Celebrating Youth Month 2020: Young innovator takes on the challenge of student accommodation
After facing endless challenges with finding suitable accommodation, Justice Dlamini, a postgraduate student from Johannesburg, set himself the task of finding a solution.
Dlamini, who holds a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting degree from the University of Johannesburg, is developing an innovation that will enable students to apply for accommodation across all universities in South Africa using their smartphones.
He is being supported in the development of his innovation by the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI), through the Grassroots Innovation Programme run by its entity, the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA).
Having studied for a number of years, Dlamini is familiar with the pitfalls of finding student accommodation, a situation that is made even worse for students from remote communities coming to big cities to pursue their studies.
He hopes that future generations of students, by using his innovation, will not have the same struggle to find a decent, affordable place to stay while they study.
Dlamini is dedicated to community development, and spends his spare time exploring and solving problems within the educational space. He also lends a helping hand with charitable activities, such as assisting high school learners with tertiary and bursary applications, and collecting and distributing used running shoes as a way of promoting healthy lifestyles in underprivileged communities.
The young innovator welcomes the support he has received from TIA and the DSI, which has enabled him to develop a functional prototype and prepare for market testing.
He describes his innovation as a public-private partnership initiative that aims to solve a problem encountered by students not only in South Africa but across Africa and the rest of the world as well.
For now, however, he is tight-lipped about the details of his innovation, while waiting for the necessary processes to unfold in taking his product to market.
