Samkelo Booi has a busy mind. He’s always been like that. Since childhood, he has loved solving technical problems and this has led to him launching Abelusi, a community-based, data-driven livestock management tool. The app is tailored to mitigate smallholder farmer challenges and is a platform that seeks to build consumer trust.
Abelusi aims to become the leading smallholder and established farmers’ technology solution provider in South Africa and Africa at large. Booi’s identity is deeply edged into his company which he co-owns with his partner, Lunathi Hlakanyane.
“Growing up, I used to be the go-to person for my parents because they did not use computers that much. But because I liked playing with them, I sort of wanted to make a career out of it,” he tells Food For Mzansi.
Being exposed to information technology (IT) as a subject in school meant that Booi would discover early on in his life that IT is a broad field. And also, a very exciting career path, brimming with opportunities for growth.
Getting that master’s degree
By the time he was in matric, Booi already knew that he would pursue a career in IT.
“I studied information systems at the University of the Western Cape (UWC), it basically entailed a bit of technology aspects and also a bit of a holistic picture of what and how technology fits into other ecosystems,” he explains.
In 2017, he joined the University of Cape Town (UCT) and completed his master’s degree. While doing his master’s he wanted to experience the working world and joined a consultancy agency.
“When I was in the consultancy agency, I really felt a gap in the sense that a lot of the work we were doing was inclined on building solutions, defining food cap analysis and all of those technical works,” he says.
How the app helps
When Booi started Abelusi, he says he was grateful to have four partners who wanted to succeed as much as he did.
“There were no capital constraints for us because we had internal partners that had niche skills that helped us be able to get where we are today,” he says.
However, their company’s organisational structure quickly went from a team of five to only two.
“The most challenging part is finding the right business partners. You really need to invest in finding people who complement the skills that you need in founding a company but also people who share the same vision as well,” Booi says.
Abelusi provides a community-based data-driven management tool that allows farmers to capture farm management activities, source affordable inputs from suppliers, sell their products to customers, access learning material, benchmark with peers and generate reporting to better achieve commercialisation.
No two days are ever the same
As the boss he deals with technical concepts but admits that his day-to-day activities are never the same. His position also requires him to attend a lot of meetings, travel and work long hours.
“With my business partner, we complement each other. My partner is more business focused whereas I am more technology inclined. I would spend more time with the app developers and I also attend a lot of stakeholder meetings,” he says.
Five tips from Booi for young people:
- If you want to develop a business, the best place is to look at the problems.
- Build solutions that are tailored to those problems.
- It’s okay to start small.
- Research and always look up things.
- Listen to what people need.
READ NEXT: Grab indaba tickets before they’re gone!
Get Stories of Change: Inspirational stories from the people that feed Mzansi.
