Road Rules, the Zimbabwean provisional drivers’ tests startup closed off 2016 on a high note after entering into a content partnership with the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ).
Through a memorandum of understanding signed in Harare, TSCZ has pledged to provide the Road Rules mobile app with approved content on Zimbabwe traffic regulation which will be used by applicants vying for a drivers’ learners’ licence.
In the past, Road Rules has had to curate content for its application on its own through collaborations with local driving schools and from the State approved Highway Code.
This deal means that Road Rules, through its mobile app which has registered over 25,000 users to date, becomes a complementary learning tool for the Provisional Learners’ Licence and general traffic rules for Zimbabwe, albeit with State approved content.
In return, Road Rules will provide TSCZ with a digital platform for the distribution of its content and help it participate in some form of digitisation of the Highway Code.
Since access to the Road Rules app is provided at a premium TSCZ also stands to benefit from some of the profit generated through the online distribution of its content.
You can download the Road Rules App for Android by following this link here
The new agreement with the TSCZ ensures that Road Rules passes on the responsibility of content verification and alignment with the latest traffic regulations to the national traffic authority.
According to Road Rules founder and CEO Tawanda Chikosi, their team will now focus on User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) improvement and with the help of TSCZ work on expanding the app’s presence in other countries in Southern Africa with standardised regional traffic regulations.
Road Rules will become the first digital drivers’ education application to have State approved learning content giving it an edge in a race that is also being run by a handful of other provisional licence apps and the more popular offline methods of learners’ booklets that are widely distributed through streetside vendors.
Some of these sources have often been highlighted as pools of misinformation by unsuccessful students who end up taking the learners’ licence test repeatedly.
Hopefully, the Road Rules/TSCZ partnership will provide a good working example of how the government, through its various arms, can work together with Zimbabwe’s startup community to use technology for the delivery of solutions that can improve people’s lives.
image credit – Road Rules
25 comments
Well done Tawanda, your focus and commitment is highly encouraging! It’s never easy breaking through traditional institutions…
Hey Clinton, thank you brotherman, the team has been working so hard and by God’s grace and the support of friends like you and family we have come thus far.
Let’s keep pushing and believing and the revolution will gain momentum in no time. I wish you all the best with your endeavours too mate.
This guy is going places…
Thank you for your kind words and for believing in our vision and in us. May the Lord remember and bless you for that hey. We wish you all the best in your endeavors too and should you feel there is anything we can help with, just reach out!
Well done bro!
Hey Gideon, thank you for all the support, discussions and encouragement. Lets keep pushing with our visions, we definitely will get there. We are waiting to integrate with your MobiLedger software man and so much more from you end, not only here in Zimbabwe but across the region and the world! #wecandothis
Hey Clinton, thank you brotherman, the team has been working so hard and by God’s grace and the support of friends like you and family we have come thus far.
Let’s keep pushing and believing and the revolution will gain momentum in no time. I wish you all the best with your endeavours too mate.
At first when i first spoke to this guy about a certain strategy, i doubted him very much….i have to confess. But now he has proved to be THE MAN, A LION, and he is roaring now. WELL DONE TAWANDA
Hey Vincent
Thank you very much for your kind comment, like I said during our chat, I don’t think you doubted me because you would not have reached out in the manner that you did man. I appreciate your openness and your willingness to help.
If there were more like you, Zimbabwe would have been a much better place.
.
Thank you, much appreciated.
about time man kudos
Thanks mate, much appreciated. We have slaved so hard to get to this point and we appreciate the Lord for this milestone.
That is the spirit, something l say shows hard work and grit, it take a lot of man-hours to get to this stage which will not reflect in your budget, and they do not generate any income, which can really test your strength and vision.
Maoko kwamuri changamire!!
Spoken like a true survivor of the path Macd, that is exactly true. Thank you for the encouragement, we will keep pushing our vision of revolutionising the driver education and road safety industry in Zimbabwe and Africa.
