Kenya - Startup under 3 years old

Describe your project or startup in a few words

Noma is a tech transport company dedicated to digitising school transport systems to ensure safety and efficiency of school bus commutes for children, their parents and the schools

01.01 Describe your startup in more detail

Noma is providing an innovative Software as a Service (SaaS) solution, that offers schools and parents visibility into their children's school bus trips while in transit. It consists of a school dashboard where they can manage all their bus fleets, students and trips, a driver app that keeps track of the students' pick ups and drop offs in transit and a parent app that gives parents visibility of their children's commutes through real time notifications and map views of the school bus in transit. This is in addition to additional services that optimise routes and streamline the management of third-party bus fleets.

01.02 What is the main problem you are trying to solve?

Lack of visibility for the 3 major stakeholders in the school transport ecosystem results in poor route planning by the school which leads to long commute times and costly transportation. The 3 stakeholders are: The Schools, The Parents and The Drivers. With a digital school transportation system, it will allow the schools to have proper visibility over all the moving parts of that section of their business, create more effective and efficient route plans and more organisation. An app that helps to monitor the pick ups and drop offs of the students in each bus gives the drivers visibility of which kids are in their buses at all times for better accountability and focus on the main task of driving safely. Lastly a parent app that gives parents visibility allows them to carry out their daily tasks with peace of mind that they can be able to track their children in transit and be alerted immediately incase of any incidents on the road.

01.03 Tell us the major benefits and/or advantages of using the product/service that your startup provides (at least 3).

The major benefits to schools and parents are: -Real time digital child register -Scheduled pick up and drop offs -Trip tracking -Real-time notifications and alerts -Bus driver trainings -Emergency assistance feature -Route Optimisation -Fleet Management -3rd Party Buses -Fuel & spare parts management

01.04 Please describe who exactly your startup’s product/service is aimed at serving. Who are the targeted beneficiaries?

The targeted beneficiaries are parents of children who take school buses, the school transport administrators who manage school bus commutes and drivers of school buses.

01.05 When was your company established?

2023-05-01

01.06 Are you already selling your product/service?

Yes

01.07 How many other owners are there within your startup?

1

01.08 Among the other owners, how many are female?

2

01.09 Please describe the profile of the other owners within your startup (skills, experience, etc.)

Lucy Kimani Co Founder and CEO at NoMa holds an MBA from the United States International University. Over the past 13 years, she has gained diverse work experience in sales and people management. She worked at Copia for 7 years in various roles in business development. She also worked at Amitruck as the VP of Growth and grew their revenue by 200% in under one year. She also serves on the Board of Directors of a local charity, Elimu Kwa Mtoto Organization (EKMO). EKMO’s mission is to provide for a brighter future for both the girl and boy child through education by paying tuition fees, funding libraries and other school projects.

01.10 If you have a website, a social media page (Facebook, Instagram, Linkedin…), or app, please provide the link(s) here:

https://www.noma.co.ke

01.11 Which industry best describes your project?

c) Industry (equipment, commercial, logistical and professional services, transport)

02.01.01 My startup contributes to the No poverty goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.01.02 No poverty - Justification for my startup

02.02.01 My startup contributes to the Zero hunger goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.02.02 Zero hunger - Justification for my startup

02.03.01 My startup contributes to the Good health and well-being goal

5

02.03.02 Good health and well-being - Justification for my startup

Through the provision of safer and more efficient transport systems, NOMA contributes: -The reduction of stress and anxiety for the parents and therefore good health and general well being of the family and communities as a whole. -By optimising routes for the school bus commutes, there is less stress for the drivers, students and schools as well due to less time spent in stressful traffic filled roads and therefore more time can be spent on more useful and holistic pursuits

02.04.01 My startup contributes to the Quality education goal

6

02.04.02 Quality education - Justification for my startup

By ensuring that school children are transported to schools more efficiently and safely, NOMA contributes to the goal of ensuring quality education for the children, since a good amount of children have no access to quality education due to the journey to school being too stressful to undertake.

