Tech start-up’s bet on entertainment industry pays off

U-Turn Solutions co-founders Tyson Maguto and Brenda Mareri during the interview at Nation Centre in Nairobi last week. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU 

By LYNET IGADWAH, ligadwah@ke.nationmedia.com

A common desire to change perceptions in the country about robotics is what brought Brenda Mareri and Tyson Maguto together as business partners.

The two met during an iHub workshop in Nairobi where they broke off from a group of youths they were assigned to work with.

The iHub is an innovation centre and hacker space for the technology community in Nairobi that was started in March 2010 by Erik Hersman a renowned blogger, TED fellow and entrepreneur.

After branching off from the group, Brenda, 24, and Tyson, 25, co-founded U-Turn Solutions, a company whose mission is offer technology that make people’s lives easier.

One of the company’s products, the LED suits, are powered by dry cell batteries and are ideal for people working in entertainment venues as DJs, waiters and waitresses. Their prices range from Sh2,500 to Sh3,500 depending on the desired design.

According to Mr Maguto, the LED entertainment wear when used in lounges and restaurants makes it easier for the staff and customers to relate.

“Since the jackets are designed by lining the clothing with LED strips, the workers are more visible in the dark, hence able to serve clients better,” says the sociology student at Moi University.

The customisable jackets are water proof and can be used in the fishing industry as bait for fish at night. The LED suits are also used by individuals conducting rescue missions in water as life saver jackets.

While the initial idea was to design the jackets for boda boda operators, Mr Maguto says improvements have been made on the product to cover an array of fields.

“The latest improvement is embedding the LED strips underneath the reflector jackets to limit brightness,” says Ms Mareri, a biotechnology graduate from the Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.

For the six months they have been in business, the two budding entrepreneurs say their initial investment of Sh100,000 in the business has not gone to waste because their hard work is paying off.

Since their products were new in the market, most of the money went into marketing and importing the LED strips from overseas.

A number of business establishments have shown interest in the product, and this is what makes the U-Turn Solutions co-founders enthusiastic about the venture.

Their plan, they say, is to grow their enterprise across Africa because the market for their product is still untapped.

Aside from the LED suits, the duo is involved in the Arduino Camp project aimed at equipping individuals aged between 13 to 24 with basic computer programming and robotic skills.
 

The project involves use of a gadget called the Arduino, an open source platform based on flexible, easy-to-use hardware and software.

Their desire to see the project takeoff was not dampened even after enduring 24 rejections from high school principals who could not comprehend what the project was all about.

So far, the duo has run a pilot project at the Nairobi School with plans to cover four more secondary schools in the next six months.

Mr Maguto says the company is eyeing partnerships top tech multinationals that have promised to come onboard once the start-up meets the five-school target for growth.