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South Africa: Entrepreneurial Gem Inspired By His Grandfather
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BuaNews (Tshwane)
30 March 2008
Posted to the web 31 March 2008
Michael Appel
Tshwane
Ajay Lalloo, inspired by his grandfather's disability, exploited a gap in the cell phone market some 12 years ago to become one of South Africa's true entrepreneurial gems.
"Use what you have to get what you want," said Mr Lalloo who owns SA Cellular Communications and graduated from an International Trade Management (ITM) Programme developed by the Swedish Trade Council and Department of Trade and Industry on Friday.
He said it was his grandfather's disability that spawned his idea to enable people with disabilities to use a seemingly insignificant electrical gadget many of us take for granted - the cell phone. "I found myself asking one day, how is a blind person or mute able use a cell phone?" he told BuaNews, recalling his blind grandfather.
Using what is called an open source phone, Mr Lalloo's idea involved creating a platform by which computer programmes are uploaded on to a cell phone allowing a person to operate the phone almost entirely using voice recognition. For mute cell phone users, he has designed a technology that speaks on behalf of the person, using a typed message which is then converted into an audible voice on the phone.
"We designed downloadable software that allows you to put a computer programme on to a phone," he said, adding that it is not the phone that is the sellable product, but the programme itself.
"Within this technology there lies that possibility for expansion in terms of security and translation."
The technolgical innovation of the cell phone has made the world a smaller place, with features like the internet, radio and camera.
It has become an indispensable tool, not only for business people, but for the public at large.
The world has an estimated 3.3 billion cell phone users, with some 20 million disabled users in the European Union (EU) alone.
Therefore worldwide, Mr Lalloo is targeting an untapped market of over 100 million disabled cell phone users. Unfortunately Africa is lagging behind in a number of technological areas making using such a cell phone impossible for the moment. Mr Lalloo explained that Africa lacked the necessary infrastructure and framework within which to make such an innovation possible. The difference between a Nokia, Samsung or Sony Ericsson phone, and Mr Lalloo's is that the phone comes with set, preloaded software allowing the user certain features within the parameter of the phones capabilities.
He has approached the Mark Shuttleworth Foundation - who first introduced the world to the idea of Open Source Software (OSS) - to help tweak the technology to better fit Africa's infrastructure. Regarding his graduating from the ITM Programme on Friday, Mr Lallo said it was an opportunity to further his business.
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"I achieved immediate phenomenal results and took full advantage of the opportunity we were given to interact with some of the world's best lecturers, business advisors and of course other South African companies that I would otherwise not have come in contact with."
SA Cellular Communications, he said, is a very small company at the moment with only six other employees excluding himself. One of the greatest challenges facing his company, he said, was that of accessing people with the right skills.
The ITM programme, accredited internationally as a diploma, is designed to build export competence within small and medium-sized companies offering insight into the necessary expertise and knowledge needed to help grow a business internationally.
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