From self-service to bringing buyers and sellers together, software developer Shadrach Jaungere’s smartphone apps are making it easier for Papua New Guineans to do business. And there are more to come, reports Kevin McQuillan.

Telikom PNG’s Shadrach Jaungere

Shadrach Jaungere is on a roll.

Despite a long and abiding interest in computer programming, he struggled through his university work and it wasn’t until he created his first smartphone app two years ago that he got the bug. The Android mobile phone app bug that is. And now he’s working on his thirty-fifth.

‘It’s amazing that when I was learning coding at university, I didn’t do so well,’ Jaungere tells Business Advantage PNG.

‘Twice I failed my programming units, even though I always had an interest in programming. I found it fascinating.

‘The potential of mobile phones and social media is huge. The smartphone user rate is going up all the time in PNG.’

‘And I’ve always had a curiosity about mechanical things.

“When I was young, I used to love visiting dump sites to collect old discarded electronic appliances. I used to remove their electrical parts and then re-assemble them to create new electronic devices,’ he says.

Schooling

Born in 1984 in Morobe Province, Jaungere went to school in Lae, finishing his high school years at Bumayong Lutheran Secondary School.

He enrolled at the University of PNG in 2004, where a lack of motivation meant he had to repeat his third year of a Bachelor of Science degree.

‘I finally completed fourth year and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 2010.

‘What was unique about this app was that it was designed to accommodate Tok Pisin users. So customers could choose to run the app in either Tok Pisin or English. It was very successful.’

He joined state-owned telco Telikom PNG in 2013, after teaching computer programming as a part-time support tutor.

First app

And that’s when his abilities came to the fore. He was given the job to develop a new Android phone app for Telikom customers which would allow users to log in and check their account, top up credit, and purchase service bundles, giving them more control over their account.

RaitApp SelfCare was the first-ever Android app created by Telikom PNG’s ICT division and is available on the Google Play platform.

‘One problem we are trying to solve is to quickly notify people whenever there is a disaster pending.’

‘What was unique about this app was that it was designed to accommodate Tok Pisin users. So customers could choose to run the app in either Tok Pisin or English. It was very successful.’

That was 2013. Since then he has created 35 Android apps. Twenty have been for completed fully, ten are in research and development, while another five are unpublished. Ten of the apps are used by Telikom staff in-house.

Game changer

The highly-rated app developed by Shadrach Jaungere for the 2015 Pacific Games.

Jaungere’s work on developing a mobile phone-based business directory app, and related apps that support ecommerce and business-to-business trade, saw him make the finals of the prestigious UNDP-led Kumul Gamechangers Competition last year.

The competition is a project initiated and implemented by the Kumul Foundation, funded by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, the United Nations Development Program and the PNG Business Council. 

A lot of people in the business community volunteer time through the Kumul Foundation to assist this project, says Chairman, Anthony Smare. 

The app is called LookMeUp, says Jaungere, which will allow visitors and locals to contact businesses, service providers and suppliers directly. And it will have a social media interface so people can chat and share information as well.

Another app—again still in the developmental phase—will have a huge impact for people living in remote areas of PNG in particular.

‘It’s a chat platform and will be a real competitor to WhatsApp, but it will have a specific usage in PNG: disaster control and information.

‘One problem we are trying to solve is to quickly notify people whenever there is a disaster pending.

‘We cannot do that with any existing platform because of the costs involved. It will be free, because we are using the Internet as the way to transmit the alerts.

He is also developing three ‘anti-corruption’ apps for Transparency International.

‘There will actually be three apps for use in schools, and they’ll teach people about PNG, ethics and corruption.

Huge potential

What motivates Shadrach is a desire to give something back.

‘Professionally, I am motivated by the possibilities that smartphones have for people. Smartphones have greatly empowered people.The potential of mobile phones and social media is huge. The smartphone user rate is going up all the time in PNG.

‘Rates of communication and getting information across to the masses is faster and that’s where the opportunities lie: phone banking, farmers getting updates on market prices, weather and so on,’ he says.