been the main issue, however, I still believe people do want such projects, but not sure where to find or access them. Seeing such competitive people and Geekulcha within the space increase more confidence to work even harder in building platforms that can facilitate and inspire many communities.

7. Ndivhuwo Khabubu

Organization: Travis

Role: Junior Fullstack Developer

Github | LinkedIn | Twitter

Self-taught Full-stack software & open-source developer with expertise in building secure enterprise software solutions.

Competitive Programming is one of the biggest challenges in the South African tech space. Ndivhuwo Started an initiative that brings together programmers/geeks so that they can compete together and also upskill themselves. The whole idea is to create the first coding league in South Africa and make programming a competitive sport.

Projects

Battle Nights. Kashings

Message to South African Geeks

To become great — not just good — you have to learn from experience. But be careful, experience can teach us to repeat poor behavior and to create bad habits. We’ve all encountered programmers with eight years of experience … the same year of experience, repeated eight times. To avoid that syndrome, look at everything you do and ask yourself, “How can I make this better?

What it would mean

This platform will open doors for me and also other geeks that I am mentoring at the moment. At the end of the day, this is a platform that can change my tech career

Motivation

I believe that the tech space in South Africa really needs to go back to the basics first. Machine Learning, AI, and many other trending technologies? NO. Let’s go back to learning algorithms, building localized solutions without talking big tech words if they don’t serve any purpose. I believe with “Battle Nights” an initiative I am building we can achieve that. An initiative that brings together developers so that we can solve algorithm problem with an idea to reach a space whereby we can use these problem-solving skills to solve social problems using technology

Feedback

If you take a look around what’s happening today in enterprise software:

• Every single large enterprise, no matter what industry you sell into or what vertical you sell into, realizes the future of their business is going to be powered by software in some way
• Companies that you may not have thought of as being big consumers of IT are now big consumers of IT.

For example, we might be aware of the structural or hard problems the continent is currently facing in many sensitive domains that really affect people on a daily basis;

• Manufacturing, Health-Pharma, Financial services, Logistics-Shipping all these companies buy a ton of software.

The number of buyers of software is just increasing every single day. That’s an interesting trend to pay attention to. I fully concur with him when coming to “trends and big tech words that, honestly don’t serve any purpose”

Unfortunately, People still think of open-source software as general programs for general problems. And, it is, but it’s also become vital for vertical markets and companies as well. It transformed the business world and fuels business performance.

Summary

The global adoption of such software excellence is continuously creating the “biggest differentiator” for top-quartile companies in an industry vertical, where they shifted from users to contributors.

Though hard to build, for things like databases, there are many customers and business cases that you could potentially be served. We’re still all very, very early in this, and that’s not to say that every enterprise software start-up is going to work. That’s far from what’s going to happen, but there are still lots of opportunities to build really large, meaningful enterprise software companies. Especially locally.

I for one questioned myself a lot about solutions that can help my organization (SterKinekor) review its business model. Unfortunately, I hit a wall and not because it’s not possible but, due to initial experience focus, a convenience approach will require massive capital and time. Regardless, I still get fascinated by how big companies today build good products in public, with widely available resources.

~ https://netflixtechblog.com/tagged/open-source

Khabubu understands the power of learning from basics, then tackles issues from the first principle, to make informed decisions, and how open-source software or Machine learning technologies can transform any hard institutional problems and processes.

Double-downing on logical efforts and build a Competitive Programming space/platforms, without no dought benefit many, however going back to basics a more friendly mobile-first project should be considered as funnels to inspire interested people to invest in more hardware and effectively compete, from a common understanding of language, problems, and strategies.

Projects like Battle Night over time, with more effort towards their intended mission, can become great streaming platforms for core programming or other technical dialogues. Even as far as gaining momentum on existing competitive platforms, build new products, APIs and even meet co-founders.

8. Yolanda Mabusela

Organisation: Contactable

Role: Intern

Twitter

Yolanda holds several positions under her belt most of them being in Leadership positions, I am an Intern at Contactable and a Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador, I am co-building Student Build Conference and a Host of the Social Geeks Podcast, and the only South African Ambassador at Auth0.

I am a tech enthusiast and enjoy solving problems, recently acquiring skills in Azure and AI, Part of my advocacy includes enabling and sharing opportunities with underrepresented communities to make tech accessible for everyone.

Projects

Not provided

Message to South African Geeks

Dear South African Geeks a lot has been said about everything, what’s left from us is to collaborate and build together, there is power in collaboration and execution.

What it would mean

It will be an honor to be part of the Top 15 Young Geeks looking at where I come from and where I am now, my journey into tech was an accident that turned into a blessing in disguise, it was not my plan to be in this industry, despite challenges I faced I still persevered and I am thriving, if I happen to be in the top 15 Young geeks finalists the award goes to all the underrepresented children that come from villages where infrastructure and resources are still a problem yet they hold a dream of being something in life, I am already an example in the community and this award will go a long way.

Motivation

Given the things I have accomplished ever since I became exposed to tech, I have not only worked towards building and upskilling myself only but I have worked towards lifting other people with me as well and collaborating with leaders from different institutions and industry experts to co-build the tech communities, I deserve to be part of the list because I have worked towards making tech accessible for all in underrepresented communities.

Feedback

An Ardent advocate

As far as I can remember Yolanda, an ardent advocate for innovative education and collaboration from her early inception to the ecosystem and a fruitful journey with Geekulcha. The goal and concern regardless of her achievements were to “make tech accessible to underrepresented communities, which I believe many others have the same vision, including Geekulcha at its core values.

She cannot do this alone, no one can fix other related problems alone. The tools and information are infinite only strategic planning or outreach effort leaves committed-interested individuals with a choice to make their acquired information easily sharable, with empathy, compassion, and from basics.

