Over 1000 rhinos were slaughtered in South Africa last year. So far in 2014, the figure stands at nearly 500. Here is an innovative idea which could help….
A young South-African entrepreneur has been recognised by Google for using game technology and YouTube videos to prevent high-school boys from considering rhino poaching as a viable career option.
Mbekezeli Khumalo, 26, from Soweto is co-creator of Trees and Rhinos, a video and soon-to-be game.
Khumalo is one of 20 semi-finalists in the Africa Connected Campaign, an initiative by Google aimed at innovative, entrepreneurial web adopters from across sub-Saharan Africa who have used the web to overcome challenges, transform their work and the lives of others.
The semi-finalists were selected from more than 2 200 entries from 35 countries. Five overall winners will each receive $25 000 (R260 000) and six months mentorship from a Google sponsor.
Khumalo is the team leader for BoxworM, a company that aims to fix everyday problems using technology and help re-position industries in this “new tech era”.
BoxworM was started when Khumalo and co-founders were at university. Their first project was an e-learning solution they developed for their classmates to help out with a subject everyone was having trouble with.
The company has been around for three years and Khumalo said last year they decided to challenge themselves to conceptualise a solution to tackle rhino-poaching using technology.
“I started seeing people driving around in their cars with the little red horn on the front. We asked around to try to figure out what that was all about and it was then that the rhino crisis really became apparent to us,” he said.
After research, they came up with Trees and Rhinos, which uses and illustrates the latest anti-poaching technology.
Khumalo, who studied quantity surveying at Wits university, said he could not disclose how the game worked entirely as it may alert poachers to new anti-poaching technology.
The game will be free.
“We aim to use the game to teach children who go to school near game reserves across South Africa about rhino conservation,” said Khumalo.
“We are doing this because while we were conducting our research we found out that the kids in those schools, specifically in matric, are starting to look at poaching as a profitable career option! We think this is devastating and this game is a great way to combat that.”
Khumalo said the game would be similar to Mario Brothers.
“It will have a story line where the player is a baby rhino that is separated from its mother. The player must work through the game and obstacles to find its mother.”
The game will be in 2D because it can be downloaded and played on even the most basic colour wap phones.
“There is no need for fancy phones to play or download it. That is important to us as the kids who we want to play this game live in impoverished areas.”
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Follow Mbekezeli Khumalo’s intriguing venture on:
https://twitter.com/boxworMofficial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cSQynOyuOdo
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