 Welcome back to Hashtag Interpreneurship to the right here on why in the morning at Y254 channel is where you can find us across all our social media platform at Michelle Ashira is where you can find me so in this particular session we are talking about matters of finding e-learning solutions especially during right now where by schools of close down due to the global pandemic COVID-19 and what means to do I have David Waweru who is a business development director co-founder of software people which has come come up with a product known as my school software that aims to boost the e-learning in the country thank you very much David for creating time to be with us thank you Michelle how was your morning how did you find us your way to Y254 thank you Michelle I think I'm excited to be here to share our journey and to share to talk more about our innovation and to talk more about what we are doing to enhance our access to education in a very innovative way where we are championing e-learning thank you we are glad to have you and just before we even get into the my school software uh which is the major major the main reason why we are here I would like to find out a little bit of a background of who David Waweru before he became a software developer okay uh thank you uh Michelle um um David Waweru is um is an innovative uh uh Kenyan who um who um get very excited about providing uh solutions or solving problems that um uh the society come across on a daily basis uh more particularly I'm very passionate about um education and uh I think that is how we found ourselves uh uh asking ourselves um how we can we can plug in and provide a solution uh during this uh challenging times where it's estimated that uh 1.6 billion children across the world are home and are not able to access uh school because of the COVID-19 uh challenge uh our company software people is a two-year-old company okay two-year-old I don't know whether you still call us a startup but we are two-year-old we've primarily given solution to financial institution uh but we found ourselves ask we found uh ourselves are asking ourselves uh what can we do uh during this time when when uh when a solution is required to to to to sort of sort of uh navigate around the the the the prevailing uh challenge and and that's how we we we came about uh this uh solution okay you before you got into uh self-employment we can call this as such you went to employment and you quit your job is that uh to be a co-founder of software people what gap did you see in the in the learning sector that made you just dive into this uh problem solving uh business that you go into thank you michelle uh I think like um my background is the financial um the services uh specifically I mean I've been in the banking sector for the past 16 years and last year uh my friend and my friend and I um decided to not just do uh what you are doing as a side hassle but uh I mean make it um a full time uh engagement and and I left uh employment to uh be at software people almost on a full time basis all right interesting from a financial background and one would wonder what sort of a background does one need to become a software developer um I think what you are doing as software people uh David particularly uh we're just providing business leadership to a technical team of very talented young developers who have helped us come up with this solution uh I think what you need to be to do to become a developer is a mind mindset of a problem solver yeah all right so the main reason why we are here today it's the product from software people whereby we have my school software which is offering solution during this kov-19 times whereby our our students are back at home till next year and the question would be how does my school software operate okay the the application is video conferencing application and I think like I mentioned what drove us into innovating around this space besides our passion for for education and putting our children on the knowledge path uh you realize that uh a lot of children at home during this situation and even before them access to education in in this country and in this continent also it's it's a big challenge and I think we notice there's a huge demand for for for private education in this country uh this huge demand despite uh education in this country uh being uh a bit uh not a bit but fairly uh kustri it is estimated that to put a child in a private school for a period of one year to cost about 65 000 that is not cheap and uh I think for us to to to to promote penetration of private private education I think there's need for us to think deeply for us to imagine a bit in a stretch manner in terms of how can how can education be made uh cheaper and and cheaper and accessible for for for that matter and and I think that is how we thought uh why not use technology because this country is known to have better uh uh smartphone penetration than any other country in this continent why not use that to make uh to make people and to make our peoples our children access education through a smartphone through a laptop uh and I think uh that is why we are here I think we innovate around around around that background absolutely and speaking about affordability let's look at uh because you've given us a crook like the approximate amount when you put our kids in a private schools and let's look at the software software people under my school software how much are parents uh approximately supposed to pay uh for the license fee and uh how much is it uh okay uh I think we've tried to make uh the the solution very accessible to school uh I think the point of sale is the school not directly to the parent who are we are saying depending on the size of the school uh we can pay a modest of between 5000 and 10,000 a month and have the school access the solution for a