Digital Communities

It’s a simple two-word, can easily be visualized especially if your part of a meetup group or used a lot of Q&A forums. But it’s not easy to maintain and keep up the momentum, the worst will be when people start questioning your abilities and eventually shut it down. I tried it before and learned a few good lessons. there are real-world issues and politics that will creep their way inside the platform regardless of its good intent, causing complete destructive member churn. But it’s the way to go and one of the only ways I think by creating a clear vision-mission and adding friction to house rules, you will get the right founding partners(domain experts)

So far, with the rising passion economy a lot of platforms and community software that are more mobile-friendly continues to grow with better futures that will give both the users and administrators of such platform room to differentiate themselves, service, and build mission-critical MVPs:

Below are some of the essential points I think a lot do not take into consideration when thinking about digital spaces. Understanding that anything that happens inside a learning bubble/circle has the potentials to come out as something completely new or impactful, let alone the community itself becoming a new type of business. But addressing real issues with ideally better solutions.

• Depth vs strength of connection, and why purpose beats engagement Moderation
• Community/market fit, small communities with big results
• Avoiding burnout, helpful/solved scores
• Manage moderation, bias, and censorship
• Validating your community concept, and friction
• Product feedback communities, avoiding moderation debt
• The power of recommendations, marketing via community, and definitive proof of community value
• Community-led growth, and misinformation in private spaces
• Optimizing for outrage, community, and change aversion
• Getting rid of community cruft
• Measuring support community value, building advisory council, and the community department

My assumption is that Yolanda’s long-term vision or desire is definitely fit and can successfully serve well in such projects, nothing more can be said to make people move forward, but action.

“Dear South African Geeks a lot has been said about everything, what’s left from us is to collaborate and build together, there is power in collaboration and execution”

The big question then remains in how do we then move underrepresented communities into digital communities. The answer is simple, we drop the ego, pride and put in more collaborative efforts. I am available.

I can imagine a better future with more SuperHeroes like Yolanda or folks in Inspiring organizations like: https://linktr.ee/BackstageCrowd and Geekulcha’s future plans.

Book: Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies

9. Ofentse Gaenakgang

Organization: Varsity Deals

Role: Co-Founder

Twitter

My name is Ofentse Gaenakgang, born and raised in Gasese Village, Kuruman. I started my primary school at Lehikeng Primary School and attended high school at KS Shuping High School. I then got accepted at Wits University in 2016 for Mechanical Engineering. I later dropped and moved to Sol Plaatje University (SPU) in 2018. I am now a final year student at the SPU, studying BSc Physics.

I have started multiple businesses since moving to SPU, selling watches, clothing, ice cream, and student cards. I started having an interest in tech when I met my friend and co-founder, Bryne Chibaya. We started ayobanet.com, which was a marketplace for African designers and craftsmen to sell their products. We did not succeed at that and had to shut down the project. We then started Varsity Deals as we saw that there wasn’t a marketplace that allowed us to sell our 2nd handbooks to other students.

Projects

Lokal Drip, Varsity Deals, and Ayobanet.com

Message to South African Geeks

Start your own projects and dream big.

What it would mean

It means that my project will get good publicity and my work will be acknowledged. I will also get to establish myself as a public geek and an advocate for young South African geeks.

Motivation

As a matric, a learner that taught himself how to program and has also solved social problems with his technology, I believe that being listed on this list will serve as a beacon of hope for many South Africans.

Feedback

Strategically Understanding a Domain

We currently have a lot of marketplaces in Africa, more still manually operated. Only a few are know and approved by consumers. That is the same globally, not necessarily because their product, features, and services are good, but probably due to their ability to maintain consistent iteration on new and existing offerings. Capital plays a great role in the validations of such markets. The good news is that marketplace is broad with so many interesting possibilities, and not one company regardless of its power can become marketplaces for everything. Just like any e-commerce is extremely tricky to get off the ground, especially if important boxes are not checked; TAM, Personas, Personas, and Plans for scaling.

Ofentse identified a problem and thought of ways he can resolve the issue, from a locale(University) that accommodates people who share the same goal but different interests. That’s super smart. Just like how many other products or startups began, a typical example being Facebook.

Things to look out for, when building Marketplaces and products for early users and consumers

Building, launching, and scaling

Many people think that big companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, and Apple target “everyone,” but they don’t and are quite forward about it. Facebook started of targeted at one persona, college students. Over time Facebook grew, adding high-school students and beyond, and its current customer base is very diverse. Facebook likely has many internal personas, but when it releases new features, they’re still targeted at specific personas. A “Sol Plaatje University — Student” persona doesn’t care about the reviews feature on business pages, but a business that created a Facebook page certainly does! Another great attribute to consider about your personas is where on the adoption curve they fall.

Not everyone buys/starts using something new at the same time. There’s a general theory of adoption that can refer to a new product, service, or a new feature that says there’s a tiny group of early adopters that have to be the first to have new things think of the first person you know to own a

smartwatch. Then, there’s a slightly larger group of people who like being one of the first but not necessarily the first to have something new think of the first person you know who bought an Apple Watch but didn’t own a previous smartwatch.

Unfortunately, there’s a gap before you get to the next group of people. If your product’s awesome and delivers on a value proposition your customers care about, you’ll continue to the next step, mass-market adoption, when the bulk of potential customers buy/use your product. Eventually, even the late adopters the people who always seem to be years behind everyone else technology-wise will start using your product. Considering where your various personas fit into this curve will help you understand when they’re likely to adopt your new product or feature. This will help prioritize features. Early adopters will tolerate missing features that laggards might require.

Lastly, in the marketplace space you need to continuously use all ways possible to talk to your current and potential users:

• Current state
• Motivation
• Hindrances
• External validation
• Customer development
• Interviews
• Survey
• Experiments
• A/B testing

everythingmarketplaces

10. Vuyo Mhlotshane

Organization: Loakit

Role: Co-founder

Twitter

A mom to Noah, founding member of community-driven initiative #InsiderUp with Microsoft, with a personal goal in life, is to uplift more and more impoverished communities, through teaching kids and young ladies how to get started with coding.

As I embarked on my cloud journey with Andela Google For Africa, I continuously learn and share knowledge with others. Organizing GDG Polokwane Meetups and helping rural communities become digitally literate by gaining Microsoft Digital Literacy Certifications.

Projects

Coding Mamas digital literacy project in partnership with further and UK tech hub teaching digital skills to women in rural areas. Standard Bank Earn your wings project. We Think Code peer-to-peer learning.

