Ali Resting, the pioneer of Swaziland’s internet, chuckles when he speaks of failing first-year computer science at university. As a tech entrepreneur and university drop-out he is in esteemed company. He follows a well-worn path walked by Apple’s founder Steve Jobs through to Twitter’s Jack Dorsey and the most famous drop-out of them all, Microsoft’s Bill Gates.
Resting’s parents did not quite see their son through that prism of the failed graduate set to blaze new frontiers of technological advancement. He returned from South Africa’s Rhodes University in 1996, aged 18, and got the silent treatment.
His university studies at a premature end, Resting began work at his father’s civil engineering company in Swaziland’s capital Mbabane, which shared offices with an architectural firm. At a younger age, Resting had ambitions of becoming an architect, attracted by its “visual aspect”, and drifted unconsciously to that side of the offices.
He found the architects somewhat bemused about how to network their 20-odd office computers and took on the “pet project” and successfully built an intranet system. It was a pivotal moment for Resting as he realized then that his passion was his vocation.
Resting had failed his university year through the distraction of Rhodes University being one of the earliest among South Africa’s tertiary education institutions with access to the internet and he soon went walk-about from his studies.
“I would spend a lot of time fiddling in the labs (at university) and I learned and understood about the internet, which at that stage was just known as the World Wide Web. I found out about an internet research project, which had nothing to do with the curriculum perse, and I soon became well acquainted with it.”
An only child, born in 1978 to a Welsh father and Swazi mother, he was exposed to rudimentary PCs at an early age and quickly became astute with DOS and other programs. His academic primary school progress saw him accepted as a weekly border at the Sisekelo High School, initially established by sugar milling companies to provide well-resourced education for the children of their expatriate employees.
“It was very strict. We were not allowed to hold hands with the girls, we were not even allowed to be within five foot of a female,” says Resting.
The school on the banks of Usuthu River in Swaziland’s Lowveld region, however, had a couple of computers and Resting spent leisure time writing computer programs and a 3D version of the game Minesweeper. He became so proficient he assisted in teaching computer studies to his classmates.
His maths teacher advised him: “Maybe I should think of IT as a profession and not architecture. So he got me thinking about IT as a career. But back then the only company that anyone had really heard of was Microsoft… I didn’t see it as a skill then; just a passion.”
Following Resting’s intranet installation, the “pet project” quickly established a momentum of its own. Working with Lachezar Karadjov – an architect fascinated by the concept of global connectivity and who was to become his business partner – he created a basic gateway to CompuServe, the first major US commercial online service provider. Swaziland joined the internet age.
Real Image’s formative years saw the door-to-door selling of internet dial-up email services, initially signing up five subscribers who remain on the books today. The fledgling company built the country’s first internet website portal and claimed some prime digital real estate with the ownership of the legend swazi.com. But income remained elusive and Karadjov shared some of his architect salary with him.
“We had no idea how we were going to make money at that stage,” says Resting.
His partner was 30 years senior to the teenage tech entrepreneur. Resting acknowledges, although at the time it went unrecognized, the benefits of Karadjov’s mentoring of him in the ways of business. Karadjov was to retire from Real Image a few years later in 2004 and Resting bought him out to become the company’s majority shareholder.
In the early days Real Image’s office space was a cubicle in the architect’s offices. As the business expanded, so did the computer hardware which began to spill out and display tangles of electrical wiring and connections.
“It was damn hot, and it never looked good, as we had customers walking in and seeing all these things.”
At 19 years old, Resting’s company, Real Image, became Swaziland’s first internet service provider (ISP).
The financial gravity of Johannesburg pulls the bright and the talented to it from throughout southern Africa. Resting’s lack of a degree would not have handicapped him from employment in South Africa, where the IT industry’s rapid evolution thrives on the innovative.
But he never considered it as an option.
“I want to leave a legacy behind and I want to be known as the guy who brought connectivity to this country and I continue lobbying to bringing proper connectivity.”
“To go to South Africa is about making a quick buck and a substantive living working in those markets. In Swaziland I get to experience all the challenges there are to rolling out a network, be it terrestrial or wireless. Money will come in due course, I am not worried about that. But what we are doing is building value.”
“Our (Real Image) rate of growth used to be 6 or 7 percent. Now we are hitting the 15 percent mark compounded, which is 17 to 20 percent year on year. We may be doing R30 million ($2.3 million) [annual turnover] today, but in five years we may be beyond the R50 million ($3.8 million) mark and it is an organically grown company.”
As a dominant player in connectivity, employing 40 full time staff, Real Image hosts 80% of the country’s internet content, and provides a range of services, including internet or intranet, through to website development and tailored software.
“One of the ways to quickly grow your numbers is buying up the small operators. But then what are we trying to achieve. We are very much driven by quality of service and believe that we provide a superior product.”
The geographical triangle of Mbabane, Manzini and Matsapha, about 20 kilometers apart at their furthest apex, forms Swaziland’s industrial base and hosts its manufacturing and finance industries, some of King Mswati III’s myriad palaces and the seat of government.
Swaziland’s comparatively much higher internet costs to neighboring South Africa is a consequence of a government parastatal acting as the gatekeeper for importing bandwidth and able to charge monopoly prices in an uncompetitive arena. Within this constricted operating environment, Resting is on a mission to reduce data costs and increase connectivity speeds by making the epicenter of the Swazi economy a WiFi zone.
Owing to Mbabane’s mountainous terrain five WiFi towers have been built to service the capital, each structure costing R500,000 (around $38,000) before the installation of the electronics, but fewer are required in Matsapha and Manzini as the landscape gives way to shallow undulating hills.
In October last year, communications minister Dumisani Ndlangamandla cut the ribbon to open Real Image’s Mbabane headquarters. The double–story, open-plan offices has a public internet cafe – with limited free data access – and amid the workspace’s rows of computers a tabletop football game. The architecture firm that provided him a small cubicle for his initial foray into the digital world is now a tenant at the new offices.
Resting says he has the “ear of government,” and continues to lobby for the liberalization of the sector, including the removal of the “exclusivity clause” that makes the import of bandwidth the sole preserve of a government parastatal.
“My hope is that by the end of this year (2017) the pricing of the internet is going to drop dramatically in the country. Dramatically,” Resting predicts with a smile.

