A South African entrepreneur is preparing to launch an innovative new automated chronic medicine dispensing system in a pilot project for the national Department of Health.

“The Technovera Locker system, is a most deserving winner in the Samsung South Africa Launching People – Mixed Talents competition,” explains Michelle Potgieter, Director: Brand and Communications at Samsung South Africa. “This is the brainchild of Neo Hutiri, an electrical and industrial engineer businessman based in Johannesburg, who wowed judges with his simple and innovative, yet powerful idea.”

The Technovera system is designed to shorten the time chronic patients must spend waiting for their repeat prescriptions to be filled, as well as streamlining operations for state healthcare facilities, improving compliance and reducing the cost of chronic patient care.

Hutiri presented his solution and business plan in a Dragon’s Den-styled finale in the Samsung Launching People – Mixed Talents challenge to become one of three winners to receive R50000 in start-up capital and access to over R300000 worth of business support tools from Samsung’s partners.

The Technovera solution includes a smart locker, an SMS notification system and chronic medication collection tracking. “Patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens, for example, who are stable chronic patients, typically have a six-month repeat prescription with an evaluation due every six months. For five of every six months, the process of collecting the repeat prescription need not involve the nurse – patients could simply be authenticated and collect their medication,” says Hutiri.

“By introducing this innovation, we can allow for pre-packed medication to be placed in smart locker cubicles and automatically notify the patients via SMS that their prescriptions are ready for collection. Each patient is validated by entering a one-time PIN and their cellphone number, which electronically unlocks their compartment.”

The solution has been developed in close consultation with the Innovation Hub, the Department of Health, the City of Tshwane and the City of Johannesburg, as well as with medical and pharmaceutical stakeholders and patients themselves. “Proving compliance, security and confidentiality, as well as ensuring that the system innovates within the constraints of a highly regulated environment, has been challenging,” says Hutiri. However, he believes that the digitised, smart system will deliver a broad range of benefits to healthcare service providers and patients alike, with the potential to integrate into other centralised health care and patient management systems for enhanced service delivery in future.

“Technovera’s win in the Launching People – Mixed Talents challenge has secured it funding to improve its systems, as well as valuable exposure that will raise awareness among patients and health stakeholders. Samsung is incredibly proud to be a supporter of such a revolutionary project that will truly improve lives in our communities – an endeavour which aligns strongly with Samsung brand ethos,” Potgieter concludes.

For more information on the campaign or to register, visit: www.launchingpeople.co.za and follow #MixedTalents.

Samsung Electronics South Africa is proud to announce that three exceptional young entrepreneurs have triumphed in the company’s Launching People – Mixed Talents competition. Last week, ten finalists undertook a ‘Dragon’s Den’ style grilling at the hands of six judges, to determine the winners, who received funding as well as other business support tools and services.

After undergoing a series of pitching their various concepts to the judges – Michelle Potgieter, Director for Brand and Communications at Samsung South Africa; Lisa Illingworth, Entrepreneurial Host and Journalist at Hot 91.9 FM; Ian Wright, Founder of METIME; GG van Rooyen, Deputy Editor of Entrepreneur Magazine; Fahmeeda Cassim-Surtee, Director of DStv Sales and Marketing; as well as Garth Gaffley, Owner of Garth Gaffley Consulting and Mixed Talents – three winners were ultimately chosen.

Kyle Dodds’ Cognition Online, which has developed an application designed for the tutoring industry and enables tutors, parents and students connect was the first winner announced. They were followed by Neo Hutiri’s Technovera Lockers, a smart locker designed to enable chronic patients to obtain their medicines securely, without having to wait in queues. The final winner was a mobile child safety seat designed by Trenton Carr.

According to Potgieter, the Mixed Talents initiative was born of a desire to have a positive impact on the high youth unemployment rate in the country.

“The Mixed Talents competition and Ideas Bank tool were designed to provide entrepreneurial youngsters with a forum to adequately express their ideas. Part of the global Samsung Launching People initiative, Mixed Talents offers local South African millennials a platform through which they can turn their entrepreneurial ideas into a reality. The ultimate goal is to make a real impact in youth unemployment in South Africa,” she says.

The three winners will each receive R50 000 in start-up capital, as well as access to over R 300 000 worth of invaluable business support tools from Samsung’s partners. This includes serviced office space for each organisation through Work Central and world-class coaching through Winning Edge.

“This is the second time we have created a platform for three entrepreneurs to take their business ideas to the next level through the Mixed Talents competition and the strength of the entries was even greater than during the previous wave. It is really exciting to see just how talented young South African minds are and how many unique ideas they have. It is important that corporates get behind start-ups like these and we would like to encourage other organisations to get actively involved in developing this type of entrepreneurship.”

According to Potgieter, the biggest take away from tonight for other young thought leaders is that if you have a vision, follow it through with passion and make it come true. To South African millennials, she adds that they have to follow their dreams and the Ideas Bank is still available to them as a tool to do so. “This is a  means to help you launch your business and make your particular dream come true,” concludes Potgieter.