Message to South African Geeks

Helping communities through technology can be you, taking the first step that can impact your family, friends, colleagues, community at large by getting everyone involved in living a meaningful life.

What it would mean

It’s important for me to tackle these social tech challenges on my own, but also with a community and a tech ecosystem that reassures me that I am not alone and the marginalized folk can be a part of the movement. This gives me an opportunity to improve other peoples’ circumstances even if it’s in a small way like being able to create a resume and land a job, by allowing others to create opportunities through their willingness to learn more about technology.

The conscience of my words and the little knowledge that I am able to impart and equip the young women of places like Umbumbulu KZN and KwaBenya EC to optimize the performance of their mobile phones. I would love the opportunity to shine a brighter light on the communities that I serve.

Motivation

I wish I could leave that for the people to answer why they thought I deserved to be a part of the list. I just hope I’m making a small difference by trying to share as much as I can, hopefully also inspire someone somewhere to do the same. Whatever it is I’m doing.

Feedback

An advocate and Aptitude for planning

Among the basic reasons for many tech enthusiasts to take the path to self-employment are often the desire for a higher income, more freedom, greater flexibility of working hours, the will to self-realization, and the prospect of dealing with things that one really cares and is inspired and motivated by.

However, when you come across young people/Geeks inquisitive of ‘How Should We?’ on issues that affect them personally, professionally, and generally, it’s phenomenal

If specific implementation should result from certain notions, then it is advisable to get business plan help from operators in the space, like Geekulcha, and turn to business plan professionals for advice, especially if it’s tech. Find founders or employees for that startups. And include key people in public offices.

Mobile-first Approach

Vuyo and many others get the idea that, though real and deep work can currently only be effectively done on a PC, a decent start in helping communities is to find them where they spent most of their time at. Referencing from developing countries like China if we can build more appealing products, that people might want for mobile, the inspiration will be fruitful for interested folks to invest, move to PC and work on hard problems.

Summary

But, the way of thinking other countries can learn from Chinese companies is to “Think: how can we use our existing audience?” and “what can your app do that wouldn’t be possible on a PC?”

For Communities

“Please refer to Yolanda’s feedback about how we can build or test”

11. Sphephelo Mabena

Organization: Independent

Role: Software Developer

Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

I taught myself computer programming in 2018. I first taught myself web development (JS, PHP & Python). In 2020 I taught myself Android App development then I published my first app which is 4local App.

I went further and taught myself IOS development (swift). I then taught myself Flutter App development.

In 2020 I also developed the Future Parking software system, which is a paperless and parking software system meant to be integrated with parking systems of malls. For more information about please visit: www.fpsoftware.co.za.

Projects

• 4local (Taxi maths solution)
• FP Software is a paperless and contactless parking software system for malls. It consists of 3 different desktop applications and 2 mobile applications.

Message to South African Geeks

The law of attraction states that you attract what you think about, provided that you also put in the work.

What it would mean

I would be humbled to be listed on the Top Young Geeks of 2021. The public exposure will open more doors in my life.

Motivation

As a matric, a learner that taught himself how to program and has also solved social problems with his technology, I believe that being listed on this list will serve as a beacon of hope for many South Africans.

Feedback

Sphephelo’s approach to problems is fascinating because his projects are within and attack a Goliath problem in the country, if not the entire African continent. Everyone knows the transportation issues the country currently faces. Due to other, again, know circumstances to innovate or play with ideas within that space is preserved tricky and unsafe. But it’s possible like he is doing start small in areas that don’t necessarily have high friction.

It’s somehow internationally known that, despite the available modes of transportation, South African transport is still plagued with several challenges. These comprise low ridership, lack of public transport accessibility in rural areas, equity imbalances, and congestion. The South African public transport industry is currently under immense inquiry as captive users of these systems face unsafe, unreliable, and costly systems.

He is spot on with his Message to South African Geeks

We understand very well the reason why most domains or industries are unattractive, captured by only a few people, and for a very long time. Worst like transport lack a massive serious innovative processes. However, the space looked attractive to him, hence putting in the work and appreciate all the little public rewards. It’s also a no-brainer that over time little wins compound to scalable success.

Summary

I say it’s possible because honestly, people who normally comment and share their views on any matter related to transportation don’t really use them. People who rely upon them, regardless of what they may say they currently have no alternatives, which is bad.

That’s why we only see current e-hailing services operators not scaling or pivoting. But it’s only a matter of time, the unfortunate part is that whenever anyone thinks of Distribution, logistics, and transportations, the first thing in mind is goods and food. But the best part is that seeing young entrepreneurs and founders like Sphephelo playing around this industry it’s a beacon of hope.

The state of public transport in South Africa

12. Antoine Munekayi Mfuamba

Organisation: Oringo Technologies

Role: Co-Founder

LinkedIn | @antoine_mfuamba [All Social Handles]

Munekayi Antoine “Elton” Mfuamba is a BSc Computer Engineering student at UKZN and Co-founder of a Tech start-up, Oringo Technologies. Well vested with academic prowess coupled with an entrepreneurial mindset Antoine has been relentless in his journey to make his vision for Africa come to a realization.

Before beginning his entrepreneurial journey he had to carefully design out a path that would best suit him and his vision. In September 2019, he joined, by then positioned 3rd Nationally, Enactus UKZN, which is a student lead organization with the purpose and mission to impact and change the lives of local community members through an Asset Based Community Development Model. After showing great potential and leadership skills it was only after 3 months that he was promoted to Research and Development Officer of his Campus (Howard College Campus).

With his contribution to the team, Enactus UKZN has crowned Champions in 2020 and ranked #1 Nationally and Top 16 Globally (to put it into context, Top 1% Globally.) Antoine has then been further entrusted with an even greater position and now currently serves in the Executive Committee as Vice President of Enactus UKZN (Howard Campus).

The reason for Joining this organization was so that he could understand business and the principles behind it while practicing them in the real world.

After acquiring the necessary skills needed to develop a sound and well-rounded business. He then started Oringo Technologies. An Engineering & Tech start-up aimed at transforming the way people in Africa work, play and communicate.

With the aim of developing African tech products, Oringo Technologies is currently in the process of developing its pilot product.

