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Tatenda and Collin Nyongo

Shepherd Chimururi  Cool Lifestyle Correspondent
The quest to make Zimbabwe a global technological power house is the inspiration behind the innovative students who have ventured into application development.

The Information Communication and Technology (ICT) geniuses are making inroads in the industry by developing e-learning applications.

The Herald Cool Lifestyle interviewed Mufakose High (1) Advanced Level student, Collin Nyongo (18), a self-taught computer sage. He is part of the new breed of Zimbabwe’s tech-entrepreneurs who have developed e-learning applications found on Google play store, Amazon App store and Yandex App store.

“We are a team of three young men, my brother Tatenda Nyongo and my uncle Fungai Njenga.

“Our App studio known is known as Invincible Studios and currently we are working on a project called My Hermon Eduware,” Nyongo said.

He says to date, they have developed more than 10 Apps, but currently have six apps on Google play store namely GCE History for Zimsec, African History O level, GCE English for Zimsec, GCE Commerce for Zimsec for Ordinary Level.

“All these apps have more than 100 downloads each. Most of our Apps are downloaded by students in countries like Nigeria, Nepal, Maldives, US, Tanzania among others,” Nyongo said.

The motivation behind his project was the realisation that most students have cellphones but very few had academic material on their mobile devices.

Tatenda, who considers himself a gifted web developer, does most of the coding and content development in the applications.

“I saw many opportunities in App development. People like Bill Gates, Mack Zuckerberg and the guy who created Ndeipi Messenger inspired me to study about App development,” he said.

He hopes to land a handsomely rewarding job in the technology sector in due course.

Like any other entrepreneur in the country, their journey has had a fair share of constraints.

“The challenges we are facing are mainly financial and also equipment we are using is not what we desire to produce the Apps because we intend to move from android and also cover apple and iphones and windows phones.”

Another tech gem that makes advocates of African renaissance beat their chests is Russell Kanyera, who developed the Shona App making waves at Google play store.

It was launched in May this year. Kanyera said that the Shona App provides a plethora of Shona knowledge accessible at the touch of a button.

“It has long lists of searchable Shona proverbs and similes with explanations and Shona to English translations. It has helped thousands of people find to quick Shona answers without using any internet connections,” he said.

The new breed of Zimbabwe’s tech-entrepreneurs have developed e-learning applications found on Google play store, Amazon App among others

The App additionally has specifically tailored content for people at different levels of learning Shona from the basics of number counting to Shona grammar at higher levels.

Some of the features in the App include over 1 400 Shona proverbs, similes and riddles with explanations. Kanyera considers his application to be an answer to the challenges faced by most Shona students.

“The application comes with Primary school Shona tips and practice questions with answers secondary school Shona notes.

Parents can get quick answers to help their children with Shona homework without searching on the internet or asking friends and family on social media,” he said.

The practice questions can additionally parents gauge which areas their children may need supplementary help.

With the Shona App students can learn Shona examination skills like Shona grammar and composition tips and measure their examination preparedness by attempting the revision questions.

The App has over 7 000 downloads from the site and Google play.

With emphasis being placed on the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics inventions, the emergence of young talent in these disciplines speaks hope into the prospects of the country as a whole.