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.

Developing South Africa’s young entrepreneurs can play a key role in turning unemployment around, but would-be entrepreneurs should take note of some important ‘Do’s and Don’ts’. This is according to Carol Koffman, a senior manager at Deloitte, who is playing a key role as expert behind the Samsung Launching People – Mixed Talents initiative.
 

Koffman says, “The Samsung Mixed Talents initiative was designed to offer millennial entrepreneurs, as well as those with great ideas, an engagement and mentoring platform to help them build creative business solutions. The innovative Ideas Bank portal has been created to bring people together using technology.”
 

Dr.Michelle Potgieter, Director of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Samsung SA, says, “The Ideas Bank filters and vets entrepreneurial ideas according to different categories, then channels and matches these to the right business partner, coach, funder or business collaboration.”
 

Koffman says, “We are creating a highway to match up entrepreneurial ideas and resources. Entrepreneurs are those who see opportunities where others do not, and who initiate solutions to solve a problem or fill a gap. Most importantly, they don’t give up but keep trying. And so, when they do achieve success, they will create jobs as a result, or have some kind of social impact that connects a broader base, for example a community or group. It’s not always about creating something completely new – sometimes it’s more about seeing the gap and connecting the dots.”
 

Koffman offers the following five ‘Do’s and five Don’ts’ for young entrepreneurs in South Africa today.
 

Don’t:
 

…Assume that money is the answer to everything. It is important to have a bigger vision of the idea’s purpose or impact.
…Expect quick success. Successful entrepreneurs put many hours into their ideas.
…Be attached to your idea. If it doesn’t work then look for a different way to do it and be open to the idea’s evolution. Keep testing it.
…Wait for anything to be perfect. With every action or prototype there is evolution.
…Think you can do it alone. Ask for help.
 

Do’s
 

Do your homework. Research your idea to find out what makes it different and what its target market would be.
Take action. You cannot be an entrepreneur without taking action. Even talking to people means you are doing something.
Be involved in what you know. There needs to be some kind of emotion invested in what you do, whether it is something that you love or a response to a frustration.
Do ask for help. Assistance comes in many forms, not only monetary.
Keep it simple. What do you want to create, how will you do it and how will it make a difference to your life? The benefit needs to be immediately obvious.
Koffman says the value of the Samsung Mixed Talents initiative helps young entrepreneurs by allowing plausible ideas to experience exponentially creative growth. “The platform allows us to immediately match, group and compare ideas. In this way we have a collaborative space in which a lot of the ‘homework’ that you need to do – to see if an idea will fly – is already done. The platform forces the entrepreneur to think the process through and start dispelling all the ‘Don’ts’ mentioned previously.”
 

Dr. Potgieter adds, ““The portal helps people get an audience with experts; their ideas are vetted, compared and even enhanced, and in this way the original idea can grow exponentially. We are also able to provide exposure to internships and actual job opportunities: support is not only monetary.”
 

Koffman concludes, “When Samsung began the Mixed Talents initiative, one of the main challenges for young entrepreneurs trying to turn their ideas in to reality was knowing where to go and who to talk to.
 

Millennials use technology constantly to engage in their social networks. Therefore crafting a solution via a technology platform was a given. We have therefore created something that plugs into the space where Millennials are already spending their time and energies. Having seen and accessed this gap, we are confident that it will continue to morph. We’ve issued an open invitation to everyone to join in and be part of a community that is helping to create a desired change.”
 

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