FundaBotix, one of the businesses supported by UP’s TuksNovation, was recently selected as one of 20 finalists in the 2019 SAB Foundation Social Innovation Awards, and received seed grant funding of R200 000 to support its development.

TuksNovation is a high-tech business incubator based at the University of Pretoria that provides specialised product and business development support to start-ups.

In 2013 Ntombikayise Banda founded a non-governmental organisation called SciExplo to promote science to learners from previously disadvantaged communities.

FundaBotix is an education technology company whose mission is to equip young people with 21^st-century skills and prepare them for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. FundaBotix has developed a low-cost robotics platform through which schoolgoing children can learn engineering and skills in programming, electronics, mechanics, and artificial intelligence. The robotics platform is accompanied by a curriculum that emphasises the four Cs of 21^st-century learning: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication.

“Winning this prize is a humbling experience, as it is serves as recognition and a nod of approval for the work we are doing,” says FundaBotix founder Ntombikayise Banda. The seed grant will assist with curriculum development, prototype refinement, and the purchase of necessary equipment for initial production of the product.”

FundaBotix has developed a low-cost robotics platform through which schoolgoing children can learn engineering and skills in programming, electronics, mechanics, and artificial intelligence.

Banda says in 2013 she founded a non-governmental organisation called SciExplo to promote science to learners from previously disadvantaged communities. One of the core modules taught was robotics. She says many learners expressed interest in owning their own robotics kits. At the time, she and her team were importing their robotics kits from the United Kingdom, making them expensive and thus inaccessible to many of the learners. This prompted her to design a low-cost robotics platform to meet this growing need.

“I was driven by the desire to see such technologies become affordable for African children, and to allow for maximum exposure and learning opportunities. This led to the birth of FundaBotix, which aims to provide convenience, inclusive education, and access to low-cost but powerful technology. In addition to that, FundaBotix aims to be a supplier of affordable technology-based educational products across the continent and beyond.”

FundaBotix equips young people with 21^st-century skills and prepares them for the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

TuksNovation Centre Manager Anéa Burke le Roux says as a TuksNovation incubatee, FundaBotix receives business support and mentorship to help the company better position itself for funding opportunities. The mentorship bore fruits when FundaBotix was selected as one of 20 social enterprises (out of 600 applications) to be finalists for the 2019 SAB Foundation Social Innovation Awards.

Banda says she is grateful to TuksNovation for its help in formalising and strengthening her business model and exposing her to funding opportunities and competitions.