William Sachiti

Pasihapaori Chidziva (Born May 1985) known as Pasi William Sachiti is a Zimbabwean[1] born British serial entrepreneur and inventor.[2] He is founder and CEO of the driverless car manufacturer, Kar-go, which is known for being the UK startup competing with multinational incumbents such as Google and Tesla, Inc.[3][4][5]

William Sachiti
Sachiti on London Live 2017
Born (1985-05-01) 1 May 1985
Harare, Zimbabwe
OccupationEntrepreneur, Founder, Inventor & Investor
Known forDragons' Den, Kar-go, mycityvenue,
Websitewww.mycityvenueescapes.com

Biography

Early life

Sachiti was born in Harare, Zimbabwe, where he grew up before moving to the UK at 17.[6]

Business career

At 19, Sachiti started his first start-up 123-registration a domain registration business which was acquired year after its inception. Sachiti first reached the public eye after appearing on the BBC investment programme Dragons' Den, where he was seeking 65K for his company Clever Bins.[7] Clever Bins was a solar powered digital advertising bin which was aimed as an advertising platform for cities. In what was described by the BBC as a slick pitch, but described by Peter Jones as "the biggest load of bull I've ever heard in the Den"[8] Sachiti was unable to raise funding in the den. The company continued to trade for three years during which time it successfully licensed its technology to 6 countries and local governments before closing in 2013.[9][10][11][12][13]

In 2013, Sachiti founded mycityvenue, a digital concierge and holiday company which grew to approximately 1.6 million users before it was acquired by UK holiday company Secret Escapes.[14][15][16]

In 2015 Sachiti went to university at Aberystwyth University in Wales, where he studied artificial intelligence and robotics. While at university he was credited with inventing the world's first artificially intelligent robot librarian, Hugh (robot).[17] The robot was capable of holding a conversation or taking verbal commands and would be able to navigate users to any one of several million books in the library.[18][19][20][21][22]

While at university, Sachiti and a team of scientists had been working on a way to autonomously deliver packages to try to solve the last mile delivery problem.[23] In 2016, after receiving a £10 000 cheque from Aberystwyth University, Sachiti founded the Academy of Robotics, a vehicle manufacturer company to develop Kar-go. Kar-go is driverless car able to deliver multiple packages by using a combination of advanced robotics and driverless vehicle technology.[24][25][26] The company later went to raise more money from venture capital at an initial £2M valuation. Kar-go has been nominated for several awards and has a production facility in Small Dole near Brighton in the UK.[27][28][29][30]

In 2018 William appeared on National Assembly for Wales[31] where he discussed with MP's the state of Self-driving vehicles - Automation and the Welsh Economy. The appearance was part of the Welsh Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee which was televised live on the Welsh Senate TV. The BBC later reported[32] that William Sachiti warned AM's that Self-driving vehicles could threaten cars and buses. The company later reported to have closed a funding round in six hours.[33]

Kar-go self-driving autonomous delivery vehicle on launch pad at Goodwood Festival of Speed
HE Christian Katsande, Hon Minister SB Moyo, William Sachiti and Embassy party

July 2019, Sachiti launched Europe's first street-legal self-driving vehicles at the Goodwood Festival of Speed.[34] On July 12, Sachiti was visited by foreign dignitaries, The Zimbabwean Minister of Foreign Affairs Minister Sibusiso Moyo together with Ambassador to the UK H.E. Christian Katsande who inspected to autonomous vehicle in London.

November 2019, Sachiti toured the UK with Kar-go and was pictured demonstrating the vehicle to the UK Transport Secretary Michael Matheson [35][36]at a Glasgow CAV event and then in London with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan. In late 2019, Sachiti was reported to have traveled to Warsaw, Poland where he gave a lecture to pupils at CXXXVII Liceum Ogólnokształcące z Oddziałami Dwujęzycznymi im Roberta Schumana after which he was awarded the title of Honorary Teacher [37] [38]

In February 2020 Sachiti published an 18 page white-paper titled ‘Trees of Knowledge’.[39] The paper, detailed Sachiti's invention to improve access to education using micro-computing an A.I. assistant and 'clever software' to turn landmarks such as trees growing in the wild Africa into hubs of educational content[40][41][42][43]. The innovation is designed to help play a part in educating some of the 32 million children[44] in Africa who are currently out of education. Sachiti released the invention as an open-source, free-to-develop technology free of patents. The technology allows a tree to broadcast the pre-loaded educational content stored on the micro-computer to allow anyone in the vicinity to have access to the digital store of information using any mobile device. [45] The technology is all then moulded into the landmark or tree using a process called potting to protect it from theft or damage.

