Uncategorized Kenya: Company Aims to Transform Nyeri Into a Tech Hub – AllAfrica.com
At the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, two men in Nyeri County set about the difficult task of establishing a centre that would enhance visibility of innovation by Kenyans.
It was a difficult undertaking because to start with, there was no local benchmark to offer Mathew Turner and Morris Mwangi a reference point.
But surmounting the fear that their idea would not be successful and worth their effort, they forged ahead and established the firm, Jitu Technologies, a software development engine that creates web portals, mobile apps and does Application Programming Interface (API) development and integration.
The investment, which took up a capital of Sh7 million, is part of the Turner family legacy.
Turner’s parents, Allan and Anita, settled down in Nyeri County in 1992 with the sole purpose of preaching the gospel. Mwangi, then a young man working at the 4-star Green Hills Hotel in the county, built a friendship with the couple, meeting their son, Turner, in the process.
After Turner’s father passed away in 2019, Turner, an IT specialist and managing director of Turner Hoover Holdings (THH), which oversees a series of tech companies based in the US, established TheJitu.com, the vision to make it a local tech giant that could compete with the rest of the world.
He hired an IT expert, a manager and a number of interns studying IT in local universities and began to operate. Mwangi is the company’s local director, his main role being administrative – he ensures that the company runs smoothly and that salaries are paid and staff welfare taken care of.
Mark Allen, the CEO, is in charge of the business aspect while the Chief Technology Officer, Aaron Ertler, is in charge of tech.
Jitu Technology works in collaboration with its three sister companies under THH which include Griffin Solutions Group, AcquireTek and 4Cloud services whose mandate is to create apps for interested clients.
The process involves writing a source code and maintaining it from its onset until it is fully operational. This means that they conceive, design, programme, test and fix any anomalies that come up.
The company recruits their staff from local universities including Dedan Kimathi University of Technology, Dekut, and then offers on-the-job training to perfect their skills in software development.
The company, which begun operation with five interns, now has a staff of 20, all youth. Young people, Allen observes, are easy to train and mold, besides, by employing youth, the company is doing its bit to create employment for Kenya’s youth.
“We believe that technology should first work and then provide value to the business, and so the team is trained by some of the best software development, business process automation and digitisation resources in the world,” he adds.
Ertler points out that software development is all about passion and individual drive, that it takes a lot of hard work and commitment, adding that it was easier to train people who were passionate about computer programming.
“A college degree shows us that they are able and willing to commit to something since they have committed to four years in school, but the bulk of the qualification comes from passion and interest. It is about them being willing to start and follow through to the very end,” he explains.
Charles Mwaniki, 26, a software engineer at the firm, joined the company in April 2020 and has since then learnt skills such as writing software and programming.
His counterpart, Hezron Kimtai, 24, a software developer, has learnt how to build apps and work with cloud architecture.
The company is focused on delivering quality work and creating a niche in this field.
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“We believe that once someone has worked with us, they can work in any part of the world,” Allen comments.
The choice to position the company in Nyeri was deliberate, since it would reduce the migration to the capital city, Nairobi, where most of the country’s tech companies are based, in the process boosting growth of the town.
The success of the company has not been without its fair share of challenges as they initially had to contend with weak internet connectivity and interrupted power supply.
“Nyeri is far from the Nairobi Metropolitan, so there were some teething challenges, but we found solutions and ways to mitigate the problem, such as getting a backup generator in case of power interruption,” Allen says.
Mwangi says that the company is in the process of expanding, and that all profits go towards hiring more people, who are paid a minimum of Sh200,000.
Read the original article on Nation.
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