Taf Makura

imagining ways we can effectively use technology to solve old problems in new ways.

We are placing e-commerce tools in the hands of the next 1 billion users on the African continent so that they too can join the global economy. 

We set out to help solve the most devasting crisis facing Africa, by far (access to clean water). Emaji (E-water in Swahili) was a theoretical prototype for an autonomous low-cost water quality monitoring system that monitors multiple water quality parameters at a drinking water source in real time. If a contamination is detected, the system then uses a built-in GPRS transmitter to send GPS coordinates of the contaminated water source to authorities to facilitate a speedy reaction, but not before the unit shuts down the contaminated water source using an electronic solar powered water valve. While in development our theoretical concept received interest from various institutions and water authorities in the SADC, EAC and Europe region including the Zimbabwean National Army, UNICEF, Ampion Venture Bus, Swiss RE Foundation, Imagine H2O Water Challenge and Havard Business School's 2015 Africa New Venture Competition.

Mindcraft QA offered scalable, cost-effective, outsourced testing and Quality Assurance trainees to agencies and in-house engineering teams from Sub-Saharan Africa and MENA regions.

Booklot was Zimbabwe's first SaaS book distribution e-commerce startup that was built from the lessons and technology carried forward from Mazwi.com and applied to the physical primary and secondary school textbook value chain. Within the first three months of operations, we had partnered with 3 of Zimbabwe's 5 largest publishers (by market share) and had built an online platform that would help them market, receive payments and distribute physical books online more efficiently.

Established by a grant investment from the British Council after taking first place at its inaugural Culture Shift Challenge, The Open Book Project sought to reimagine the stagnant book publishing environment in Africa by leveraging technology to drive down the cost of books by as much as 70% and broadening the audience for African authors by a 10+ order of magnitude. In my role as a founder and lead-evangelist, I oversaw the establishment of partnerships and relationships with international organisations including The United States Embassy in Harare, WorldReader.org and Binu as well as private equity partners, in the process, establishing what would become one of Africa's first (and Zimbabwe's largest) e-book self-publishing platforms compatible with feature phones, smartphones and computers. The platform featured many Zimbabwean international-award-winning authors and it won multiple innovation awards.

Mindcraft collective was a short-lived multimedia collective built by a team of three individuals that specialised in web application development, graphic design and interactive multimedia design.

Set in on debriefing meetings and developed and assisted in the Development of client briefs, pitches and client consultations/presentations. Handled main client’s accounts including the rebranding of a number of market-leading Zimbabwean corporations including Sakunda, Alliance Insurance and Lobel's Bread.

Tutored and assisted lecturers with the testing of all first-year History of graphic design students as well as assisting them with their assignments.