Mr Restless: From taming safari ants to tracking cars

Kelvin Kuria, 26, is keen on solving problems as an entrepreneur through innovation. At 17 years and studying at Nakuru Boys High School, he created a pesticide to wipe out bedbugs that had attacked students.

The innovation saw him win top honours at several science congress events and earn his school a visit by the chief executive of the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation.

“Using indigenous plants, I also developed an organic pesticide that helped my grandmother to keep away safari ants from her homestead,” Mr Kuria told Enterprise.

“I got a C+ [plus] in the KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education) exams, a mark below the expectations of many. I was in a national school,” he said, adding that his studies were negatively impacted by the time spent on his entrepreneurship projects.

Mr Kuria’s love for applied sciences stuck and in 2012 it became stronger when one of his uncles lost a vehicle to hijackers.

 Once again, the budding entrepreneur went to work, switching his interest from biology to ICT. He developed a car-tracker, which, he says, was aimed at making recovery faster.

This innovation has grown into a full-scale security firm and earned him accolades including from Forbes Africa magazine that named him among the 30 Under 30 Most Promising Entrepreneurs in Africa for two years in a row, including this year.

 Mr Kuria, the founder of Sunrise Innovations Limited, was last year featured in the Top 40 Under 40 Men list, a survey by Business Daily in collaboration with advisory services firm KPMG.  He was also named CNN’s African Start-up of The Year in 2014 and 2015.

While at the University of Nairobi studying for a degree in Biology, he juggled classwork, teaching at secondary schools where he made winning Science Congresses presentations, and his organic pesticide innovation.

 He used his earnings from the teaching job to pay his university fees. He patented the pesticide but did not get technical support on how to commercialise the product.  

Huge gamble

He took a huge gamble; he dropped out of university in second year of study to concentrate on his innovations and essentially “live off my abilities.”

He had to change tack and now focused on coding, which efforts were recognised in 2010 by the Africa Leadership Academy (ALA) in South Africa for a Global Scholars Programme; he graduated with a diploma in entrepreneurship and leadership.

On return in January 2012, his uncle was carjacked. This would become the foundation of his firm Sunrise Innovations Limited as he sought a solution to this type of crime.

“Using the ideas I gathered from my ALA training and Internet searches, I designed a programme and sent it to a South African company for a prototype,” he said.

“For approximately Sh100,000 I got a printed circuit board. This tracking device incorporated coding, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) satellite tracking features as well as GSM and GPS.”

For six months he worked alone and managed to convince his uncle, who had a fleet of cars, to buy his tracking device at Sh20,000, a price cheaper than alternatives in the market.

After a two-week testing, his uncle ordered five more units, enabling Mr Kuria to close his first “major deal”.

Drone production

His tracking system, he says, can disengage an engine (while the car is in motion) through a text sent through a mobile phone. The system also monitors fuel consumption as well as vehicle speed, voice surveillance and a panic button for sending out an emergency text message by flashing headlights, for instance.

Sunrise Innovations, which has a branch in Nakuru, has signed up several clients such as Kabarak University, Virunga National Park in Congo, Kikuyu Water Company, and a leading Kenyan bank.

In a good month, he sells at least 30 units of the tracker at Sh20,000, giving him annual revenues of more than Sh7.2 million.

He has expanded the firm’s scope to include offering wireless security surveillance systems (CCTV and biometrics). He also produces pen cameras and car alarms.

More recently, he has ventured into drone production, a project with which he targets the government.

“I intend to bring the government on board to incorporate the drones in their day-to-day surveillance, hence cutting manpower costs while improving efficiency,” he says about his ambition, revealing his restlessness to thrive, expand, and grow his client list.

The drones could also be used in controlling traffic as well as monitor wildlife poachers, the latter something Kenya is known for having torched a multi-billion shilling pile of ivory this year to send a strong conservation message.

“Accolades only challenge me to be better,” said Mr Kuria, who is also a Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) 2015 fellow.

“A lot of eyes are on me and, I therefore, have to continue pulling up my socks for steady success.”