Drop Out, Cash In The King Of The Kingdom’s Internet

In a week of tumultuous South African political news, as Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s battle with the National Prosecuting Authority came to a head, a crucial infrastructure story broke to little fanfare.
The South African Forum for Civil Engineering Contractors (SAFCEC) announced that under its auspices, most of the major listed construction companies reached an historic, unique and far-reaching voluntary agreement with the South African government.
The signing of this settlement ends years of dispute between the construction companies and government following findings of collusion by the Competition Commission investigation launched in 2009. The agreement commits the parties to chart a new future co-operative trajectory underpinned by measurable commitments to empowerment and transformation.
Collectively, the construction companies will make a combined contribution of R1.25 billion ($87.5 million) over 12 years into a trust fund to be controlled by a board of trustees appointed from government, the construction companies and SAFCEC. Each year, individual companies will pay between R15 million ($1 million) and R21.25 million ($1.5 million).
This voluntary contribution is in addition to the R1.46-billion ($100-million) penalty imposed by the Competition Commission Tribunal on some companies in 2013.
The trust will use the payments to develop and enhance the construction industry in line with government’s transformation goals and to develop emerging contractors and suppliers in South Africa.
Initiatives to be supported by the fund will include financial support for young trainee artisans and engineers from disadvantaged backgrounds, support for the teaching of maths and science at public schools, funding for social infrastructure and the development and promotion of construction companies owned and managed by black people.
The funding will also be used for the appointment of professionals to provide the government with engineering, project management and other services to strengthen its capacity to deliver the public infrastructure.
Combatting large-scale collusion and corruption, opportunities for South African companies in infrastructure projects elsewhere on the continent will be identified.
The construction companies have also individually undertaken to either develop up to three emerging black-owned businesses or dispose of a portion of their South African basic construction businesses to majority black-owned enterprises.
The agreement provides a framework for settlement of claims by the industry regulator, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB), as well as civil claims by public entities against companies investigated by the Competition Commission.
The positive implications of the Competition Commission extend beyond South Africa’s borders. The investigation was active in other territories and being watched across Africa and the rest of the world. Foreign competitors gained ground in these markets because our construction groups were not supported by the South African government until a resolution was found.
That is all set to change now and perhaps South Africa can hunt as a pack and claw back markets and jobs for the benefit of people and suppliers in those territories and within South Africa.
Those who have followed my column will have noted my consistent call for an end to the destructive standoff between the South African government and the construction industry. In my latter years as a CEO in the industry, and now in retirement, I have been committed to resolving the industry’s future and was a member of the CEO group who helped craft the early foundations of this voluntary resolution program. I recall many late evenings driving back from ministerial meetings in Pretoria and intensive debate and strategy sessions within SAFCEC. Important stakeholders from black business, who will likely significantly benefit from this agreement, were included.
Simultaneously with this announcement came an uptick in the project outlook for gold, the announcement of two big private sector coal power plants, and momentum on nuclear power.
“Through the transformation commitments in the agreement, we can rebuild the relationship with the companies concerned and work in partnership in future,” says Gugile Nkwinti, the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, as well as the Chairperson of the Management Committee of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission.
“This arrangement also demonstrates the commitment to a transformed, transparent and ethical industry, which has a major role to play in delivering much needed infrastructure,” says Webster Mfebe, the CEO of SAFCEC.
I was thrilled to learn of the successful conclusion of this agreement. It took seven years, but the benefits might be felt for decades to come.