While developing their product, Oringo is currently offering services to a number of clients in the fields of app development, Engineering products, large-scale wifi installations, and many more. With the sole purpose of adding value to the clients, they work with.

Projects

- Microsoft Learn Student Ambassador (Beta Level): 2019 — Present

- Wazihub IoT award recipient in 2019

- Country Program Manager of an international NPO called Edvicon: June 2020 — January 2021

- Google Africa Developer scholarship[Android] May 2020 — August 2020.

- Computer Engineer Intern (Energy Efficiency)

- UKZN Howard & Westville Campus SBM: Red Bull.

Message to South African Geeks

Practice speed and have a sense of urgency

What it would mean

It would help me propel my vision and business forward and give me access to a broader network.

Motivation

I am on a course to inspire and change Africa for the better. Change Africa in the tech-production space. This can be seen in the product being developed in my company. However, as our Springbok Coach, Rassie Erasmus once said “Before you inspire the nation, You must win!”. I resonated with that saying and I want to win so that I can inspire and continue fulfilling my vision and dream for Africa.

Feedback

Positioning

Though is a misunderstood concept if mastered, it can be the most powerful strategic tool any founder can have at their disposal. Their incredible career journey had a direct vision and straight path; Get involved, acquire skill, and apply.

Building products it’s not an easy task, it requires all responsible teams to keep the company’s core value proposition in mind helping them understand the company’s vision. Understanding the vision will let you understand the company’s goals, which lets you understand its product roadmap. Suffice it to say, the first task when looking at a company from a product point of view needs to be understanding its “why.”

Both founders present a clear positioning mindset, such success and amount of focus will have a positive impact on all tech enthusiasts, further attracting more capital towards their future ideas and the country

Summary

Future African founder should least understand that In reality, products continuously undergo a product-development life cycle to succeed, hence a need to start identifying local ecosystems of great designers, engineers, and product leaders to work with or collaborate with early on while building relationships that will continuously build the next startups.

A vision of collaborative effort propels every tech space, from visual to core programming. Building tech companies that set themselves on missions that build economic infrastructure for the internet and increase the GDP of the internet. In turn, benefiting the countries position.

Few key components of positioning for next founders include, but not least:

Competitive Alternatives

Differentiated “Features” or “Capabilities”

Value for customers

Target Customer Segmentation

Market Category

“Prospects are drowning in a sea of competitive choices. How can we help our best-fit customers intuitively understand the value of our products?”

~ April Dunford

13. Isaac Mongali

Organisation: Oringo Technologies

Role: Co-Founder

LinkedIn

Isaac is an Electrical Engineer from The University of KwaZulu Natal. He was honored as a Microsoft Student Partner in 2019 and now serves at Beta Level. Isaac also served as Campus Finance Officer in 2019 for Enactus UKZN and has recently become the 2020 National Enactus Champion. He also became a Unity Technologies Ambassador in 2021 based on his achievements as Unity creators and community organizers who are eager to help others learn to create with Unity as well. He was also an Executive Committee Member for Engineers Without Borders UKZN in 2019. His specific title was Event Coordinator and Project Coordinator for Electrical, Electronic, and Computer Engineering Faculty. Isaac was also The Chief Technology Officer at Energy Efficiency.

Isaac was honored with the 2020 GradStar award for Top 500 students in South Africa. He was awarded the Google Africa Developer Scholarship as an Associate Android Developer. He completed an Azure Data Scientist Learnership. He is also a member of the World Economic Forum Durban Global Shapers is made up of extraordinary young individuals residing in the city of Durban, where he serves as the AI Future Lab Ambassador. Isaac is also a founding partner of the Student Build Conference which is a for students by student’s conference that provides the attendees the opportunity to gain insights relating to the latest industrial technologies, leadership, and entrepreneurship. Now Isaac has begun his journey as a co-founder of Tech startup Company Oringo Technologies, Oringo is a company that aims to transform the way people work, play, and communicate.

Projects

-Student Build Conference (organizer)

-Development of POE and Nema Socket

-Outdoor WiFi Installations

Message to South African Geeks

My current mission as an Engineer and Geek is to systematically develop Africa into being a production powerhouse. For us to reach a point where we are exporting products and not resources. This vision will only come to cross through a collaborative effort from all the brilliant talent that Africa possesses, so this is a call to action to join us on this mission as we transform Africa.

What it would mean

This level of recognition within my field of expertise will set me on my path to having greater influence over these spaces. I would be extremely honored and humbled to be considered.

Motivation

Isaac is an Innovative and passionate individual; his life’s mission is to have an impact on the lives of the people around him. He believes he is a person who gets satisfaction from being able to solve, predict, and prevent problems. Isaac enjoys coming up with logical solutions and ideas.

As a Microsoft Student Partner, we hosted many hackathons, webinars, and exhibitions. Through this program, Isaac has impacted the lives of over 500 students and enhanced students’ employability by offering training in skills not usually taught in academia, including knowledge of Microsoft technologies.

Isaac also served as Campus Finance Officer for Enactus UKZN and has recently become the 2020 National Enactus Champion, Enactus UKZN had 133 members who dedicated 21680 hours and Impacted the lives of 1102 people. We developed SmartGro a social tech startup responding to the pressing needs brought by Covid-19. SmartGro is a Web-based application allowing customers to order their groceries and other essentials online and have them delivered to the comfort and safety of their homes.

He was also an Executive Committee Member for Engineers Without Borders UKZN in 2019 which is an organization providing a platform for students & professionals to apply their skills to uplift their communities. Under this organization, we developed an ECO brick project where we are building a house for a family located near Pietermaritzburg CBD.

Isaac is also a founding partner of the Student Build Conference which is a for students by student’s conference that provides the attendees the opportunity to gain insights relating to the latest industrial technologies, leadership, and entrepreneurship. In the 2020 virtual conference, over 3000 people attended internationally and locally.

