(A column highlighting scientific, technological, engineering, and design innovation in Africa)
Zimbabwean software engineer and part-time music producer Ian Mutamiri developed a suite of applications for mobile devices that teaches children to read the local Shona and other languages by improving their ability to associate syllables to their respective sounds. Known as NatiV (Native Voice), the e-learning innovation focuses on teaching children languages using native speakers whose accent and intonation they recognize.
NatiV offers solutions to a number of local challenges, including providing modern digital tools and apps for the preservation of local native languages; facilitating access for children to early-learning materials; assisting children with learning disabilities; and making learning fun and engaging, which, in turn, helps to assure success in school. Mutamiri cites UNESCO in arguing that children who are given the opportunity to learn in their mother tongue are more likely to engage and succeed in school.
The groundwork for NatiV was laid while Mutamiri was enrolled in the master’s degree program at the University of Zimbabwe. His research initially focused on developing affordable, convenient mobile technologies as a response to the shortage of teachers in rural areas. That focus shifted to language learning and ultimately to teaching native languages to Zimbabwean children.
Today, NatiV’s suite of apps includes Vaka Manzwi, a Scrabble game for the Shona language; Pedzisa Manzwi, a fill-in-the-blanks game by clicking, dragging and dropping the correct syllables into the blank spaces; and Raura Manzwi, an animation action-packed game that requires children to “fish” for the correct syllable.
In 2013 NatiV obtained $10,000 in seed funding from the Fund for Internet Research (FIRE) and AFRINIC. The money was used to acquire tablets that were used by 30 pupils in the app’s pilot run at its St. Tropez learning center in, Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital.
In 2014, Mutamiri was one of 12 Africans shortlisted for the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation organized by Britain’s Royal Academy of Engineering. He also was one of 12 Zimbabwean entrepreneurs selected in the first group of 1,000 young African business people to benefit from the $100 million Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Program (TEEP), Africa’s largest philanthropic fund to support start-ups.
Mutamiri hopes to raise additional funding for expansion through partnerships, investors and donors.