Burying the hatchet  for a brighter future

Mandla Maseko struts with the cool of Michael Jackson’s moonwalk. It is appropriate as the DJ is the first black African heading into space. He describes himself as a township boy reaching for the stars. Soon he will be walking in the footsteps of Mark Shuttleworth, the South African millionaire who became the first African in space in 2002. For years, Maseko dreamed of the skies but thought it was merely that.
The former civil engineering student dropped out of university because he was broke.
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“We grew up in the township, we were not taught to dream big. We just wanted to be the norm.You never wanted to be a president or an astronaut, it was a far-fetched dream,” he says.
In 2013, the Global Axe Apollo Space Academy competition created a new trajectory for Maseko’s dreams. No one in Maseko’s family has set foot outside of South Africa but the 25-year-old is preparing to rocket into space.
Maseko is one of 23 civilians to win a seat on the space mission for an hour-long sub-orbital trip of 100 kilometers on the Lynx Mark II spaceship.
“We might orbit the Earth or we might just go to the International Space Station, you never know,” he says.
Whether its space or the skies, Maseko is taking wing. Maseko acquired his private pilot license last year and began training with the South African Air Force this year.
“I want to acquire my commercial pilot’s license and fly all over the world,” he says.
“The initial plan is to show ordinary people that they can go into space. That’s my mission. I’m a typical township boy from Soshanguve and Mabopane who is going to space,” he says.
Maseko has found the balance between space, the skies and his passion for music.
“Music is my passion and it’s a family business. My dad and I do it together. It would be nice to bring something new to the industry and DJ in a spacesuit.”
Training for the space journey was challenging but Maseko floated through it. A zero gravity flight was his favorite.
“Seeing your body pick up off the ground and just float like it has no weight stood out the most,” he says.
Maseko spends his free time imagining what space is like.
“You see pictures but actually getting to that point where I look outside my window and see this big white and blue marble called Earth,” he says.
His life has taken a complete turn. For the DJ on his way to space, Maseko’s most memorable moment may surprise you.
“I think what stood out the most was making it on to Beyoncé’s website. It was Black History Month and I was part of the people making black history,” he says.
Maseko hopes his humble beginnings and lofty ambition will inspire.
“The kids in the township have lost sight of what life has to offer. It’s killing their dreams,” he says. He started a CSI company called ‘Skies Aren’t the Limit’ so he could tell his story to schools.
“I think one of the key things around South Africa is to inspire and motivate kids and tell them that they can reach their dreams,” he says. He is living proof.
Probably next year, the date has yet to be fixed, Maseko’s dreams will come true. The flight is an hour long. Six minutes to get to space. 20 minutes to get to zero gravity. Maseko will go through a gruelling training programme of six to eight weeks. From Mabopane to the Milky Way, you couldn’t have made it up.

Tag: Civil engineering

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Drop Out, Cash In The King Of The Kingdom’s Internet

Burying the hatchet for a brighter future

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