Personal life

Sachiti was married in 2009 to his Italian wife. In 2013 he received a lot of press attention after his “jealous wife”[46] hired a private investigator to track his movements.[47] The investigator planted a tracking device underneath Sachiti's £40K sports car. After being pulled over, the flashing device under his car was mistaken for a bomb and led to a bomb scare, shutting down a town and the military being called in. No evidence of a bomb or an affair was found but the story became popular and continued to circulate in tabloids.[48][49][50]

Awards and recognition
  • In 2010, Sachiti was nominated for HSBC Start-up stars for his company and innovation Clever Bins[51]
  • In 2013, Sachiti won the Zim Achievers awards in Business Innovation for Clever Bins[52]
  • In 2017, Sachiti was awarded the Aberystwyth InvEnterPrize for Kar-go[53]
  • In 2017, Sachiti was nominated for the Wales Start-up Awards for the most innovative start-up in Wales.[54]
  • In 2017, Sachiti was named one of the top "35 under 35" entrepreneurs in Wales.[55]
  • In 2019, Sachiti was awarded the title of honorary teacher in Poland[56]
  • In 2020, Sachiti was a finalist in the Mayor of London's London Business Awards 2020 [57]
gollark: I need to port forward quickly.
gollark: Ah, here we go.
gollark: Hold on 5 minutes while I try and make this work.
gollark: 16.
gollark: ```User=ircdMountAPIVFS=yesRemoveIPC=yesCapabilityBoundingSet=LockPersonality=yesPrivateUsers=yesPrivateTmp=yesPrivateDevices=yesNoNewPrivileges=yesMemoryDenyWriteExecute=yesRestrictRealtime=yesRestrictNamespaces=yesRestrictAddressFamilies=AF_UNIX AF_INET AF_INET6ProtectKernelTunables=yesProtectKernelModules=yesProtectControlGroups=yesProtectHome=yes```

References
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  2. "This Zimbabwean has built a self-driving car in the UK. And it will be on the streets in 6 months". Techzim. 10 July 2017.
  3. "Firm takes on multinationals with driverless delivery van". Adrian Flux Insurance. 25 June 2017.
  4. Murray-Nag, Beatrice (25 June 2017). "The kar-go self-driving robot delivers straight to your door". Design Boom.
  5. "Driverless Delivery Cars in London". LondonLive. 25 June 2017.
  6. "Pindula". Pindula. 25 June 2017.
  7. "BBC Dragons Den Pitch"BBC Dragons Den Pitch , Broadcast August 2009
  8. https://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/entrepreneurs/williamsachiti.shtml
  9. "Dragons' Den Clever Bins coming to an Oldham street near you - Manchester Evening News". manchestereveningnews.co.uk. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  10. "Eco-Business.com - Asia Pacific's Sustainable Business Community". eco-business.com. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  11. "Malé to Utilise Solar Powered 'Clever Bins' | Maldives Travel Lifestyle Experience". maldives.net.mv. Retrieved 18 August 2016.
  12. "Citizen Space Local". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 18 August 2016.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  13. "News". web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2016.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link)
  14. https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/24/secret-acquisition A Secret Acquisition
  15. Primack, Dan (25 July 2014). "Term Sheet – Friday, July 25". Fortune.
  16. Dunsby, Megan (25 July 2014). "Secret Escapes acquires My City Venue to strengthen events arm". Startups.
  17. "Meet Hugh, the robot librarian - Aberystwyth University". Aber. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  18. Crump, Eryl (26 February 2016). "Robot librarian at Aberystwyth University to lend a hand to bookworms". Daily Post. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
  19. "Hugh Owen library to introduce robot librarian". 27 February 2016. Retrieved 18 March 2017.
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  34. Reuters, Thomson, Futuristic driverless vehicle offers 'last mile' delivery..., retrieved 2019-07-12
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  37. https://www.facebook.com/219999141498172/photos/a.220011501496936/1380743735423701/?type=3&theater
  38. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/william-sachiti_education-secondaryschool-warsaw-activity-6637396716528115712-9F1j
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  43. Writer, Staff (2020-01-31). "Zimbabwean entrepreneur invents tech that turns a tree into a WiFi hub". ITWeb. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  44. "Education in Africa". uis.unesco.org. 2016-11-18. Retrieved 2020-02-08.
  45. Editor (2020-02-01). "Zimbabwean AI expert and entrepreneur William Sachiti invents open-sourced technology to improve access to education in Africa". Business Africa Online. Retrieved 2020-02-08.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
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