month okay and uh what are some of designs uh when it comes to the the lessons or uh the teachings so is it just measured on probably uh primary secondary even tertiary or is it just across uh I think our application is specifically designed for teaching but we've uh and notice uh Michelle that the application is very versatile because other than it being used by primary school secondary school tertiary institution uh there are number of corporate institution which have used it to do their video conferencing you know a lot of people are working from home during this time we've also found a number of circles who have used it to do their 2020 AGM because as you notice people are social distancing and people avoiding gathering so the application is is quite versatile other than using it uh to deliver uh learning okay it can also be used to to to manage corporate corporate events and corporate meetings wow interesting that's very interesting very versatile let's look at the limitation are there limited amounts of classes that are that a student takes is it limited and also in terms of the numbers of the users is it a limited application um the virtue the virtual classroom it's it's a very robust solution in the sense that it has capability to host unlimited number of classes number of streams where for instance a primary school where it has a class one or the way to class eight uh they can on board uh they can on board on board other students at at the same time irrespective of irrespective of how many streams they have and irrespective of how many learners they have on on on each of the streams yeah because uh we are able to uh we are able to provide a server a resource that is capable of managing uh managing that volume and managing a bandwidth depending on on on demand for for that matter okay when you look at the normal times when we used to attend classes we have teachers in the easy access we can just raise our hand and ask our question what is the level of interaction on this particular application how is it how is it uh interacting between the teacher and the students um the the solution is a video conferencing um meaning the the the teacher is able to to interact with the learner on a real time basis uh when we say uh it's a video conferencing application that the the teacher can see the learner and the learner can see the you know virtually can see the the teacher and it's it's very interactive in the sense that um the teacher is able to allow uh a particular learner access to a whiteboard where the learner can make notes and the rest of the the rest of the class can see the notes um the teacher can share presentation the teacher is also able to upload the video upload the upload the presentation it's it's it's a very robust and versatile uh solution that make learning very exciting and as you know learners are fascinated by the children are fascinated by technology and and they're liking the flexibility for that matter okay speaking about flexibility uh we also know that e-learning comes with a lot of distractions for the pupils and especially when you're back at home and you can be distracted you can easily be distracted it's quite different form just being monitored by a class teacher even a lecturer so if you put it that way what are some of solution to kaba this level of distraction and also there's always never assurance of 100 attendance so what are some of the solution to kaba is uh i think um i i i i i think during the development uh uh face we've uh tried to make the platform uh platform strong and robust in terms of uh it's the it it can handle it can handle creative creative stabilization uh such that uh the learners are not restricted to the conventional or traditional and chalk ya but uh the the the the learning is very very it's very it's very interactive it's it's creative in terms of the teacher is able to upload ...we upload and upload videos and different teaching... ...methology and, styles that suit a particular age of Lana Alright, so on our screen we have the e-learning college Is this the platform that we will be talking about? No we need to go back to... Ok, my director takes me back. So let's look at some of the challenges that we have because not every student or even a pupil can access the internet or even the laptop or even a smartphone. Sofa, what are the measures that you, as a company of software people, are taking measures to actually look into this particular problem? I think we recognize that there are going to be challenges in terms of rollout and I think this is a challenge that requires all the stakeholders to think deep about. I think the issue of access to gadgets, it's a challenge, the issue of access to data bundles, I think we start and work with what we have. I think that's the idea, that's the spirit, we start and work with what we have. That being the challenge, we are not forgetting that this country has among the best smartphone penetration in Africa. And as far as internet connectivity is concerned, this country is also privileged to have fibre optic cable connectivity that is better than anywhere else in the East Africa region. And recently we've heard the launch of the 4G balloons that are taking internet way deep into the villages. You're going to jump onto that opportunity. We are going to leverage. The idea here is to leverage and to make a student or a people in the village have similar ease in accessing education as they account for in the city of Nairobi or any other urban setup in this country. What do you see the future of e-learning and especially back here from home in Kenya? We still have rural areas whereby internet connection is on a timeframe from 6am to probably 9pm. These are street times and all that because of connection issues. What do you look in your inlook, what's the future of e-learning in Kenya? I