Isaac was also The Chief Technology Officer at Energy Efficiency where his duties were to develop technical aspects of the company’s strategy to ensure alignment with its business goals, Design UX/UI/Planning, Conduct Design thinking & Sprints, Supervise students and trainees in projects, Discover and implement new technologies that yield competitive advantage, Help departments use technology profitably, Supervise system infrastructure to ensure functionality and efficiency, Build quality assurance and data protection processes, Monitor KPIs and IT budgets to assess technological performance, Use stakeholders’ feedback to inform necessary improvements and adjustments to technology, Produce new products with Energy Efficiency, and Communicate technology strategy to partners and investor. Energy Efficiency (Pty) Ltd is an independent provider of SMART Energy Efficient and Renewable Energy solutions Company for the Township market throughout South Africa and Africa. We deliver long-term value through innovative systems, strategies, and technologies. Energy Efficiency as our name suggests ensures our solutions range from upgrades/retrofits to the facility’s energy infrastructure. This includes the development, construction, and operation of renewable energy sites combined with tailored-made financial solutions. We work with customers on both sides of the spectrum both public & private to reduce operating expenses, upgrade and maintain facilities, stabilize energy costs, improve performance levels, increase energy reliability, and enhance the environment and promote climate change mitigation and adaptation. We installed 4 Solar Power Street Lights in 4 locations in Marrianridge just outside Pinetown. At a High School, Primary School, and Public Park. This project drastically increased safety in the community.

Now Isaac has begun his journey as a co-founder of Tech startup Company Oringo Technologies, Oringo is a company that aims to transform the way people work, play, and communicate. They thrive to put themselves in the shoes of not just our clients but of the communities of the world at large. Through innovation and great relationships with those in need of refreshing solutions to their problems, they aim to develop products that solve crucial problems in societies around the world while having a special focus on African problems as well. They have a vision that seeks to ensure that Africans may have products they can call their own. This vision will be realized by having a range of products designed for everyday African problems that will be produced and made available to the public.

Isaac and Antoine are Co-founders of OringoTechnologies for this project their review and feedback are combined as one.

Feedback

Positioning

Though is a misunderstood concept if mastered, it can be the most powerful strategic tool any founder can have at their disposal. Their incredible career journey had a direct vision and straight path; Get involved, acquire skill, and apply.

Building products it’s not an easy task, it requires all responsible teams to keep the company’s core value proposition in mind helping them understand the company’s vision. Understanding the vision will let you understand the company’s goals, which lets you understand its product roadmap. Suffice it to say, the first task when looking at a company from a product point of view needs to be understanding its “why.”

Both founders present a clear positioning mindset, such success and amount of focus will have a positive impact on all tech enthusiasts, further attracting more capital towards their future ideas and the country

Summary

Future African founder should least understand that In reality, products continuously undergo a product-development life cycle to success, hence a need to start identifying local ecosystems of great designers, engineers, and product leaders to work with or collaborate with early on while building relationships that will continuously build the next startups.

A vision of collaborative effort propels every tech space, from visual to core programming. Building tech companies that set themselves on missions that build economic infrastructure for the internet and increase the GDP of the internet. In turn, benefiting the countries position.

Few key components of positioning for next founders include, but not least:

Competitive Alternatives

Differentiated “Features” or “Capabilities”

Value for customers

Target Customer Segmentation

Market Category

“Prospects are drowning in a sea of competitive choices. How can we help our best-fit customers intuitively understand the value of our products?”

~ April Dunford

14. Snaye Sotashe

Organization: University Of Zululand, Roboflow AI

Role: Post Grad Student, Software Engineer Intern, And Roboflow AI Community Member (in America)

Twitter | LinkedIn | GitHub | Website

Hey, My past isn’t one that’s common for any developer. I know a lot of geeks have issues of their own and might not be the same issues that I went through. But I always told myself that I might be in a place where I kinda feel hopeless and feel like I am not where I wanna be, could be because of mental issues, depression or addiction, Anxiety, financial situations, but I can overcome anything. All I need to do is perseverance and passion and keep pushing myself.

Ok, let me shoot. Basically, I grew up in EASTERN CAPE at one of the smallest towns known as Flagstaff. If ever heard of “Inquza Hill Local Municipality” within the jurisdiction of the OR Tambo District Municipality of the EASTERN CAPE. That’s where I was born and bred. I then moved to Durban(KZN) after high school. My Mother has been working in Durban Ever since I was a kid, So I would sometimes visit on school holidays but not often.

I didn’t grow up with the money. But we weren’t that poor I would say. I never went to a private school.

Most people think I was one of the rich kids that went to private schools and started coding at the age of 9 to 13. That’s the wrong Assumption about me. I’m not one of the people to say I grew up playing with computers and my dad hired a private tutor to teach me how to write code. I couldn’t even play computer games, not that I couldn’t afford them. My mother was working a cool-paying job and my father was a principal in high school but they weren’t married. So I would say it could be because of some complicated relationship stories that I can’t really tell. I feel like I did not get the support I needed as a kid. That’s a story for another channel.

So, basically, you know. I also grew up a very shy kid and I had social anxiety, which I still have today but thanks to Tech. Being in the Tech space with all the live presentations and stuff. And got to be on international news, interviewed on different radio stations, TV really changed things around. I am no longer that shy kid anymore or let me say I try.

Okay, about my education, after matric I moved to Durban and did Civil Engineering at the Mangosuthu University of Technology. And by then I had a kid and my family decided to stop supporting me financially because they felt I was a man. And that kinda hit me knowing that now I have a person depending on me, I decided to take some part-time jobs around Durban while doing my Civil Engineering course. Not that I wanted to take care of the kid, my mother did take care of my daughter and she still does today. .. So yeah. I always had a thing for Tech though even though I never did anything with it. I had a zero scope. In high school, I was a math and physics nerd so I used to hear them say that people who are good at maths do programming stuff even though I didn’t even know what that is because I hardly got access to the internet.

So, after my Civil course, My Geek friend suggested I watch a series(move) called Silicon valley. It has a group of programmers dropping from varsity and starting their own tech startup company and I was sold. I got so interested. I loved the look of the colors on the screen, the text editors looked really cool. Something about seeing code on screen really attracted me. And also the offices and the live style seeing that there’s a lot of opportunities. But Something about it really drew me there.

