SMAJI

SMAJI is an AI-powered platform that solves water scarcity for property managers. Physical inspections conducted by skilled technicians and sensors installed on water tanks deliver the insights needed to keep property managers one step ahead of shortages.

We are using SMAJI to create new job opportunities for at-risk youth through digital up-skilling efforts that qualify them to support the physical inspections. Technicians of varying skill levels are guided through assessments aimed at reducing water use across a property, spotting leaks
and mitigating water quality risks at tanks, pipes and meters. In-person training sessions are currently used to on-board technicians and build their analysis skills.

This model supports our vision to have the average blue collar worker understand and benefit from the introduction of increasing
automation via AI into their communities. And everyone wins. Property managers get better water services and save time and money. At-risk youth get new job opportunities.

Climate change and aging infrastructure are making it increasingly difficult and expensive for water utilities to operate in a continuous, centralized water delivery mode. Globally, nearly 1B are served by intermittent water supplies.

When water comes only once or twice per week, property managers are forced to become experts at water management. More than 50M "accidental" water managers have been created across Africa and the Caribbean. They add storage tanks and cobble together other distributed infrastructure in their efforts to mitigate scarcity. Property managers end up wasting time and money, lose credibility and risk the health of the individuals that depend on them for water.

At the same time, the communities with intermittent water supply struggle with high levels of youth unemployment. Across Africa and the Caribbean where we work, young people are sitting idle and end up getting into trouble because they lack opportunities to meaningfully engage and make a difference in their communities.  So many of them are simply waiting to be asked. According to the African Development Bank, of Africa’s nearly 420 million youth aged 15-35, one-third are unemployed and discouraged, another third are vulnerably employed, and only one in six is

in wage employment.

SMAJI ensures communities have reliable access to safe water and provides a path for at-risk youth to grow skills and gain access to more job opportunities.

We have started the upskilling journey in partnership with local workforce development experts. The at-risk youth are immersed into technical training and personal development sessions that allow them to dream about a future with more options and possibility.

The first cohort in Jamaica just graduated. See more here:https://buzz-caribbean.com/art...

SMAJI is an AI-powered platform that solves water scarcity for property managers. Physical inspections conducted by skilled technicians and sensors installed on water tanks or at water meters deliver the insights needed to keep property managers one step ahead of shortages. With SMAJI, property managers save time, money and keep tenants happy by getting their infrastructure diagnosed correctly the first time and by anticipating failures before they occur.

SMAJI provides the health status of the water assets on residential
and commercial properties while optimizing infrastructure maintenance
services costs associated with those assets and taking into
consideration the intermittency and decentralized nature of the water
sources. We are developing new predictive models for water supply and
water quality risks that are driven by the coping responses of
individual consumers instead of traditional utility-driven hydraulic
models.

When used in collaboration with a water utility, SMAJI supports increased responsiveness and improved customer service. Understanding that a leak could occur soon or is happening right now helps the customer take action, or allows the utility to show up and address it without being prompted to do so.

With SMAJI, as inspections are being conducted in the field, water utility managers get live updates that complement sensor data and actionable advice that helps them to prioritize service improvements for the most critical customers. 

We're building a digital marketplace around the delivery of water management "know-how". This model does not exisist. We have a unique opportunity for social impact and economic development.

Our non-financial metrics include:

1. The number of individuals with increased accesses to safe, reliable water services
2. # of technicians from at-risk communities who have been trained to maintain residential/commercial water infrastructure
3. % of trained technicians earning more from water jobs

By the end of 2021, we want to improve access to safe, reliable water supplies for more than 1,000 homes, schools, hospitals and commercial spaces, impacting more than 100,000. In five years, more than 1M individuals would have received more reliable access to safe water given our efforts to improve how properties are better managed and maintained. 

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Full time - 4

Part time - 3

SMAJI's leadership team hail from the Diaspora communities that suffer

from water scarcity and are intimately connected to realizing the vision
of reducing the economic loss and illnesses that occur every day with
intermittent water supply. We also bring tremendous expertise - across
water, global health, software development and workforce development. 

CEO & Co-Founder, Kala Fleming is an ex-IBM researcher, water and global
health expert with a TED talk on digital water management and 10 patent
filings.

CTO & Co-Founder, Elizabeth Ondula is an ex-IBM software developer with extensive IoT and hardware design expertise and has advised the Kenyan government on AI, Blockchain & IoT.

Workforce Development Expert & Advisor, Samatha Chantrelle is a former Digicel Executive with more than 20 years leading workforce, education and youth development initiatives across the Jamaica and the Caribbean.

Our current partnership with the water utility in Jamaica, the Jamaica Social Investment Fund (JSIF) and local workforce development experts demonstrates a replicable model for improving access to reliable water supplies across the poorest communities.

JSIF runs a range of social programs across Jamaica's poorest communities, so they have deep network that simplifies recruiting. With their help, we trained and onboarded more than 90 technicians. Community inspections will begin in a few weeks at the locations that the water utility is most concerned about. With SMAJI, as inspections are being conducted in the field, water
utility managers get live updates that complement sensor data and
actionable advice that helps them to prioritize service improvements for
the most critical customers. 

Here's a recent article on our digital upskilling efforts: http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20191208/expert-dont-ignore-blue-collar-workers-digital-push

Our customers are responsible for ensuring the individuals that occupy

both formal and informal dwellings in urban spaces across Africa and the
Caribbean have access to safe, reliable water supplies. This includes
property managers with tenants in apartments or commercials buildings.
The NGO entities that invest in schools, hospitals and kiosks in
informal settlements are also our customers.

We charge an annual fee per property for inspection, monitoring and water delivery services.

In the future, when technicians are matched to jobs, we will also recover a small transaction fee.

We are currently pursuing an angel round and will pursue seed stage funding by the end of the year. We also expect to grow our revenues by increasing the number of properties under management in partnership with international commercial  property management firms such as CBRE & Knight Frank and with development partners such as the World Bank and USAID.

We want to increase the visibility of the efforts that are already underway and raise funds to accelerate our progress and impact.