think there is a huge demand and we are not just looking at e-learning. We are looking at e-learning in terms of what can it do and e-learning has the potential to cut the cost of accessing education. It has the potential to propagate all, enhance access across. It has the potential to give learners or people access to education. In a more safer and secure environment. Having that in mind, I think Michelle goes without saying that e-learning is actually the way to go in the new normal. Absolutely. Especially right now whereby a lot of businesses have actually gone online. So it's the only way I guess. On to the parents who are still skeptical about their children just going to learn via virtual interaction with their teacher. They are still conservative and they believe in just the physical way when it comes to learning. What would be your advice to those particular parents who are still skeptical about jumping into the shape of e-learning? I think the fear of the unknown is real. Human beings are known to stick to the known way of doing things. They are formed habit. We are living in a very different times especially now that we are faced with a pandemic that has cost us to adopt new lifestyles, new ways of doing things. We must ask ourselves how then do we keep our learners engaged in terms of accessing a teacher service and interacting with the teacher for that matter. And e-learning has the answers. So we are looking at my school software was just a byproduct of the software people company. What are some of the products that we should look out for in terms of any new launched product that should be giving unto us? I can mention software people is a two-year-old company and before we came up with the virtual learning platform, which is the fairly, I will call it our newest kid in the block. Which is actually doing very well. Yeah, it's doing very well. It's our newest product and before that we primarily be doing integration solutions for financial institutions. We've done mobile banking applications. We've done internet banking applications. We've done agency banking solutions for local banks. And we also do core banking applications for circles, for microfinances. So that has been our area of specialization. All right. Allow me to take you back or still on my school software. When it comes to assignments and exams, how fast do they get marked? And how long do the students have to wait just in place that? Okay. I think what makes our application unique to some of the solutions that are in the market, is that besides doing the conferencing and the teaching module of the application, the solution has the capacity, which is still under trial. The solution has the capacity for students to do assessment or test or exams as you'd call them. And they are able to upload their work on the platform. And marking or review is done almost immediately. And the results are veiled back almost on a real-time basis. Do you say when you go back to the new normal, there will be a time where the schools will incorporate the e-learning and actually now the traditional way of learning that you're used to as a country? That is very possible. That's very possible, Michelle, where we can have a hybrid of the conventional, traditional shock and board teaching and e-learning. Why that is possible is because students need to do the homework, correct? Students need to do the homework, students need to do remedial classes, or whatever you'd call them. It's very possible to have a hybrid of conventional and e-learning. And when we speak about remedial classes, when it comes to e-learning, it's way quite easier because it's easy to just go back, referencing everything quite easy. It's quite easy and why it's easy is because the teaching resource can be shared. And teaching resource, that is one thing, that is, you know, posting a challenge to, if you draw a comparison between our private school and public school, the private schools have much more resource than the counterpart on the public school. So the capacity to share this resource across, it's enhanced by e-learning. And then at the same time, e-learning cuts commuter time. We know in this country and especially in Naban setup, sometimes you have to put young children in school buses as early as 5.30. Quite flexible. So e-learning deliver learning to the comfort of there. The comfort of their homes. Let's look at the future of my school software and are there new features that you'll be incorporating in this particular software? I think during the pilot phase, we've taken a lot of feedback from the user. And these are some of the dynamics in solution provision or in software development. We say that a software or a solution does not have to be static. Our application is very scalable in terms of what customizations we can do to suit different teaching environment. Because you understand that the requirement for a private school will be different from the requirement of a university for that matter. So my school or the batcho classroom like we like to call it is very scalable in terms of can evolve to accommodate different requirement by different learners. So for school institutions that are watching this or even parents back at home and they would like to reach out to you and get further information on this virtual classroom. How can they get to you? I think we can reach us on our website. You can come to our website www.softwarepeople.co.ke Ladies and gentlemen, that was David Waweru, business development director and co-founder of my school software. He likes to call it the virtual classroom. That's all we had for you on this particular conversation matters, pertaining the building transformation of e-learning. At Misha Lashireza, you can find me across my social media platform. We'll be right back with another interview. Don't now touch that dial.