In 2017, I decided to register at the University of Zululand for BSc in Applied Mathematics And Computer Science. In my first year, I did not learn much, it was a lot of theory-based stuff, nothing practical. But it did get me to kinda do things on my own and self-teaching. I taught myself javascript and HTML, web development, and all other cool Technologies that they don’t teach at varsity. After learning software engineering in my second year the second semester I decided to teach myself javascript and python frameworks(React, Node JS, Django) and all the cool stuff called mern stack today.

When he Attended a dev jam mern stack (javascript, react, mongo, express, node js) international hackathon and reached the top 10. I was sure about winning the hack but school kinda got into my way and I decided to quit after 4 weeks of hacking. I then took the solution I developed during the hack and helped people with it, to generate their resumes. I started doing it for free But because of the large volume I then charged R50 to R60 depending on someone’s pocket.

I have helped more than 2000 people to get jobs. And I will continue doing that. I love the feel of “Hey, Snanye, thanks very much I got that job”.

I passed my final year machine learning project at varsity with a distinction. I used a data set from a company called Roboflow AI in the United States. I sent them my video presentation and they were sold and sent me gifts. I also got an offer to be in their community membership.

Oh yeah, that’s my story. I will never finish. Let me just cut it here. Thank you!

Projects

1. https://github.com/SOTASHE/OpenDoor-LMS

Open Door(Built during MTN_BUSINESS HACKATHON)

A learning management app for high schools.

2. https://eager-euclid-ac1721.netlify.app/

Resume builder(Created during zaio hackathons)

A web app that lets you create your resume in a few clicks by just filling in your details.

3.Pedestrian Safety System(Final_year_project)

Android Deep learning, a computer vision application that detects vehicles on the road using the back camera of the mobile phone and notifies Pedestrians of oncoming vehicles.

for some security reasons, I won’t provide a link to this application.

Message to South African Geeks

There’s a lot I need to say to SA Geeks.

Firstly, please please! avoid not taking enough breaks when coding.

I know even myself I am guilty of this especially if you are a hard worker. Sometimes I overwork myself. And it gets to a point where I become less productive. I’ve had periods where I can stay up for 2 nights with no sleep and that was mostly during my deep learning final year project. Please avoid that.

Get rest. Get up every hour and stretch, get a coffee, etc. Giving your brain a little rest can increase your productivity and finding solutions. I know that might not be a general plan for everyone because everyone is different. A lot of time if you are stuck with a bug and you take a small break and come back to it, the solution will come to you.

Ask for help. Many Geeks don’t ask for help for various reasons and I think the biggest one is pride or just the feel of feeling like you don’t know what to do. Having other geeks around you to answer questions is just as much or even better a resource than having a tutorial or a video, book. Ask another geek. They can directly answer your questions. And really help you understand things better. The only people that would criticize you for asking are foolish. I’m sorry to say that. And you must avoid those kinds of people.

Never stop being a student. Even if you feel like you have been in the development for a while, you should always think of yourself as a student. Our industry is always changing. There’s no Developer that knows everything. about anything. Even if you get a job where you do some things with the same stacks. Something is gonna change the next day and you will no longer know everything about that particular topic.

Last but not least. Please do not write ‘DIRT CODE’.You must write a code that is very clean, efficient, and secure.

I know that it is very hard when you’re a self-taught developer because most coding video tutorials and courses don’t teach you about design principles and most things behind.

So do extra research and figure out the best possible ways to clean up your code.

I suggest geeks use the “Dry Principle’ which is “Don’t Repeat yourself”.

Pay attention to code performance and Test Your Code.

What it would mean

I have no words to explain the feeling that will come with this. I am already having deja vu. I’ve been celebrating non-stop this year. I just got my internship job and if I get this, it would really help me push my dreams forward.

Motivation

I have helped more than 2000 people to get jobs. And I will continue doing that. I love the feel of “Hey, Snanye, thanks very much I got that job”.

Feedback

Self-Critical

Either it’s in South Africa, Africa, or Globally. To make it, entrepreneurs have to believe in their abilities, their companies, and their products or services. Confidence can help them achieve their goals and entice others — be it, customers, investors, or team members — to join the cause. However, entrepreneurs also must be self-critical, both in private and public, to build successful, sustainable companies.

Yet, learning the balance between being sure of yourself and being honest with yourself about your limitations is a critical lesson for all founders, there are few, but not formal advice;

• The perils of overconfidence.
• Using self-criticism to your advantage.
• Honestly assess your skills.
• Acknowledge and fill knowledge gaps
• Make your failures work for you
• Maintain a balance

“Writing clean code GitHub contribution is very important”

Writing

Not everyone has the skill for both writing publicly and coding, however, If done correctly and professionally, it can help elevate you. Technical writing needs no dictionary, but a flow and sense of your understanding/progress of the subject. Today writing platforms like substack and others made this free, something that should be locally encouraged.

With new technologies flooding every day, it is hard to keep up with all the updates. Tech blogs continue to be a valuable resource for keeping up with recent innovations, communicating with fellow developers, and getting a feel of what software development is all about.

Geeks can learn a lot in the process of writing technical articles. It helps you to keep iterating your work methodologies and your engineering skill. It’s even a place where you can go and share your other experiences and learnings to become a better teammate, co-founder, or partner

Few points for a ‘Why”

• Learn by teaching
• Document your progress
• Get better at communicating
• Develop your analytical skills
• Come up with new ideas
• Remove stress
• Build an audience
• Inspire others
• Give back to the community

Summary

Being aware of your position and publicly sharing content can boost your confidence, profiles and a good guide exploring new technology

It’s always interesting to witness the level of improvement a Software developer’s journey compound writing. Because it’s sometimes hard and you’ll need to come up with many different topics. Daily, weekly, monthly depending on how many times you want to post you would need more content. Doing this will force you to go out of your comfort zone and create different applications that you’re not familiar with. You may take interest in web sockets one week, the next week you may looking into GUIs, another week you may experiment with a new programming language. Never let the imposter syndrome gets in your way, the former will sound vague, but the latter will be concisely different and valuable.

