Tswelelo Piet Mashita, founder of Abiri Innovations
A Limpopo-based start-up whose integrated mapping systems could help emergency services, government agencies and companies to pinpoint addresses in townships and rural areas scooped first prize at the second “Eureka meets the Atlantic” forum held in Cape Town in February.
The forum was co-hosted by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) and the Portuguese Chairmanship of the Eureka Network.
Abiri Innovations walked away with a cash prize of R60 000 for developing an application that uses Earth observation technology to provide digital mapping services in areas that Google Maps does not reach.
Founded by Tswelelo Piet Mashita in 2018, Abiri Innovations is based in Mokopane, Limpopo. Its competitive edge lies in its ability to identify households in townships and rural communities, something that conventional navigation and maps do not do. The company also offers livestock tracking and monitoring for households and farmers in rural areas.
Mashita was inspired to develop the Abiri application back in 2016, when he and a friend travelled to a wedding in Soweto using conventional navigation. To their surprise, the navigation system took them to the wrong house, and they had to rely on word-of-mouth directions to get to their destination.
Using a combination of drones, satellite imagery and data, along with inputs from community members, the Abiri app is proving highly successful. The data collected also highlights areas that are rich in biodiversity while betraying extensive signs of destruction and degradation from human activities.
“One of the things in our mapping process that we are interested in is the pace of development against natural habitats, pristine forests and biodiversity,” Mashita said.
Their plan is to use the data they collect to build an artificial intelligence system that can offer predictive insights on where the most severe deforestation, wildfires and depletion of biospheres are likely to occur, along with measures to mitigate such effects in these vulnerable communities.
“Our product is an application that is a collaboration with community members, so that we deliver best services co-created with communities,” said Mashita.
The application caters for the previously excluded and marginalised, such as townships and villages whose digital presence, navigation and household identity are absent from conventional mapping platforms.
The start-up derives its revenue from advertisements on its online platform, and also offers information on specific localities to corporate clients. Since its creation, Abiri has mapped several remote areas in South Africa, and has more than 3 500 users.
It has been self-funded until now, but is engaging with potential investors to expand and reach more areas in the country. It also hopes to expand into other Southern African Community Development (SADC) countries and, within the next 10 years, to cover the entire African continent.
Explaining his journey thus far, Mashita said that resigning from a well-paying job to embark on an entrepreneurial journey required a giant leap of faith, but he has no regrets and is thankful for the support he received from his family and late mother.
He is also pleased with the company’s progress so far. In 2019, Abiri was named the overall winner in the Southern African Innovation Support (SAIS) Boostup Pitch Competition in Helsinki, Finland.
“Winning the Eureka awards means so much to us as a company, because the prize will enable us to scale our solutions to more communities. It also means we are doing something worthy of the award, and that motivates us to keep solving the problems we are addressing,” Mashita added.
He thanked the DSI and its partners for their continued support in strengthening the innovation ecosystem, and for their programmes to empower entrepreneurs and start-ups in the country.
Zama Mthethwa is the account executive at the Department of Science and Innovation