Technology at its finest at Innovate Durban Pitching Den

MORE than 80 hopefuls applied to pitch their ideas at the 2023 Innovate Durban Pitching Den, but just 15 made it to Innovation CoLab in Cato Manor last week for the big event.

With a panel of judges, including Ramsay Daly, co-CEO of Ikhokha, and Justice Matarutse, programme manager of Innovation at eThekwini Municipality, the event brought the thrill of TV shows like Dragons Den to Durban.

After an intense morning of pitching, the winners were announced. In first place, winning R50K, was Senele Goba, founder of 4IR Innovations. Second place, with a prize of R35K, was Farai Dziike and partner Nelisa Mabaso of Bio Mhlaba Brick Company, and in third position, Francis Djumo of Royaume: Smart Inflow Meter walked away with R25K.

Speaking to Berea Mail, Goba said her company specialises in innovative solutions for industrial automation and education.

She explained how industrial automation works.
“I studied computer science and specialised in computer engineering. If you think of a factory where yoghurt is made, there are a lot of machines that are used. These transport the product from a raw product to a final product. Each machine is instructed by a computer. Automation engineers write programmes for these computers to control the machinery,” said Goba.

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Adding to this work, Goba is passionate about inspiring the next generation to enter the field.
“We have shocking statistics. Of the learners who started Grade Eight in 2019, only three percent qualified to study STEM careers in 2021,” she said.
“Sub-Saharan Africa requires at least 2.5 million engineers to address the developmental problems of Africa,” she added.

Her work in industrial automation feeds her work in education. Goba creates science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) resources and visits schools to share her knowledge.
“We built our Spark Board to help children learn how circuits work. While they learn in school, they can practise and see how it works,” she said.

Goba added that she currently works on a contractual basis and hopes to invest in her own factory where she can create employment opportunities.

Also read: Glenwood youth launches tech to squash online scams

Warehouse whizz

Another innovator at the event was Landile Mabele who pitched his warehouse automation concept along with team members from Ariel Robotics.

“We saw that there was huge growth potential in the e-commerce platforms – in the delivery of goods and services – and we saw that we could innovate in this space. We saw that warehouses face a lot of challenges in inventory-taking which is a mandatory process that uses outdated technology. We designed an autonomous drone system that flies up autonomously and captures real-time information at a fraction of the cost. This is also much faster [than manually taking stock] and eliminates human error,” he said.

Mabele added that he and his team have developed a prototype of the drone system. They are looking to commercialise it and bring partners in.

“The drone is equipped with precision sensors that help it to navigate within the warehouse and autonomously capture stock inventory. It also does surveillance of the warehouse for security purposes and presents the information to the warehouse manager in terms of how much stock was counted with the exact time and location. If stock was misplaced, the system picks it up and alerts the warehouse manager,” said Mabele.

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