Firstly I would like to congratulate Chikosi for a job well done. I know that there are a lot of people who supported him all the way and some who were not enthusiastic about his idea. The story of Chikosi brings a lot of both answers and questions on how to start a startup. That is another story for another day. But I am really disapointed by the dismally perfomance of other Zimbabwe entrepreneurs who participated together with Chikosi in numerous programs especially US sponsored initiatives that took guys like Chikosi to the States who are doing absolutely nothing in terms of entrepreneurship yet these programs they attended in the USA where all about mentoring them to be succesful entrepreneurs so that they can motivate other young entrepreneurs. Other entrepreneurs that went to USA under such programs only shared with us selfies they took whilst in Washington and never shared with us their entrepreneurial stories meaning that there is nothing they did when they got back home.
Hapana asingade kukwira ndege!! Kutongopinda muUS was mission accomplished
Hie Macd
I know what you mean man, I tell you the selection process is very rigorous and the talent pool from which you are selected is huge so I guess just making the cut is an achievement on its own.
Just the entire experience of the trip, even if you don’t come and set up a company changes you, that level of exposure makes you different whether you remain an employee or go on to start something, you are really never the same.
Historically 95% of all startups fail so that means only 5% of startup succeed
So its a numbers game, his inspirational story in progress will inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs Its only that the media only tells the success stories but for every 1 success story there are 100’s of failed startups
Showcasing such stories of Chikosi to young Zimbabweans & guys like him telling their lessons & providing mentorship to others is how we will have a better entrepreneurship success rate
I do not agree with those percentages, infact those figures are always thrown here and there to explain dismally failure by startups, something that is making our entrepreneurs to remain stuck in their comfort zones. Those statistics are mainly peddled by westerners when they come here. entrepreneurs should learn more from our traditional startups rather than want to learn it all from western startups.There is nothing new about startups. When I was young my mom did numerous startups that included selling chibage chekugochas, selling tomatoes, sewing petticoats, making and selling homemade jam. All these startups were a success as she managed to pay our school fees. NOthing was impossible then. Unfortunately nowadays we start something when somebody in the USA has already told us that 90% of startups fail which is bad. with a startup the only work is to work your idea and results will come.
Lets use zim startups for statistical analysis of success rates of startups
over a 4 year period we had the techzim startup challenge
eachy each year over 20 startups would apply and 3 winners where chosen
looking at the winners alone for the 4 years we had 12 startups
only 4 of these startups are still alive & kicking thats a success rate of 33%
the data set is small but these where the top startups selected from over 100 startups in total
so the startup trajectory is not that easy
For more info check https://www.facebook.com/notes/zihub/techzim-startup-challenge-a-look-at-the-winners-of-the-techzim-startup-challenge/274843639520626
You have some valid points but you must recognize that there is a big difference between startups in a proven business case (eg selling tomatoes, petticoats etc, something that has already proven successful before) and completely new business cases where there is no precedent for success. The latter will obviously have a higher failure rate than the former.
Hey G
I guess we will have to prove that we fit in that 1% after 5 years since 2014! But thank you for speaking positively into our future progress.
I look forward to leading my team to dizzy heights across Africa and globally so as to be a true inspiration hey.
Hey Arnold
Thank you fr congratulating us mate, we appreciate the support and indeed there were supporters and well as discouragers along the way to this first milestone but that’s the way entrepreneurship is, particularly here in Zimbabwe.
I am both humbled and excited that our journey may as you say one day be a case study giving both answers and raising questions too.
Regarding my US exchange program counterparts, I know they are doing well in their own spheres and are making an impact in their own different way. I just happen to be the loudmouth making a lot of noise on the little progress I would have made and maybe that then has the perceived effect of making my colleagues of no or little action.
I also believe that even if any of us fails, which I hope not, its progress too which should be shared and celebrated too. Too many times we focus of seemingly success stories which distorts the entire picture.
Hey Arnold
Thank you for congratulating us mate, we appreciate the support and indeed there were supporters and well as discouragers along the way to this first milestone but that’s the way entrepreneurship is, particularly here in Zimbabwe.
I am both humbled and excited that our journey may as you say one day be a case study giving both answers and raising questions too.
Regarding my US exchange program counterparts, I know they are doing well in their own spheres and are making an impact in their own different way. I just happen to be the loudmouth making a lot of noise on the little progress I would have made and maybe that then has the perceived effect of making my colleagues of no or little action.
I also believe that even if any of us fails, which I hope not, its progress too which should be shared and celebrated too. Too many times we focus of seemingly success stories which distorts the entire picture.