The Smart Community Safety & Security Project aims to address increasing crime rates in South Africa by leveraging technology for community safety, involving collaboration among government, private sector, and civil society. Key objectives include developing affordable safety solutions like smart home systems and personal safety devices, with a focus on empowering communities through local participation and training. The initiative seeks to prototype concrete projects to enhance security and create safer neighborhoods, driven by a shared commitment to innovation and action.

1. Smart Community Safety & Security Project Launch
KEY SPONSORS

2. Building Safer Communities
• Registration & Networking
• Introduction & Facilitator– Farhaana Allie, Director
• P4DA Overview - Hasmukh Gajjar, Director
• Community Context - Judah Scholtz, I-CAN Centre Coordinator
• Project Context - Nirvesh Sooful, CEO - African Ideas
• Project Presentation Part 1 - Ansu Sooful, CEO – Aizatron
• Project Presentation Part 2 - Nirvesh Sooful, CEO - African Ideas
• Prototypes showcased
• Presentation/discussion of other initiatives
• Develop action plans
• Tour of the I-CAN Centre – Llewellyn Scholtz, I-CAN Manager & CEO of G-CITI
• Closure
AGENDA Highlights

3. Building Safer Communities
• South Africa has seen an increase in murders - the murder rate is up by
6.9% in 2017/2018.
• An average of 57 people are killed a day in the country (incl. women and
children)
• Cash-in-transit heists are up to 238 in 2017/2018, from 152 last year and
137 in 2015.
• Western Cape still sits highest on the list of crimes reported at police
stations.
• The murders of women and children have also seen a notable increase
• 291 more women have been murdered in this period
SA Crimes that have increased (2018)

4. Building Safer Communities
Total Crimes:
Worst ten precincts in 2018

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Malicious damage to property:
Worst ten precincts in 2018

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Drug-related crime:
Worst ten precincts in 2018

7. Building Safer Communities
Dynamic, driven and innovative with over 15 years’ experience in
delivering projects
Adept at developing solutions to complex problems and acting as a
catalyst for change to transform economies, promoting industrial
development, investment, competitiveness and employment
facilitation
Passionate about building relationships and networks with senior
stakeholders by exceeding expectations
A culturally-sensitive leader, commended for trustworthiness,
compassion and reliability
Believes in developing and leading teams; as well as executing for
results which ultimately lead to the betterment of society
Snr Executive – African Ideas
Director - P4DA
FA R H A A N A A L L I E

8. Building Safer Communities
Practising medical doctor for 12 years – moved into information
technology sector in 1989
Headed local & multinational technology companies for 10 years
Initiated the roll out of digital lifestyles stores for consumers who
only own a mobile device from 2011 to 2015
In 2017 established the Mobilearn brand that promotes learning &
optimisation of smartphone usage
CEO - Mobilearn
Director - P4DA
D R . H A S M U K H G A J J A R

9. Building Safer Communities
Judah manages the finance department, student wellness
department, Health & Safety Officer & the operations of the I-CAN
Centre
She is the Project Manager of Women in ICT & Entrepreneurship
Project hosted Quarterly
Judah believes that technology is the vehicle for change. She
completed her Entrepreneurial Management Studies in 2011 at
Southern Business School
As a community leader, she concerns herself with daily challenges
of Elsies River citizens related to community development &
domestic affairs
Centre Coordinator – I-CAN Centre
J U D A H S C H O LT Z

10. Building Safer Communities
A thought leader within the ICT industry in South Africa &
internationally
Nirvesh has more than 25 years’ experience in the ICT industry &
has been involved in many large, complex & innovation
controversial projects
A visionary dynamic leader with extensive experience
His projects have won several local & international awards, e.g. Bill
& Melinda Gate Foundation Access to Learning Awards (Berlin),
21st-Century Achievement Award from the Computerworld Honors
Programme (Washington), African ICT Achievers Award, Computer
Society IT Personality of the Year
CEO – African Ideas
Director - P4DA
NIRVESH SOOFUL

11. Nirvesh Sooful, Director
Smart Community Safety & Security Project Launch
KEY SPONSORS

12. Building Safer Communities
Project Context • Community safety and security is one of the
most pressing problems that hinder the
social and economic development of all
communities.
• Poorer communities are more severely affected
as they do not have access to the resources and
technology of the private security industry which
more middle class communities have.
• The recent child abductions have,
understandably, created panic across the country
as all communities have been affected.
• Communities and individuals are all frustrated
with crime and lack of safety and security at
home and in public places.
• All stakeholders (government, private,
government and community) are interested in
assisting citizens deal with this issue.
• However, initiatives are uncoordinated and
unconnected.
• This is an ideal initiative falling under the banner
of the P4DA, aiming to drive collaboration and
collective problem-solving rooted in practical
projects aimed at solving the problems
experienced by our society.