02.05.01 My startup contributes to the Gender equality goal

5

02.05.02 Gender equality - Justification for my startup

By solving the problem of provision of safer transportation to schools, NOMA aims to help more children have access to safe transport which goes a long way in ensuring girls especially do not fall victim to unscrupulous public transport providers who prey on their youthful innocence and distract them from their education goals.

02.06.01 My startup contributes to the Clean water and sanitation goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.06.02 Clean water and sanitation - Justification for my startup

02.07.01 My startup contributes to the Affordable and clean energy goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.07.02 Affordable and clean energy - Justification for my startup

02.08.01 My startup contributes to the Decent work and economic growth

3

02.08.02 Decent work and economic growth - Justification for my startup

02.09.01 My startup contributes to the Industry innovation and infrastructure

7 - Strongly Agree

02.09.02 Industry innovation and infrastructure - Justification for my startup

The NOMA platform is a new and proprietary software that is being provided to schools as a subscription service that aims to provide innovation to the transport industry in keeping up with the global trends of innovation and infrastructure development in the mobility space.

02.10.01 My startup contributes to the Reduced inequalities goal

2

02.10.02 Reduced inequalities - Justification for my startup

02.11.01 My startup contributes to the Sustainable cities and communities goal

6

02.11.02 Sustainable cities and communities - Justification for my startup

By providing safer and more efficient transportation for schools, NOMA helps to create safer and sustainable cities through ensuring the monitoring of driver behaviour on roads and compliance with safety rules and the tracking of children's commutes helps to ensure the safety of children within highly populated and risky areas of cities.

02.12.01 My startup contributes to the Responsible consumption and production goal

3

02.12.02 Responsible consumption and production - Justification for my startup

02.13.01 My startup contributes to the Climate action goal

5

02.13.02 Climate action - Justification for my startup

Part of NOMA's roadmap of features is to have a third party bus module integrated into its platform that will allow schools to access school buses to add to their fleets by leasing them from third party bus owners which will be fully vetted and managed by NOMA and take the headache of sourcing away from schools. NOMA will partner with Electric Vehicle providers such as BasiGo and Roam to ensure the reduction of carbon emissions by school buses in efforts to combat climate change and its impacts. In addition to this, the route optimisation and capacity utilisation features will also contribute to more efficiency of the transportation of children and reduce emissions from under utilised buses and unnecessarily long trips due to poor route planning.

02.14.01 My startup contributes to the Life below water goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.14.02 Life below water - Justification for my startup

02.15.01 My startup contributes to the Life on land goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.15.02 Life on land - Justification for my startup

02.16.01 My startup contributes to the Peace Justice and Strong Institutions goal

2

02.16.02 Peace Justice and Strong Institutions- Justification for my startup

02.17.01 My startup contributes to the Partnerships for the goal

1 - Strongly Disagree

02.17.02 Partnerships for the goal - Justification for my startup

06.01 There are a large number of customers who already use a product/service very similar to the product/service we envision creating.

2

06.02 The product/service represents an entirely new type of product/service.

6

06.03 The product/service could be described as a new technology.

7 - Strongly Agree

06.04 The product/service is an improvement on an existing product or service.

5

06.05 The product/service could be described as an extension of a range of products or services.

4

06.06 The product/service responds to a demand or need that has not been satisfied by other products/services.

7 - Strongly Agree

06.07 The product/service is a new version of an old product/service.

4

06.08 Justification for my startup

NOMA is new and propriety technology that is revolutionising the transport industry by making sure parents can follow on with their children's school bus trips and give them peace of mind as well as providing new services to schools to manage their fleets that they have not been accessing before.

06.09 Competitive Analysis

Starehe smart bus and Zidalie are the other main players in the market who are providing a Saas to schools to manage their school bus commutes just like us. NOMA on the other hand in addition to the Saas also provides third party bus leasing services which is a great value add to the schools.

11.05 Are you initiating actions within your community to promote the role of female entrepreneurs?