07/12/2018
Long Journey of AKWA LTD
AKWA Ltd was started in 2017, known as Smart Water Meter Ltd founded by the 6 young innovators who are always think about of the different Solutions of the exciting Problems regarding technological things and make the objects to be innovated, automated, cheap, Affordable and Accessible for everyone especial made in RWANDA programs implementations.
So from November 2017 these young’s innovator got the opportunity of announcement from KLab for the “digital development of the Francophonie on connected objects to the service of sustainable development”
That opportunity is this:
«Call for national applications open exclusively for residents of Rwanda.
What is Le labFrancophone?
Le Fonds francophone pour l’innovation numérique (FFIN) which is the francophonie fund for digital innovation is organizing the contest LabFrancophone in Rwanda in collaboration with kLab.
As the hackathon, Le LabFrancophone is an innovathon (innovation marathon) which solicits participants to propose innovative digital solutions for connected objects in support of the country’s sustainable development policies.
In practice, candidates will be assigned electronic tools kit (arduino kits, raspberry pi, LoRa …) which they will use to design their digital solutions.
Thematic
The competition proposed by the LabFrancophone, is on the theme of connected objects to the service of sustainable development.
Thus, young computer developers and electronics engineers of Rwanda will have to use their digital solutions in priority fields of the sustainable development goals which are:
• Water and sanitation,
• Food security and sustainable agriculture,
• Access to clean energy at an affordable cost,
• Aquatic life (focus on access of small-scale fishers to marine resources and markets).
Target audience
The contest is reserved to professionals/specialists of digital technologies, electronics and sustainable development (computer developers, designers, system administrators, etc.…) residents of Rwanda, gathered as a project team of 2 to 5 people.
Minimum age for registration: 18 years
Applications from women are encouraged and will receive special attention
Team participation increases the chances of pre-selection, as these types of applications are analyzed primarily but not mandatory;
The selection of multidisciplinary teams will be preferred during pre-selections
• Given the importance that the OIF (Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie) also called International Organization of La Francophonie attaches to cyber security issues, the presence of an expert in the field would be strongly appreciated
• Similarly, the presence of an expert on sustainable development issues is recommended
Pre-selections are provided to select a maximum of 50 candidates;
Organizational Arrangements
• Preselected candidates participate in a training and preparation workshop of the contest for 4 days (from Monday to Thursday) in order to deepen their knowledge on the use of the manufacturing kits put at their disposal, as well as on the issues related to the field of the sustainable development goals that will be treated;
• At the end of the workshop, the candidate will receive a kit of electronic devices to create digital connected solutions, during a 3 days marathon (from Friday to Sunday);
• Participants must conceive a connected application that will work equally well for smartphones as for phones with earlier/older technologies, in order to ensure the compatibility with SMS and MMS services;
• Participants will need to ensure their availability during the whole period, from the preparation workshop to the end of the competition (7days);
Prizes & Support
• 1st Prize: 10 000 Euros dedicated to the implementation of the project
Support and follow-up of the project teams, for a year, for the improvement and promotion of the solutions within the francophone/ French-speaking area.
• 2nd Prize: 6 000 Euros dedicated to the implementation of the project
Support and follow-up of the project teams, for a year, for the improvement and promotion of the solutions within the francophone/ French-speaking area.
• 3rd Prize: 4 000 Euros dedicated to the implementation of the project
Support and follow-up of the project teams, for a year, for the improvement and promotion of the solutions within the francophone/ French-speaking area.
Useful Information
Activities will take place at kLab
Presentations on Sunday will be conducted within 8 minutes: 5 minutes for presentation and 3 minutes for demonstration.
From Monday, make sure to bring your computers and computer accessories (cable extensions, screens, network cables, etc….)
Meals will be provided by the organization.
Detailed timetable of the activity
• From 25th October to 26th November: Call for applications
• From 11th December to 14th December: Innovathon contest preparation workshops
• 14th December: End of the preparation workshops and opening ceremony of the competition LabFrancophone by the officials.
• From 14th December to 17th December: Sessions of competitions, including two nights of work, punctuated by breaks.
• Sunday, December 17th (evening): The teams present their projects to the jury which deliberates, before awarding the three prize winners at the closing ceremony of the contest.
(*) attendance at training workshops is mandatory for selected candidates».
So after to read the above information we grouped to gathers as Smart Water Meter Team and we decided to work on the Thematic of Water and sanitation, according to the exciting challenges we had faced regarding to insufficient of water and water management.
“Deeply concerned that approximately 884 million people lack access to safe drinking water and that more than 2.6 billion do not have access to basic sanitation, and alarmed that approximately 1.5 million children under 5 years of age die and 443 million school days are lost each year as a result of water- and sanitation-related diseases, in particular to developing countries, in order to “scale up efforts to provide safe, clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for all”.
It was hard journey to be select among of many applicants, where the organizer done the selections according to the presentations of Ideas, where we have been selected in the 10 groups which will be attend on 17th December 2017: Sessions of competitions, after the all mentioned date above and the session ended were group had Prototype.
The competition results are 2nd Prize: 6 000 Euros dedicated to the implementation of the project Support and follow-up of the project teams, for a year, for the improvement and promotion of the solutions within the francophone/ French-speaking area.
So the journey was not stopped there, but also we continue to attend other different events and competitions take place in Rwanda or outside to present our project and the same time working on Smart water meter from ideas to business.
Also attend other competition organized by ICT Chamber with partnership with JICA regarding the Startup had the project in Prototype, were also selected to the Teams who was Pitching in Transform Africa Summit 2018 take place at KCC Kigali-Rwanda, we got the award of 6 months of incubation working together with ICT Innovation project supported by JICA in 250 startups where we work together with Junior Accountant and Lawyer dealing with financial projection and legal documents, and the name changed from Smart water meter to HAFITEK this makes our project to have potential from prototype into business, that is the way forward after six months having and now the name is AKWA Ltd:
Commercial device
Monitoring System
The cities and towns in Rwanda are growing at 5 percent per annum faster than anywhere else in the world. Water service providers face considerable challenges to meet this growing demand, and most lack the resources to do so. The current revenue flows of most also fall far short of requirements to fund investments and run services effectively for these rapidly growing populations.
Meeting the demand, especially in the rapidly expanding unserved poor settlements, requires new thinking and innovation. This is one reason why there has been a surge in interest among Rwandan water service providers in E-payment water systems.
E-payment water remains controversial, however. Proponents see it as a way to improve customer relations, revenue, and access to services; this technology is reliable, Low capital and facilitate in maintenance costs, and construction of new water Treatment Water Plant.
Service providers need to consider the broader system, from technical challenges such as replacement of parts to the commercial aspects of making payment tokens and vendors accessible to consumers.
They have to take on integration of revenue management systems, data systems, and IT,
and dramatically improve communication and strengthen accountability to customers who have already paid for the service.
