Buspreneur interview with Zandile Lambu

If Zandile Lambu fails, she cries about it that evening, and the next morning she gets back in the game! She is new to the tech space but already has an awesome idea about a medical record creation and storage app for the African health sector… Lambu is an up-and-comer to be watched!

1. Who are you? Describe yourself in 3 sentences.
   I’m a starting tech-preneur looking to find her feet in an awesome industry. Love: God, family, music, internet, mobile devices and movies; in that order. Hate: discrimination, corruption and sloppy handshakes…in that order.
2. What do you expect from your participation on the bus?
   I view this as an educational tour and gateway to the next level. As much as I look forward to the exhilarating adrenaline rush and the long hours with little sleep in the bus, I endeavor to learn as much as I possibly can from my peers and mentors. I look forward to stretching myself to do more than I have imagined myself capable of. This experience will be vital when I venture out on my own as it will allow me to create networks I could never have created on my own.
3. Why Africa? Why now?
   We need lasting solutions in Africa to improve the lives of people and grow our agro economies into service-based, tech-driven economies. The penetration rate of mobile phones has created vast opportunities to develop innovative and disruptive technologies. Five hundred million connections in 2013 alone, is amazing! Mobile network operators (MNOs) have done a great job in educating people on how to use a mobile phone as well as demonstrating the need for and the advantages of having one. Unfortunately, most people might never be able to own a PC, desktop or even a smartphone. The African market is therefore a unique one as it requires customised solutions. Technology is an effective tool which should be used to develop solutions for the problems common to Southern African societies amongst them: health, energy, education and poverty. Not only are we lagging behind as Africa but we desperately need solutions to the issues that continue to haunt us both in our sleep and when we are awake. If not now, then when?
4. What is your area of expertise — mobile development, healthcare, or the energy sector? Please talk a little bit about how you gained this expertise…
   Having worked in the telecommunications industry for three years; my natural bias is towards mobile technology, specifically product development. In the last 13 months, I’ve been involved in developing portable solar products.
5. Please share an idea for a technology (mobile, health, energy) that can solve a problem/s local to the South African region.
   Most of Southern Africa still relies on manual data capturing and physical record filing as computerisation of systems is still a challenge. All medical information is kept in silos and there is no medical history available outside the visited institution. The solution to this is a medical record creation and storage app which is SMS-based. The ability to capture and store patients’ information from, for example, a clinic in the remotest village in Africa using a simple cellphone device via SMS would create a centralised database; this information would in-turn be used by medical practitioners to access patients’ medical history. Health organisations, medical insurance companies, the media, research institutions, etc. would have to pay for access to any statistics and related demographic reports. Not only will this help doctors in administering treatment; it will also inform governments, health officials, medicinal manufacturers, and donors of areas which need urgent attention and types of drugs to manufacture and/or import. Most health organisations rely on-the-ground runners who access areas manually to collect information from villagers and clinics. This app will allow organisations to commit their resources to more pressing issues.
6. Everyone has a special story. What is yours?
   I was born amongst girls hence, the name Zandile; yet, I continue to find myself in a male dominated industry. Less than 30% of my college class was female, and with the move into the corporate world, the numbers kept decreasing. The odds never seem to be on my side but I never pay attention. I have failed more than I have succeeded but each success always cancels out the failures. Whenever I fail at something, I go home and cry myself to sleep; I wake up the next morning and try again. I don’t settle, I fight, and stay in the game. I have learnt over the years to grab with both hands every opportunity to learn something new; StartupBus Africa is no different. It started with an email and I’m glad I jumped at the opportunity. My special story is still being written…
7. Are you sponsoring yourself or do you have sponsors? Please tell us about your sponsors…
   My sponsor is Hypercube Zimbabwe.