They might be computer nerds, but in the tech world they are electronic farm heroes rustling up stock thieves.
Stock theft cases reported to the police in 2017/2018 had increased by 7.2% from the previous financial year.
It was the growing number of stock theft cases that led Mark Ngwenya and Zolani Gwiliza to come up with Cattle-Watch.
For the past three years they have been monitoring hundreds of cows on a Cato Ridge farm without having to set foot on the KwaZulu-Natal site.
By the simple press of a button on their cellphones, the business administrator and information technology specialist could locate each animal and tell if it was walking, running, grazing, jumping, laying, or in heat.
This week the pair showcased the Cattle-Watch app on a global stage at the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Telecom World 2018 conference in Durban.
"We have a technology that allows farmers to track and manage their livestock from anywhere in the world using a cellphone, laptop or PC," Ngwenya said.
The technology is based on artificial intelligence, deep learning and mass data algorithms.
At the test site in Cato Ridge, cows are fitted with an antitheft collar tag.
"The purpose of the system is to prevent animal theft through GPS and satellite tracking, provide early theft warning and geofencing to prevent animals straying out of the designated grazing area," Ngwenya said.
The system offers automated animal counting for farmers to count a large number of stock in a matter of minutes, and monitors the health of animals.
SOCIAL IMPACT
The ITU believes that tech small and medium enterprises and start-ups have significant impact on economic growth, employment and investment opportunities.
One of those on display at the conference, created in response to violent service delivery protests, was judged to have greater social impact than any other innovation on show at the conference in Durban this week.
Co-City, a mobile app developed by Pulego Communications, which connects the City of Tshwane to its citizens, scooped the Global Small to Medium Enterprise Excellence Award as well as the award for greatest social impact.
Pulego Communications CEO Tshepo Thlaku said the Co-City app was a platform to empower citizens to report safety and service incidents while they received updates and alerts from municipalities.
"Citizens are able to directly interact with their local government in a convenient and cost-effective manner.
"The app enables citizens to play a critical role in advancing transparency, accountability and effectiveness in the delivery of municipal services," Thlaku said.
At the opening of the conference on Monday, ITU secretary-general Houlin Zhao told the entrepreneurs that they were the "hope of a nation, an entire continent, and our world".
He said: "ITU Telecom World 2018 is your opportunity to show the world what African tech SMEs can do to help create jobs, transform people's lives and achieve the sustainable development goals right here in Africa."..