Ahren Posthumus has been announced as one of the Mail and Guardian’s list of 200 Young South Africans.
A FORMER Kimberley schoolboy, 24-year-old Ahren Posthumus, who has been announced as one of the Mail and Guardian’s list of 200 Young South Africans, is already on course to change the world.
Posthumus, a UCT commerce graduate, is a cybersecurity specialist and the co-founder of tech start-ups Lockdown Bozza and Jobmatcher.
He was announced recently as one of the Covid-19 Editor’s Choice winners, a special editor’s choice category this year in honour of the country’s front-line Covid-19 workers.
Posthumus’ two tech platforms, Jobmatcher and Lockdown Bozza, are said to be changing millions of lives.
Posthumus explained yesterday that Jobmatcher was an app that matches jobseekers with ad-hoc work, while his Lockdown Bozza app is aimed at helping South Africans keep up to date with the Covid-19 lockdown, threat levels and restrictions.
According to his biography on the Top 200 Young South Africans site, Posthumus believed from an early age that he was meant to do something great, adding that he has since realised that every individual has their own unique potential to do so.
He states that he has inherited his entrepreneurial streak from his mother, who he describes as his hero and who has shown him the true meaning of hard work, persevering through tough economic circumstances.
Posthumus’s advice to others is not to look down on South Africa as a developing economy. “While the country has many problems, we also have unlimited and untapped potential. If you want to contribute meaningfully to this world, with solutions to problems that can meaningfully impact people’s lives, then this is a great place to be.”
This young go-getter would like to continue being a South African “solving South African issues to help bring better value, prosperity and innovation to the lives of other South Africans”.
Following the announcement, UCT’s vice-chancellor, Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, congratulated this year’s winners and encouraged them to take full advantage of the opportunity.
“This is an achievement that can set you up for success. It is what you do with it that’s going to matter,” said Phakeng.
“It is one thing to be announced as one of the top 200; it’s quite another to take it, own it and do something worthwhile with it.”
Posthumus hit on the idea of his lockdown app, together with three friends, who were kicking around ideas after they identified a need to come up with a service that was relevant during the lockdown.
Working in three different lockdown locations, the group had a Zoom session and came up with the idea of a simple user interface, using the three traffic light colours – red for prohibited, yellow for restricted and green for allowed – as a simple way for the ordinary man in the street to keep track of all the relevant lockdown restrictions.
One of their most exciting moments in creating the app was a call from the Office of the President to enquire about the app.
The tech whiz has also been approached by the UK government to develop a similar app for Britain.
