Innovators put power to stop road carnage at passengers’ fingertips

By Lillian Kiarie

Nairobi, Kenya: A chance meeting in a bus at Nairobi’s Kencom stage reunited two high school friends, and led to the creation of a mobile application aimed at reducing road accidents through community and social traffic policing.

What is Matserve about?

Matserve Msafiri is a road safety Android application aimed at curbing road carnage.

Each year, several families are left destitute after they lose their loved ones or see them left paralysed and unable to work after a road accident.

Matserve detects the exact speed a vehicle is moving at, putting the power to act in the hands of passengers. They can lodge complaints in real time that can be acted upon instantly by the authorities.

You are unveiling the app as Stripes Biz Solutions, tell us more about the company?

Matserve Msafiri is one of the flagship projects of Stripes Biz Solutions, a company run by two former high school classmates, Kamau Nyabwengi and John Mwaura. Mwaura holds a degree in computer science, while Kamau has a degree in entrepreneurship.

Before we started Matserve Msafiri, Kamau was working as a consultant for startups and established an online community, the Young Entrepreneurs Network Kenya. Mwaura worked in software development.

What is your selling point with this app?

Using two key features, community policing can be enhanced through reports of road menaces such as speeding, overloading and corruption.

The Speed Check function detects the exact speed a vehicle is moving at. If a driver speeds, a notification is sent out with details of the time and speed of the vehicle. This information can be used by the bus company or traffic police.

The Community Policing function allows passengers to volunteer vital information on traffic illegalities, with a Toa Sauti feature allowing passengers to provide feedback to bus firms on quality of service.

This feedback can be accessed from the Matserve Msafiri web portal, which also provides other enterprise solutions such as passenger record management and parcel service automation.

Has the app started bringing in revenue?

Not yet; we are still in the pre-revenue stage.

What has the reception been?

Kenyans are a fascinating lot. The app has generated a lot of interest from them, with some jokingly inquiring if they can use it to avoid the infamous Alcoblow road blocks.

But overall, they’ve provided us with useful suggestions that we have used to refine the app.

What are your key challenges?

Our main challenge has been marketing the app. We need to reach a critical mass of app downloads to make the reports and data generated relevant for use by stakeholders, which would effectively curb road carnage.

Where can the app be downloaded from?

The app is available for free download from the Google Play store, with the Windows and iOS versions soon to be made available. The uptake has been increasing gradually, but we still need more users. So far, a leading insurance firm has expressed interest in working with us.

Have you received any funding?

We have not secured any funding yet; however, we are in the final stages of a competition where we stand to win Sh2.15 million ($25,000).

Last year, the app received the 2013 Young Innovators Award in the mobile innovations category at a summit held in November at the Oshwal Centre in Nairobi.

Future plans for Stripes Biz Solutions?

We intend to grow regionally and develop other complimentary and innovative solutions that will help save lives on our roads and improve the business operations of our clients.

Your message to startups?

You must be resilient and constantly improve. Also, startups need to ensure they have a solid business proposition by doing thorough research before they go into the market.

lkiarie@standardmedia.co.ke