Tech Tuesday: Ugandan Innovator Katamba Lands Major Deals with Apple, Microsoft


Latest News | 2018-04-10

Young, multi Award-winning software developer Ronald Katamba is one among the few Ugandans that have been able to secure deals with American Multi National technology giants, Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corporation.

Katamba, a tech entrepreneur at Afrosoft IT solutions and founder of cutting edge innovation the Jaguza Livestock App landed the deals during his tour to the United States of America earlier in March.

Jaguza Livestock App is a system used to monitor and diagnose early stages of diseases in animals, using sensor technology, and locate the whereabouts of animals in a given area using GPS systems.

MTN Pulse caught up with Katamba at his office at Teachers’ House, Bombo road upon his return; to understand the details of the deals and what he has in stock for other pulsers in the country.

About his tour.

While in America, Katamba revealed, he visited several companies, and attended multiple conferences, including Microsoft Tech Summit, World Agric-Tech Innovation Summit and Hive Entrepreneurship Retreat.

It’s during this time that he was invited to Microsoft and Apple for visits which saw him clinch juicy deals that will not only benefit his persona but a wide chunk of youths in the country.

Microsoft Deal.

In the deal with Microsoft, Katamba has been tasked with training university students and other young learners about Microsoft products.

“The training will involve exposing learners to The Internet of things (IoT),” he said.

IoT is a network of physical devices, vehicles, home appliances and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and connectivity which enable these objects to connect and exchange data.

It provides for more integration of the physical world into computer-based systems, which in turn results in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit while reducing human intervention.

“Microsoft has promised to “provide me with equipment” to use in the process, as well as support me with Azure cloud services,” he further explained.

Azure is a cloud computing service created by Microsoft for building, testing, deploying, and managing applications and services through a global network of Microsoft-managed data centers.

From his return, he said, he has together with his team at Afrosoft conducted IoT sessions at the Islamic University In Uganda (IUIU) and plans to take the trainings to all institutions of higher learning.

“The President is always rooting for youth skilling. This deal with Microsoft will come a long way to complement the president’s efforts and hopefully, the ministry (ICT Ministry) will realize the relevance of these trainings and pick interest in them,” he said.

Apple Deal.

“At Apple, we talked about my product (Jaguza Livestock App) and how they can integrate it to their Apple cloud services. Officials promised to come visit me in Uganda and see how they can support my innovation,” said Katamba.

Currently, Jaguza can be used online using the Android App or desktop App and offline via USSD and sms.

While online, each time an animal moves out of range, a notification is sent to a solar powered receiver (spr) from the device. The spr sends this information to a cloud server which in turn sends information to your computer or mobile phone.

Integration of the app to Apple Cloud Services will go a long way to develop its functionality and hence reduce hazards to livestock productivity in Uganda.


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