Four Strathmore students have designed a matatu information system  that has seen them win Sh240,000 in cash prize in the recently held 2010 Masachussets Institute of Technology -Africa Information Technology Initiative (MIT-AITI) mobile programming business.

Alex Nyika, Joseph Kivuva, Kelvin Yonga and Dominic Mativo developed a system that commuters can use to track matatus and buses coming their way dubbed iCheki. The mobile application shows how far the  next Matatu is from their location and predict how long it will take to get to them using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and Local Area Identity (LAI).

The system can also be used by freight managers to show the location of their vehicles in real time. The system also won the annual Strathmore University Mobile Boot Camp developers competition. The Business Information Technology diploma students say they will use the money to refine the system.

The highly competitive AITI business competition attracted great IT business solutions from 12 teams made up of attendees of the four week cours. Runners-up at the competition included IntelCourier and Ultimate Solutions who presented mobile courier solutions and mobile survey systems respectively.

They each won US$1,000. IntelCourier had earlier on won Sh24,000 in a 60 seconds pitch session that was used to pre-qualify teams for the grand competition. The company is being nurtured in the Strathmore Innovation Technology Transfer (SITT) incubation program, having been selected at the December 2009 pitch session.

AITI is a student-run organization in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that promotes development in Africa by cultivating young technology entrepreneurs. The program was celebrating its 10th anniversary since it was piloted in Africa in 2000. AITI develops curriculum, materials, software technologies, platforms and networks that enable African undergraduate students to innovate in the area of ICT.

Additional reporting, Dinfin Mulupi, Financial post