Other key reasons might be to:

• Impress Recruiters with Blogs
• Earn Extra Money While Blogging
• Understanding How to explain your Problems

15. Moeketsi Mokay Lebakeng

Organization: Fold creative

Role: Design Director / Product designer

LinkedIn

Hi, 🙋🏽‍♂️ My name is Moeketsi, I am a product designer for about 9 years I’ve been designing and creating digital products. I make a living by solving complex problems through the power of design, I’m a User Interface Designer now transitioned into a product designer, I am not only concerned with how it looks but how it functions too and how users feel about using the product created. I use design to help businesses make more money in the same breath create digital products that fulfill the desired needs of their customers/clients.

Projects

• Dribbble

Message to South African Geeks

Tech has the ability to solve a lot of existing societal problems. It’s up to the people with the skills to use those wisely to solve the problems they identify even from the communities we come from.

What it would mean

It would mean a lot to be recognized for any work done is a good feeling but also a motivator to yourself and those around you.

Motivation

I believe the 10 years spend design and creating platforms is a sign of dedicating time and effort towards a discipline. I have worked with and worked for companies that created online banking platforms, E-commerce platforms for big telecom, etc. It would be an honor for me to be recognized on such a massive platform it would mean the work I’ve done big or small has had an impact in some way or another on the people that have used it.

Feedback

One of the most important parts of being in a product team is knowing

who your customers are and what they need.

I am currently studying Product Management so my feedback may sound long and annoying, but that’s not the point. The main idea is to acknowledge that Products will never see the light to market without Design, Engineering, and Product managers working together to archive any startup or company objectives.

Technical Elements

I think Moetsi can agree that this space is partially well understood and only a few players are exploring it. Though few might still be stuck on the real meaning of UX/UI the definition hasn’t changed much only the application and roles are moving forward at a high speed.

Put simply, user experience (UX) design is about how we interact and engage with the product. Because building products is fundamentally about making a new experience or making an existing experience better, a good user experience is fundamental to a great product. This includes everything from the box — if there is one — for the product, to how a customer achieves her goals within the product, to what the product looks and feels like

WORKING WITH DESIGN Judging and Giving Feedback About Design

While product and design will often have a fantastic relationship, all too

often they have a frustrating relationship. Let’s dig into why that happens

and look at some tips to help you work well with your design team.

10 principles are easy to understand

• Good design is innovative
• Good design makes a product useful
• Good design is aesthetic
• Good design makes a product understandable
• Good design is unobtrusive
• Good design is honest
• Good design is long-lasting
• Good design is thorough down to the last detail
• Good design is environmentally friendly
• Good design is as little design as possible.

Not every principle will apply to every design with equal weight. When

you’re building an app, you likely don’t care as much about its long-lasting

or environmentally friendly nature. But when a designer gives you a

wireframe, prototype, or mock-up and asks what you think, these criteria

give you a way to provide thoughtful and precise feedback.

Important key skills

The design process generally breaks down into six primary phases:

1. User research

2. Information architecture

3. Interaction design

4. Prototyping

5. Visual design

6. Content strategy

Summary

For now, going forward, Product Management enthusiasts should know this:

There’s no obvious path to becoming a product manager. And if you’re reviewing résumés for potential PM hires, especially if you’re a start-up founder, it’s not obvious what to look for. Most careers have a very clearcut path — you go to school, study computer science, and then you’re set to become an engineer. Product management isn’t one of those careers. Because product management is a relatively new discipline, it has a much less formalized training process than other careers.

Given that the role often comes down to “doing whatever it takes to ship a product that customers will love and that achieves business goals,” product managers should be smart, talented people who can figure things out on their own. Beyond that, product managers commonly have an intersection of technical background — not just engineering — such as industry experts, and communication skills. The most common type of product manager is someone with an engineering/computer science background who became interested in business.

PMs often start out as individually contributing engineers who then find themselves taking on more responsibilities: conducting customer interviews, working with Design to validate ideas, and possibly even collaborating with marketing to make sure what they’re working on aligns with customer needs. They’re not necessarily the best coders or the most definitive domain experts, but their mix of skills makes them unique. Sometimes PMs come from Design, Marketing, or even business school!

I wish to see more Product builders creating locally relatable content about Product Life-cycles and their experience working or reviewing locally built products, women and binary included.

All of the responsibility and none of the power.

~ Guy Kawasaki

16. Trevor Maseleme

Organisation: Humanstate

Role: DevOps, Physics, Software Development

Not only did he select and manage a team of technical people but he also ran and maintained whole school systems and networks across two campuses more than 1400 KM apart.

Projects

Wethinkcode Curriculum, Wethinkcode LMS, Wethinkcode Bootcamp restructure

Message to South African Geeks -

What it would mean -

Motivation -

Feedback

A lot of people seldom ask me what I think about incubators. If we will ever see platforms like Y Combinator in Africa. The answer is clear and straightforward; YES.

Regardless of the current position of our continent. Organizations like Geekulcha and Wethinkcode identified the core problem before thinking of any form of verticals or offerings at a higher level. Which is Talent, unfortunately without that people cannot test and break things.

It’s fulfilling to see operators at the forefront of such success being recognized.

17. Carol Khoza

Organization: Vidly IT

Role: Co-Founder

Twitter | Linkedin | Github

She is an IT graduate and an aspiring software developer. Carol is always eager to learn and explore all things tech as a tech enthusiast.

Projects

• Agricode Market
• S.H.E
• Xplora

https://github.com/karolkhoza?tab=repositories

Message to South African Geeks

What it would mean

Motivation

She is hard-working, motivated, and always willing to learn. She shows great commitment to her work and always tries to lend a hand when needed. She is also a 7 Time hackathon winner.

Feedback

Dedication

First of all, Carol has been actively involved in a lot of teamwork and contribution to the local tech space. The benefits of participating in all previous hackathons show a huge improvement towards her capabilities and have represented a giant leap to her projects, changing a lot about her beliefs and knowledge on many a topic. Making her a dedicated self-led learner.

Hackathons are an incredible learning experience that once engaged one would recommend as the top item on each coder’s bucket list.

