IDEA Innovators play a a different game South Africa-based entrepreneur Rapelang Rabana says that when it comes to innovation, the skills and experiences we accumulate over our lifetime are better resources than formal qualifications. Words by Daiva Repeckaite.
E
verything around you that
is uninhibited by legacy technologies.
an app she compares to ‘Uber
you call life was made up
‘[When Skype came along,] we didn’t
for domestic workers’. It helped
by people who were no
have personal laptops with high-speed
thousands reshape their participation
smarter than you,’ African
bandwidth,’ she explains, showing how
in the informal economy. Millions
innovator Rapelang Rabana
African businesses were mobile-first.
of women work in people’s homes
LEAD WITH IDEAS
as nannies, chefs, or gardeners.
told her audience in Malta, quoting Steve Jobs. ‘When you choose [not to] accept an assumption that is no
world, Rabana generously praises
protects the rate set, she explains.
it is those moments that are a true
innovators from around Africa. At a
In her opinion, the information
source of innovation.’ Her words
South African startup competition,
gathered could also help governments
hit a chord as the coronavirus
she had once assessed a crime alert
target subsidies to reach informal
pandemic ripples worldwide and
system developed for disadvantaged
workers: ‘There is no transparency
society grapples with the pressures
townships. ‘You can’t rely on alarm
as to what they’re doing or how
of online learning, the quest for tools
systems, because the police or
far they travel, and I imagine that
to stay productive, and the need
security guards will take a long
once the data build up and become
to better distribute resources.
time. Essentially it’s a community-
more readily available, governments
based crime alert system, where
will be in a different position [...]
a keynote speech at the Malta
they’ve got devices that can make
to subsidise [their] transport.’
Innovation Summit. She emphasised
a loud noise and alert community
the unique position African
members when things happen.’
entrepreneurs are in, as their creativity IDEA
service, as it logs their hours and
longer serving your best interests,
In October 2019, Rabana gave
48
In her speeches around the
The app professionalised the whole
Other innovators came up with
Rabana built her own business after graduation. She decided to sell this business rather than be
