In this episode:

·       01:33 – Meet Victor Radebe, founder of Mzansi Aerospace Technologies. He’s always been interested in technology and how it revolutionises the way we live. Today, he works in the Ekurhuleni Aerotropolis transport hub, with OR Tambo International Airport at its core.

“I grew up in Soweto. My father was a coal merchant so the closest thing we had to technology at the time was a coal stove – we had no electricity until the early 80s. My ‘big moment’ with technology was when I got my first cellphone – a Nokia 1610 with two hours’ battery life. I was one of the first people in the community to have a cellphone, so although I really wanted it to ring, it never did because no one else had one.”

·       06:40 – The drone industry is enabling digital transformation in key sectors like mining, construction, engineering, and security, says Victor. With drone technology, it’s easy to create digital representations of infrastructure like bridges, roads, water reservoirs, and railway lines.

“It’s changing the way we do things. In creating a digital twin of a bridge, for example, we can send drones to inspect it every few months, to see if any cracks have developed or if the condition of the bridge has changed. Drones can fly underneath and get as close as 10cm from the bridge to do a high-res inspection. In the past, if we needed to inspect the roof of a stadium, for example, we’d first have to build a scaffolding. This could take weeks, it’s expensive, and it puts people’s lives in danger. A drone can do the inspection in less than an hour and return valuable data.”

·       12:12 – When it comes to public perception of drone technology, people have one of two extreme views, says Victor. They either see drones as toys, or as weapons of mass destruction associated with the military, death, and mayhem.

“I want to have conversations with Joe Public about drones, not tech enthusiasts who understand the technology – it’s easy to convince them. We ran a programme to map out informal settlements, but we didn’t just go there and fly the drone. We first had a meeting with the councillor and the community, telling them that the drone wasn’t there to spy on them, but to accurately map the township to assist with service delivery. The community was accepting, and they were fascinated by what drones can do, to the point that the councillor wants us to come back and train the kids in drone technology. Conversations must start with public acceptance of drones and empower communities with the skills to enter the industry, which has a much lower barrier to entry than any other aviation industry.”

·       16:10 – Mzansi Aerospace Technologies launched the Mzansi Aerospace Programme to lower the barriers to entry for people who would otherwise not have access to drone technology, especially township start-ups. It partnered with the City of Ekurhuleni, SEDA, and Royal HaskoningDHV to help start-ups understand not only drone technology, but also how to start a business and build a product for which there is a market.

“One of the biggest causes of start-up failure is that they build products and services for which there is no market. Before they even get a drone license and register as an operator, they need to understand what problem they’re trying to solve. It makes sense to study the top economic drivers of our economy – like financial services, mining, agriculture, transportation – and understand their pain points. Talk to the people at the coalface of these industries because those are the people you’ll need to test and iterate your hypothesis with. You have to fall in love with the problem and be seen by your customers to be solving it and giving them the competitive edge in the market. Don’t be solution-oriented; be problem-oriented.” 

·       23:26 – In South Africa, we face the triple challenges of poverty, inequality, and unemployment. And although automation will have implications for menial, repetitive jobs, it will also create new ones.

“Drones can already fly themselves, so in future, you’ll probably be a standby pilot. You need to future-proof your skills. Don’t just learn how to fly drones, learn how to process and analyse the data they collect. We have to uplift the people who otherwise would not have access to the technology. I used to be a counsellor, so I know how people live in informal settlements. When it comes to mapping the settlements, it’s not just about gathering data, but about taking people with us on the digital transformation journey and teaching them how to fly the drones and process the data. At the moment, technology is divisive and it’s exacerbating inequalities. We have to change that; we can’t leave anyone behind.”

·       29:54 – One way to take people along on the journey, and to build back better, says Victor, is to make regulations more proactive and focused on economic development and empowerment, rather than on social development.

“I’d like to see a situation where we resolve problems, not from a social imperative, but from an economic one – especially in townships. If we can empower people to solve their own problems, we’ll make them more independent, and we can create sustainable solutions to the jobs and access problems. Necessity is the mother of invention. Give a man a good piece of land and the right skills and he’ll build his own house. Give him an RDP house and he’ll either sell it or rent it out because he needs the income to survive. Addressing problems from a social imperative isn’t working. Look at the people who are already helping themselves – like the guys who collect our recycling – and think about how to give them a leg up. They’ll tell you exactly what they need if you just ask them.”