BOTSWANA INNOVATION FUND AWARDEES FOR THE COMMERCIAL LANDING CALL

The Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH) is pleased to announce the recipients of the Botswana Innovation Fund Commercial Landing Call for Proposals.
A total of 62 applications were received in response to this Call. Proposals were evaluated based on the proposed solutions’ unique value proposition, social impact, commercial viability, technical viability and the individuals’/teams’ ability and capability to develop and commercialise the solution. Following a rigorous assessment process, six (6) projects were selected to receive funding.
The projects are funded by the Botswana Innovation Fund (BIF); a Ministry of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology initiative, administered by the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH).
The Projects are;

iBranch Recruiters
Research conducted by iBranch Recruiters attributed the high rate of unemployment to; poor visibility of talent and jobs, geolocation challenges, poor curriculum vitae writing skills and poor interview handling skills. The above challenges decrease any job placement chances in an already competitive job market. iBranch Recruiters offers a solution to these challenges by designing and creating a Centralized Database of all the talent in Botswana and make that database accessible to all potential employers with real time functionalities. The iBranch Recruiters mobile and web-based platform has the ability to connect employers with the relevant candidates with pinpoint accuracy, thus saving them costs associated with recruitment process. iBranch Recruiters would also play a role towards the skills development of the talent enrolled within the database as a way of turning them into productive and market ready candidates.

Ipachi Mobile Application
Most SMME’s face the challenge of poor financial information management making it difficult to access credit from financial institutions for business growth. Furthermore, unstructured financial data disempowers SMME’s from making financially informed decisions resulting in unmanageable debts and financial distress. Ipachi Mobile Application uses machine learning to deliver an intelligent financial management system which can seamlessly fit the lifestyle of the user. Right in your pocket, Ipachi Mobile Application, help individuals and businesses find a better way to make smart payments, save money and connect them to investment opportunities anywhere, anytime. With real-time record-keeping features, Ipachi Mobile Application help users free up capital which gets them closer to their financial ambitions. Ipachi has an in-built robotic advisor that help users prepare instant financial reports and provide advanced analytics for performance management.

Automata Electron
Automata Electron is an energy management system that automates electricity flow in a home. The Automata Electron system works by being connected to all the lights and outlets in a home, therefore being an intermediary between the outlets and the main supply and manages their digital footprint. In this way, the user can know at any given time what is happening at any outlet/light and have control over it, even remotely. The electrical system of most domestic homes in Botswana is still analog. Unlike digital systems, analog systems offer no easy method to probe or debug the inefficient flow of electricity through them. Because of this, most homes tend to run an inefficient network, which may cause high electricity bills. Automata Electron converts analog to digital.

Modisar Farm Management App
Modisar is a livestock management & tracking solution. Modisar employs Precision Livestock Management through a farm management app available in IOS, Android & Web apps & an Internet of Things (IOT) livestock tracking solution. With Modisar App, farmers are able to apply different management plans to different animals within a farm. Modisar also tracks the age of an animal through IFA (an AI powered Intelligent Farm Assistant) which continuously classifies a farmer’s animals according to various age groups for better care. Modisar App has a livestock tracking feature that alerts the user via email, push notification & SMS when the reader does not receive any data from any of the animal tags. The solution offers cost effective tracking and it is perfect for communal farmers that want to monitor the performance of their herd boy. The farm management solution helps farmers by guiding them towards profitable livestock production, while our tracking solutions helps farmers to fight livestock theft & straying.

LPWAN (Low Power Wide Area Network)
The advent of COVID‐19 pandemic has resulted in an increased need for remote monitoring solutions. In an endeavor to address this need, IoT Communications (Pty) Ltd is developing a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) service that will make it affordable for individuals and enterprises to monitor the operational and safety status of their assets from the comfort of their homes. The network will support applications such as asset tracking, smart utility metering, cold chain monitoring, home and industrial automation, etc. The solution employs Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology to provide coverage for asset monitoring devices. LPWAN supports wireless communication over long distances, usually in the 10‐15km range, while consuming very little power such that devices can operate for long periods of time on just batteries.

Load
Load is an on‐demand logistics platform that aims to create efficiencies and technology driven optimization to an already existing industry of logistics supply chain. Loads aims to build an all‐inclusive platform that democratizes opportunities around logistics allowing players to collaborate, create efficiencies, reduce the cost of running a business and bring suitability to operations regardless of size or scale. Load is a cloud enabled Software Service solution for any business regardless of size or scale. Load exposes its Application Programmable Interfaces (API’s) to third party developers to innovate and enable them to build anything from simple mobile apps to more complex virtual reality (VR) experiences.