13. Building Safer Communities
Key objectives
• Launch a collaboration between all sectors to
tackle the issue of crime being faced in our
communities.
– private sector,
– academic sector,
– civil society and
– government
• Leverage the respective strengths, expertise
and resources in a coordinated manner
• Core underlying thesis being that all sectors
have value to add, and that collectively, we
are better.
Disclaimer: We are not experts in safety and security. We do not claim to be
such experts. We are just concerned citizens, with a particular expertise, who
believe that we can make a difference.

14. Building Safer Communities
Getting communities together to create safer
neighbourhoods is not a new idea

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Digital technologies offer huge potential
• In the modern world, connected digital technologies (CCTVs,
alarms, sensors, etc.), together with analytics capabilities
powered by big data and artificial intelligence, offer huge
potential in the space of safety and security.
• However most uses for these technologies emphasise “high
tech” and they are generally pitched as being out of the reach
of ordinary South Africans.
• The prevalent view seems to be that these are solutions that
must be deployed by government, and that they would require
significant investment in high tech infrastructure, equipment
and applications.
• The reality is that these technologies have huge potential to
connect and co-ordinate communities, while helping them to
work together with government and other stakeholders to
tackle various social issues including crime.

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but they must be deployed at a mass scale
• Our view is that with the right level of creativity,
innovation and collaboration, we will be able to
develop locally appropriate solutions at a price-point
that would allow them to be deployed (by private
citizens, businesses and government) at sufficient
scale to make a significant difference.
• Therefore a core theme of the Smart Community
Safety and Security Project is to leverage the power
of connected digital technologies in a practical
manner with solutions that can be deployed
relatively quickly (within a few months).
• The idea is that, as South Africans, we need to
move beyond talking and move to action.
• The intention is to end the day with 2/ 3 concrete
projects that all stakeholders have agreed that
we take to the prototype level
Less
Talk
More
Action

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Communities at the centre of the product lifecycle
• Design
• Manufacture,
• Sales & Distribution
• Installation
• Support (technical)
• Analytics
Communities
Fundamentally it ultimately has to
be about social and economic
development

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Why join the navy when you can be a pirate?
Steve Jobs – greatest innovator of our time
• think like a
pirate,
• hustle like a
gangster,
• build it like a
hacker

19. Building Safer Communities
An Innovator, Technocrat & Social Entrepreneur. Ansu loves
technology & believes that with technology, we can rapidly create
new things to solve everyday problems
Ansu won several awards around local technology innovation
receiving both local & international accolades
24 years solid experience in the technology industry & responsible
for successful implementation of several multimillion dollar projects
across several industries
CEO - Aizatron
Director - P4DA
ANSU SOOFUL

20. Ansu Sooful, Director
Smart Community Safety & Security Project Launch
SPONSORS

21. Building Safer Communities
What is the 4th Industrial Revolution
Adaptive
Materials
(NanoMaterials)
Thousands of Local sensors
(communicating to local gateway)
Local “Smart” Gateway systems
Localised intelligent systems
Cloud
Based
Systems
Smart Medicine
Delivery
(NanoMedicine)
Self Healing
Systems
(NanoBots)
It is the merger of the physical world with the cyberworld creating
intelligent medicines, materials, machines and devices.

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Growth of Connected Devices
This statistic shows the number of connected devices (Internet of Things; IoT) worldwide from 2015 to
2025. For 2020, the installed base of Internet of Things devices is forecast to grow to almost 31 billion
worldwide. The overall Internet of Things market is projected to be worth more than one billion U.S.
dollars annually from 2017 onwards

23. Building Safer Communities
Our Communities Reality
• Communities are being excluded from the high
tech digital age
• Safety is a major concern for our communities yet
technology can help
• Current imported solutions are failing and costing
our economy and government billions
• Solutions deployed in communities also need to
also benefit the community.

