The software firm’s boss, Stanford Mogotsi, says he remains loyal to South Africa despite the challenges of running a small IT company in the country.
“This is my home, I have a child, I have a family here,” says the 46-year-old.
Mr. Mogotsi co-owns the Johannesburg-based software company Nane Solutions with his friend and business partner Kabelo Mashisi, 45.
Both have come a long way since growing up in one of South Africa’s townships during apartheid.
Both studied computer science at the university and then worked in IT jobs in companies for a few years before founding Nane in 2006.
Her initial work was in consulting – advising companies such as MTN, South Africa’s largest mobile network, and the state-owned utility Eskom.
But they found the consulting frustrating because they wanted to build software from the ground up, not just consult.
Her first major foray into software development was developing a system for world soccer governing body Fifa to manage volunteers at the 2010 World Cup, which was being held in South Africa.
Then, in 2017, they developed software that helped the Heineken brewery group improve its transportation system in the country. Another major project win was the development of an app for the Talk360 video calling service.
But all was not smooth for the company. Nane means eight in Swahili and the name was chosen because the company had eight founders.
However, the shift from consultancy to the riskier business of software development, and then the impact of South Africa’s strict coronavirus lockdowns, saw all but Mr Mogotsi and Mr Mashisi leave the company.
“It’s really difficult to get business when you’re a small company,” says Mr. Mogotsi. “We have to compete with multinational companies and potential customers tend to go for these proven big IT companies, especially when the economic background in South Africa is uncertain.”
Prof. Duncan Coulter, Head of the Academy of Computer Science and Software Engineering at the University of Johannesburg, agrees that times are difficult for South African IT companies like Nane.
While Mr. Mogotsi and Mr. Mashisi are in South Africa, Prof Coulter says the major ongoing problem for the country’s IT sector is brain drain – people looking for work abroad.
“Many of our better students are now traveling in Europe, America and Asia, doing very well, we are very proud of them,” he says.
“And as part of the general brain drain [away from South Africa]they definitely have easier opportunities to switch than professions like lawyer and doctor.”
As a result of all these young IT professionals finding work abroad, Prof Coulter says companies in the industry are now struggling to fill vacancies in South Africa.
Mr. Mashisi says that “in terms of salary, we cannot compete” with what big companies abroad can offer. “Once someone gets a year or two of experience, it’s easy for them to snap up [and go abroad].”
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Despite this brain drain, South Africa still has successful software startups producing popular products.
An example of this is the EskomSePush app, which alerts users across South Africa when power outages are expected.
Such power outages or “load dumps” are a regular occurrence in the country due to the ongoing shortage of power generation at the energy company Eskom.
Sometimes people have to go 10 hours a day without electricity and there is no end in sight, the outages are expected to last until 2027.
EskomSePush is the brainchild of co-founders Dan Wells (35) and Herman Maritz, who launched the app in 2015 and run it from their homes in Cape Town.
It collects and processes complicated load shedding plans from Eskom and local governments across South Africa. Notifications will then be sent to users of the app, telling them exactly when and for how long the power outage will be in their neighborhood.
Mr Wells says that within six months of the app’s launch, 250,000 people had downloaded it “which was crazy at the time”.
He adds that today the app “is on seven million devices and about a million people click a notification almost instantly.”
The app is monetized through advertising revenue, and Mr. Wells advises software developers to “give a taste, have problems, find your community and solve some problems”.
If there is one thing that unites South Africans it is a love of sport, with cricket being the third most popular country.
At the University of Johannesburg, computer science lecturer Tevin Moodley and Prof Dustin van der Haar have developed a cricket video software system that aims to help produce the next generation of the world’s best South African batsmen.
Its software can automatically identify the various shots played by a particular batsman from a test match or other match record.
This means a cricket coach can play numerous clips of a particular shot without having to laboriously search through all the footage to find them.
This allows for a quick analysis of how the player is executing the shot in question, where they are standing and how they are placing their feet. Recommendations and improvements can be derived from this, and young players can compare their performance with videos of former cricket greats.
“I believe if you’re able to improve the batter’s skill, you can improve your team’s chances of winning,” says Mr. Moodley. “So the impact of our work will be very big in the cricket field.”
At the moment Mr Moodley is using YouTube clips from test matches to collect footage but he is hoping to work with Cricket South Africa to secure more videos.
While the software is currently still in the research phase, Mr. Moodley says that with the right investors and stakeholders, he would seek to develop a commercial product.
But in the meantime he’s trying to help the next generation of South African cricketers. “I want to keep it local and try to help our team,” he says.
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