We interviewed Obakeng Matlhoko about their experience in participating in the Seedstars World finals.

AftaRobot – Obakeng Matlhoko

Tell us a little about your company?

Sowertech was founded by Nathi Tshabalala and Obakeng Matlhoko in September 2011 and was the first gold-member of mLab Southern Africa. In 2012 the company won the inaugural Gauteng Innovation Competition in the mobile stream with an a mobile app that helps professional trainers and coaches to assess their learners.

Sowertech is a mobile applications developer. The company has developed and launched the pilot of Afta-Robot, a suite of enterprise mobile apps that make it easy for minibus taxi associations to manage and share taxi business information. Afta-Robot also consists of a consumer app for minibus taxi commuters which allows the commuter to “request a taxi” using a mobile device.

What was your experience?

Our experience with pitching AftaRobot at Seedstars World was eye opening. The feedback that we received from the judges and fellows startups that attended the event was encouraging. It meant that in AftaRobot we have a “hot” app. To participate in this event meant that AftaRobot was among the top ten apps that were invited to pitch to Seedstars World investor in South Africa.

What have you learned?

We have learnt that the competition out there is tough. Transportation focused apps have to compete with apps that support mobile payment. We also learnt that AftaRobot is a solution that has immense social impact and a potential to change the lives of “ordinary” South Africans.

To sweeten the deal and get you inspired, Nokia in partnership with mLab is launching the Asha Series 40 Challenge!

Who should enter:

• If you are resident in South African and publish under a South African Nokia developer account.
• If you have an existing application on another Java platform and can port it to Nokia Asha Series 40 Full Touch by 17 June 2013.
• If you have an existing application on Series 40 QWERTY and can port it to Nokia Asha Series 40 Full Touch by 17 June 2013.
• If you can create a new application for  Nokia Asha Series 40 Full Touch by 17 June 2013.

Prizes:

1st Prize: The winner of the challenge will get a super bundle of goodies and support to commercialize their app worth a wapping R40,000!

The bundle includes:

• Nokia Lumia 920
• Nokia Purity Stereo Headset (WH-930)
• JBL PowerUp Wireless Charging Speaker (MD-100W)
• Nokia Asha 311

mLab is offering the winning app developer access to our Accelerator & Launch Lab program for 2013 to assist with the commercialization of the winning app.

2nd Prize:

• Nokia Asha 311
• Nokia Purity Stereo Headset (WH-930)

3rd Prize:

• Nokia Asha 311

mLab is offering both 2nd & 3rd place winners access to our Ideas Lab program for 2013 to assist with the further development of the app concept to potentially qualify for our Accelerator and Launch Lab programs for 2013.

How to enter

Step 1

• Develop your application on the Nokia SDK for Java 2.0. Developing for Asha and the SDKs
• Publish your application before midnight on 17 June. Publishing to Nokia Store
• Applications that pass the Nokia Store Quality checks are eligible for prizes.

Step 2

Come back to this page once your application is successfully published and passed QA. Complete the form below:

Sowertech in partnership with the Alexandra, Randburg, Midrand and Sandton Taxi Association (ARMSTA) officially launched a range of mobile services for commuters as well as the enterprise side of the association at an event held in Alexandra.

While location based technology is nothing new, many of the estimated 40 million daily commuters still do not own devices with GPS and as such the team from Sowertech developed AftaRobot to provide smart commuter services through USSD and smart apps.

The pilot is the first phase of rolling out the services nationally and across Africa and will initially focus on 2 routes within the Johannesburg region.

To learn more about AftaRobot visit www.aftarobot.com or contact Siyanda@mlab.co.za

mLab Southern Africa and Dimension Data are partnering to host this exciting challenge on 20 & 21 April 2013. We are calling all innovators, designers, developers and geeks galore to join us and over 60 other global locations including the International Space Station.

This 48 hour event will give you and your team over 55 challenges to choose from and covers everything from design to technical challenges.

Register Now for the biggest and most exciting event of the year.

Windows Phone 8 provides everything that employees need to communicate and collaborate right out of the box, easily deployed and managed in a Windows infrastructure with Exchange Server, SharePoint, or Office 365. Employees will quickly be up and running with the familiar feel of Outlook Mobile, and can access, edit and sync documents easily with Office Mobile. All data is kept safe because the entire device is encrypted, automatically protecting files when they are saved to the phone. In addition, Windows Phone 8 is protected from malware and delivers a trustworthy platform for line-of-business apps that boost productivity.

Date: 30 January 2013
Time: 11h30 – 15h30
Venue: Microsoft Offices, Johannesburg

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Date: 28 January 2013
Time: 11h30 – 15h30
Venue: Lagoon Beach Hotel, Cape Town

RSVP

CHALLENGE

We use smartphones to manage our daily lives. Cars are increasingly connected and digital technology is set to change the way we travel.

Imagine if you could have unlimited access to all the information on your car, whether technical (speed, fuel consumption/CO2, geolocation, onboard computer, camera pictures, etc.) or other (dealership, servicing, repairs, diagnosis, advice, vehicle traffic, etc.): “what innovative smartphone apps would you design to make life easier for drivers or passengers?”

Some of the ideas submitted will be presented on the site, to provide a basis for comments and discussion, or even to inspire you.