24. Building Safer Communities
AIM : Empower Communities with technology
tools build a safe society
• Affordable Personal Panic Buttons
• Smart home/alarm systems that acts a computer and
entertainment system.
• Smart Camera systems
• Community based dispatch and monitoring systems
running low spec systems such as a tablet.
• On device Facial recognition systems
• Cheaper security systems linked to neighborhood watch,
CPF and community
• Train communities to build and support these smart
systems
• Work with Local and international partners to build
solutions for communities.

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Personal Safety Device
• Small device that can be put on wrist or round your
neck.
• User uploads profile of wearer to an encrypted secure
database.
• Each device is allocated to one user.
• Push button sends of alert to everyone within 50m with
Victim’s details, Name and picture and location.
• Also can send alert to list of emergency contacts, police
and CPF and neighbor watches
• Locator is separate and can be hidden
• Free download app for community safety. App can be
used to ask for help as well. People will get notified
when someone asks for help
Alarm sent to everyone (with free
Community safety Application)
Within 50 meters

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Affordable Smart Home Safety System
• Alarm system with Passives and magnetic contacts and panic
buttons
• Controls doors, lights etc. cameras and alarm system from
Mobile phone
• Can be linked to community command center
• Owner can switch on access to cameras so command center
and first responders can have a view of what is going on.
• Supports frail care – with personal panic/emergency button
• Can alert relatives if no movement is detected over a period
of time.
• Can be linked to our Smart Camera solutions using Facial
and Number Plate recognition sending alerts to command
center.

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Public Transport Safety Solution
• Public transport has become dangerous
• There has been attacks on commuters in Trains, taxis,
and busses.
• The use of smart camera system with GPS tracking can
help by using Facial recognition to detect criminals or
Vandals automatically alert authorities
• If the Taxi industry adopts the system, it allows for
tracking of the vehicle in real time and e-hailing
• A consumer app can be built to track bus in real time/buy
tickets and provide timetables and real-time status of
transport
Backend databaseVisual AnalyticsConsumer Applications

28. Building Safer Communities
Community Based Surveillance System Structure
Designed for Neighbourhood
watches/CPFs/Community Safety Activists
Smart glasses
Secret smart glasses
AR smart glasses
Smart Panic
Button
Portable Smart Camera
Wi-Fi
Bluetooth 3G/4G
On-device
Face Detection
On-device License
Plate Identification
Community
Command center (CPF)
City of Cape Town
Surveillance System
Platform
Video/Audio Streaming
Open ProtocolCommunity
Command center
(ICAN)
Community
Command center
(House/Church/Mosque)
City direct communication for
City coordinated activities
Smart helmet

29. Building Safer Communities
Our approach
• We want to make powerful technology tools available to
communities to help them fix local issues
• By collaborating with Business, Academic, Communities and
hopefully government we can reduce the cost of technology
giving universal access of these technologies to people.
• We embrace Open Source technologies and the Open Source
Community giving us access to the largest developer workforce
in the world.
• We have partnered with Chinese manufacturers who are willing
to build assembly plants in South African Townships if the
demand for these co-created devices increase.

30. Building Safer Communities
Change our Perception – Create a new
Reality for our youth
Experiment : Can three young people with no
previous experience build a smart device with
proper supervision?
• Aizatron together with the Partnership for a Digital
Africa ((P4DA) decided to try an experiment
• The aim was to take three young people, provide
them with devices, access to the internet as well
as proper supervision and see if the could produce
a working smart home device.
• P4DA plans to set up digital skills training centres
across Southern Africa in order to prepare
unemployed youth for the opportunities that the
digital economy is going to unlock.
• This experiment proved that we our youth can
produce amazing products if we commit to
providing proper direction and the platforms to let
them perform.
RESULT – After two weeks
➢ Build a system to control a house with
a mobile phone
➢ Set up a system to control devices
based on temperature
➢ Built an alarm system that can be
triggered to alert you via your mobile
as well as set off triggers in your smart
home such as automatically switching
all the lights on.
➢ Built a light sensor

31. Nirvesh Sooful, P4DA Director, CEO: African Ideas
Smart Community Safety & Security Project Launch
Possible Projects Part 2
KEY SPONSORS

32. Building Safer Communities
Geolocating vehicles across the city, as we drive,
(using machine learning)
• Project inspiration

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ALPR Demo - a rainy day in Salt River

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But it gets better than that
Machine learning at work

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But it gets better than that
Machine learning at work

