Garebatshabe strikes gold in the cyber space
Dumisani Ncube | Wednesday February 17, 2016 15:36
A quick background check of this young intellectual, who is also the CEO of Intellegere Holdings, will quickly give a clear picture of who he is. Garebatshabe is the brains behind apps such as Learn Setswana, Music Anti Piracy as well as Biz direct.mobi and Tour Botswana.mobi.
All these are found on app stores such as PlayStore, Opera Mini, Ovi, Apple Store and Blackberry World.
His excitement rises as he explains how his journey into cyberspace started.
“It all began back in the late 90s when I was in high school. I used to surf the Internet and read my sister’s books. She was studying computer engineering at the time.”
While surfing the net and reading his sister’s books, he started experimenting with applying what he was reading and researching, leading him to begin designing websites while still in high school.
Upon completing high school, Garebatshabe’s skills in website design and app development were already sharpened. He enrolled at Informatics Computer School for a software-developing course, in the process defying his mother’s dream of seeing her son enrolling at the University of Botswana for “a decent degree” that will yield a white-collar job.
“I broke my mother’s heart at that moment and we went for a while without talking to each other in the right manner.”
More disappointment would follow as Garebatshabe dropped out of college, following in the steps of other famous and successful software engineers and developers such as Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates.
Garebatshabe had decided that his expertise was now beyond what he could garner at college and as he was up to date with everything being learnt in class.
He then started focusing on developing his apps and websites while working as a tutor during the day to shore up his finances.
The young developer came up with apps but did not have a platform on which to mount them, as organisations and individuals balked when approached for financial support. He did however manage to produce a couple of music Apps.
A taste of success first came in 2010 during the World Cup in South Africa where he met up with individuals from Finland who were interested in his work.
“I showed them the biz direct.com and Tour Botswana.mobi apps.”
The excited Fins helped hook Garebatshabe up with executives at the Nokia head offices, before the cellphone giant was taken over by Windows.
“Nokia, upon seeing my work, issued me a software developer licence. I was a premium developer for Nokia before Windows took over.”
That licence sparked a period of rapid growth, as I began receiving more from different international companies such as Samsung, Blackberry and Huawei. This meant his Setswana content Apps would be offered for sale on Play Store, Opera Mini, Ovi Store, Apple Store and Blackberry World.
Garebatshabe currently holds 15 licenses. A major milestone came prior to Blackberry releasing the Z10 cellphone. Garebatshabe was selected as one of the 10,000 developers for the then new device.
“I am one of the African Blackberry elites,” he says with a smile.
Over time, the software genius has developed Apps with Botswana heritage content and also specialised Apps for local musicians such as Drama Boi.
Customers in the 20 million downloads he has achieved include people in countries such as Indonesia, Brazil, Japan, Mexico, UK, Nigeria and South Africa.
“Botswana is not even in the top 10 of countries that download these apps and this is truly sad because most of these enlighten outsiders on our country.”
The reviews he has received from those buying his Apps have also inspired him and the achievement of 20 million downloads is something Garebatshabe views as an inspiration to young Batswana.
Garebatshabe has started hosting sessions now and again as a way of mentoring young people who are interested in venturing into cyberspace.
Most of his protégés have also started developing Apps and include Keneilwe Mohutsiwa and Thuto Gaotingwe, the recent Orange Africa IT innovations competition winner.