Agripreneur: Maphosa’s smart tags keep livestock safe and sound

After a research trip through the heartlands of China and the vast outback of Australia, Justice Maphosa returned to South Africa with more than just adventure stories to tell. He came back with a futuristic solution that can help frustrated farmers put an end to thieves getting away with their livestock.

Hailing from Germiston, Gauteng, Maphosa is the founder of Find Me Security Technology, a GPS (global positioning system) tracker company specialising in the latest security technology for the agricultural sector.

His company offers livestock farmers peace of mind with a smart ear tag tracker and 4G sim collar tracker technology designed in Australia. Find Me Security Technology then adapts the trackers to suit local conditions or needs.

“The ear tag product is directly linked to a satellite, using a low earth orbit, meaning it works anywhere as it does not need network towers, while the collar requires network though,” Maphosa explains.

Innovative solutions

Maphosa tells Food For Mzansi he has always had an interest in technology. In fact, he has been in the security industry since 1999 working in industrial security, aviation, mining, and farm security.

During his MBA studies at Mancosa in 2013, he took a trip to China for research purposes.

“We had to visit some top companies and [at] that point I got interested when I saw people who were working with tags and I asked if they could actually make them for cattle as well,” he recalls.

He asked the suppliers if he could buy in on the product and invested R50 000. Two years down the line, the company reached out to inform him that the samples were finalised and prepared for shipment to South Africa.

However, Maphosa knew that the product was not ready for the South African market. His challenges were about to become difficult.

“I really wanted to test the products. I shared it with farmers I knew, and the product wasn’t working perfectly due to [the] network,” he explains.

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Overcoming challenges

Although functional and effective overseas, getting it to work in South Africa was a bit tricky. “The network was one of the biggest challenges,” Maphosa explains.

When there is no network coverage, GSM (global system for mobile communications) collar types encounter difficulties in updating real-time locations. They are unable to issue call alerts, send SMS alerts, or update their location. This posed a problem for livestock tracking.

“It became better as our networks in the country became better too,” he says.

In early 2016, he managed to get investors interested whose financial backing helped him further refine the product. A year later, Maphosa introduced the product to the public.

“The product was released in 2017 to the public but on limited supply as I wanted a good signal for the 3G version,” he explains.

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What makes it so special?

What makes these livestock trackers unique is that it requires batteries, and farmers get an instant alert of any abnormal behaviour via SMS, WhatsApp and email.

It also allows for real time tracking on tablet or phone among others.

The smart ear tag also has a built-in biosecurity simulator which allows farmers to determine incubation period and infectious period, as well as the probability of death.

Maphosa says his smart ear tag and 4G sim collar trackers are available in packs of 5, 10 and 24.

“It is important to buy in bulk for example, 24 to about 120 tags will cost R5 600 per each tag and 200 at R4 800 each, while 2 000 tags will cost about R3 800, and commercial prices apply to say about 8000 tags at R2 800,” he explains.

In identifying a need in the agricultural sector and developing innovative solutions to address it, Maphosa is showing how technology, such as GPS trackers and smart ear tags can improve efficiency and security in farming practices.