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The proposed project
• Falls under the banner of computer
vision. Includes aspects like:
– Automatic Number Plate Recognition
– Facial Recognition
– Object detection
– People/ Object counting
– Etc.
• Challenge is always cost
• Build edge computing capability
– Using consumer grade hardware
(cameras, processors, etc.) to put
this power in the hands of all
• Partner with us to build local (Cape
Town based) competency Centre

37. Building Safer Communities
Project 2: Smart Home Automation Box
(a project long time coming)
The top 10 skills that will be most
desired by employers by 2020
according to the World Economic
Forum's (WEF) "Future of Jobs" report
are
1. Complex problem-solving
2. Critical thinking
3. Creativity
4. People management
5. Coordinating with others
6. Emotional intelligence
7. Judgement and decision-making
8. Service orientation
9. Negotiation
10. Cognitive flexibility
• We are skilling our people for industry 2.0
• But even if we give them the correct skills, it is
meaningless without practice
• We need to increase usage (touch, feel,
experience technology in our daily lives)

38. Building Safer Communities
So we build a Smart Home Automation Box
(centre of a connected household)
• Targeted at the masses – not the elite
• Home computer
• Connected Entertainment Centre
• Gaming Console
• Data integrated
• Ability to plug in various smart sensors
– Alarm (switches, motion, etc.)
– Fire, smoke, heat
– CCTV
– Panic Button
– Community alert system
– Etc.
• Limited by your imagination
• Could form the backbone of a community
safety network
Fully integrated into the
community ecosystem –
design, manufacturing,
sales, distribution,
installation, support
Structured training
programmes at places like
the ICAN Centre, so that
adults and kids can learn
to extend the system and
build more solutions
relevant to them
With an ecosystem to
commercialise & distribute

39. Building Safer Communities
So what do we mean when we say affordable?
• Retro Gaming Console - between R700 - R1 000 (Takealot)
• Android TV Box R540 - R1 300 (Takealot)
• Intel Atom 32GB Compute Stick R2 540 – R2 850
• Total without alarm: R3 780 – R5 150
• Home Alarm - R600 - R1 300 (Takealot)
• Total with alarm: R4 380 – R6 450
• Our target cost price point for a 32GB model is around R1 500
and around R2 000 for a model with a hard drive
• We believe that we can build a community ecosystem of sales,
distribution and support where these devices can be sold to
end users (by people in the community) at a price point of
between R2 000 – R2 900.
• Another model is where the devices are sold on a monthly
contract, with 10 GB of data, at a target price of R299 per
month – need telcos to work with us on this.

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Discussion
To partner with us, contact info@digital4africa.org, www.digital4africa.org

41. Building Safer Communities
Executive Director of Genesis Community IT Initiative & Centre
Manager of the I-CAN Centre.
He is a thought leader, change agent, business strategist, pastor &
community leader with extensive experience in education &
technology.
To date, the I-CAN Centre has trained more than 6500 individuals
over a 3 year period.
Llewellyn has demonstrated huge success with the I-CAN Centre &
presents a sustainable education & community model of a public-
private partnerships
Executive Director – Genesis
Community IT Initiative
Centre Manager - I-CAN Centre
L L E W E L LY N S C H O LT Z

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THE TEAM INNOVATING

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What is required/ how to get involved
• Are you interest in joining the partnership and this project?
• Opportunities to present initiative, proto-types at key forums
• Assistance to Lobby Government, private sector and academia
– interested in partnering
• Funding and investment
• Skills and expertise
• Equipment
• Commitment to test the solutions
• Unlock opportunities

51. Building Safer Communities
Next Steps
• Meeting with relevant stakeholders for buy-in
• Government (Councillors etc.)
• Policing Forums
• Busy updating proto-types
• Developing project plan for implementation
• Prepare environment for testing

52. Building Safer Communities
P4DA Message
L e t ' s w o r k t o g e t h e r t o c r e a t e s o l u t i o n s t h a t w i l l m a k e o u r
c o m m u n i t i e s a s a f e r p l a c e f o r o u r c h i l d r e n & o u r c i t i z e n s i n
g e n e r a l .
B y l e v e r a g i n g o u r c o l l e c t i v e s t r e n g t h s a n d c a p a b i l i t i e s , w e
c a n d e f e a t t h e s c o u r g e o f c r i m e & c r e a t e s a f e r, m o r e s e c u r e
c o m m u n i t i e s .