Reasons and Recommendations might obviously include, but not least;

• Learning and staying up-to-date with technology
• Opportunities for growing your network
• Get out of your comfort zone and out of day-to-day business to showcase your skills
• Finding opportunities for business tackling and finding solutions for problems you might be facing

As a woman, winning, teamwork, and leadership skills will build her confidence, career and inspire other women to get on board.

Summary

On the other hand, to win is another skill; Time and selection

This might be not entirely accurate, however regardless of its size and to win:

• The first and most important step would be to be organized and prepared
• Choose a team leader
• Assemble a strong and varied team
• Chose a real-life problem with an impactful and original solution
• Take time to do pair-programming
• Get some rest — before, during, and after the hackathon
• Get your data straight
• Boost up your confidence when it comes to presenting the idea
• Focus and prepare the environment before the hacking starts
• Visuals are key

18. Mothupi Keenan Ramalepe

Organization: Greyy Technologies

Role: Software Engineer

Bio -

Projects

• Crypto ballot mobile app
• LyftIt mobile app
• Greyy Technologies website
• AR Textbook
• OnTbeMove mobile app
• FindMyNurse mobile app
• Motus machine learning mobile app

Message to South African Geeks -

What it would mean -

Motivation -

Feedback

For crypto, the space is not new, but the project and activities that we witnessed from late 2020 revealed many possibilities that can be built within and on top of the technology are “for lack of a better word” crazy and surprising. If countries ever adopt and gain stability a lot can be tried and so much can be achieved.

19. Bongekile Filana

She’s a leader in the 4IR space, an organizer, and an influencer. Expertise in data mining and Modelling. She has a passion for machine learning and improving the ways people consume the world. She’s experienced in solving large-scale relevance problems and comfortable building brand new systems to enable quality improvements. A strong technical advocate with a background in programming. Experienced in collaborating across multiple teams. Bongekile is an intelligent person as she is capable of relating information to concepts that result in excellent research. She has the academic qualifications that allow her to progress in the career path of her choice.

Projects

1.Sentiment Analysis of agriculture data in South Africa.

2. Building Machine learning models and forecasting Covid-19 data

Message to South African Geeks -

What it would mean -

Motivation -

Feedback

Same as crypto and blockchain capabilities, Machine learning is fairly new information to a lot of people. It requires a fair amount of research to understand how the field works and its limitations. That being said, unfortunately, few people are working and publicly writing about the field publicly. The current major boost will be the adoptions from the educational institutions, and let’s hope more and more GEEKS like Bongekile will find interest in the space and propel the local talent marketplaces forward.

Summary

Our problems are far bigger, we need more people in these discussions

We should embrace the fact that we are witnessing the creation of a new field of engineering

Artificial Intelligence — The Revolution Hasn’t Happened Yet

Michael I. Jordan: Machine Learning, Recommender Systems, and Future of A

~ by Michael I. Jordan

20. Wandile Magagula

Organisation: Wamg Tech

Wandile Magagula and his partner Katlego Rambau from Pretoria are the founders of Brain Hack Developers. They’re building an advanced retail system called Smart Retail Bot which uses GPS technology to make the shopping experience for consumers smoother & quicker.

Projects

Message to South African Geeks -

Feedback

Disruption in the retail and small business industry has been low, up until the recent events. There has been a permanent change in the way that people shop and, in turn, the way that businesses need to operate. In the absence of brick-and-mortar stores being open during the lockdown, as well as a general fear of crowded malls when things we’re able to re-open.

That’s where more new local products and solutions will first emerge, more especially on payment infrastructure up to the online/offline experience.

21. Daliso Ngoma

Organisation: African Technopreneurs

Role: Managing Director

Twitter

Daliso Ngoma is the founder and Managing Director of African Technopreneurs which is focused on providing the best AR/VR/360 camera hardware in South Africa. His background extends to having graduated with BSc in Software Engineering from Asia Pacific University in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and also being the monthly host and co-organizer of the WeAReVR Jozi meet-up that aims to get like-minded and new people into the XR space.

Projects -

Message to South African Geeks -

What it would mean -

Motivation -

Feedback

Most people’s last memory about AR/VR is probably from their interaction with a swinging chair, googles with rollercoaster visuals. The unreported development is that the shift to a more convenient and interactive gaming experience approach by FAANG is quietly dominating the market.

As with many ICT solutions, AR/VR requires a combination of software and hardware underpinned by many other technologies, including 5G for connectivity, video standards for visualization, artificial intelligence for software algorithms, and more.

With the current players in the market, such friction will ultimately be narrowed down to ship products faster.

INSIDE XR

INSIDE XR

22. Koena Tokollo Tsebe

Projects

Created a cellphone network that can work even when there is no electricity and also created a tracking device that helps fight COVID19 by tracing people who are infected using their gene type and blood systems to their respective locations.

Continue building and iterating on both your projects and confidence, to help you share your work publicly.

Feedback

Continue building and iterating on both your projects and confidence, to help you share your work publicly.

23. Bekithemba Zikhali

Projects

• Developed the Soweto Kota festival website.
• Participated in the insight to impact data hack for financial inclusion season 3 in 2019.
• He is the Chief Tech Officer (CTO) at DIGITAL STRIKER.

Feedback

The food and tourism industry is in a state where a need for innovative improvements is high.

Continue building and iterating on both your projects and confidence, to help you share your work publicly.

2021 Top 15 Young Geeks

Here are the Geeks named for this year’s #Top15YoungGeeks — A Geek Culture Beyond The Surface.

Publication ITWeb magazine

2021 Top15YoungGeeks Finalist

Geekulcha names 2021 Top 15 Young Geeks

Many thanks to Geekulcha Team for this opportunity, partners, the judges, and all the best to the nominated candidates and finalists.

Each year the team embarks on various projects ranging from low to core tech, if you need more info please check out their website.

For such missions to succeed we need more operators, enthusiasts to come on board to diversify the collaboration and start building stuff. Because if not, there will be none, and we continue to be consumers of everything. Yeap, that’s the honest truth.

There are multiple projects I am working on, starting with a community and few products in the line. But most importantly the current path I took in learning the mysterious world of Product building and management.

To part in short, ‘for any tech ecosystem to succeed it needs; Talent, Capital and Exist’

The door is open and it’s a journey.