Kelvin W
- Research Program Mentor
Industry expert at University of Virginia, Charlottesville
Expertise
business, startups, leadership, technology
Bio
In the exciting world of entrepreneurship, business, and startups, lies my true passion. It's not just about textbooks and theories for me – it's a genuine fascination with the process of creating something from nothing, navigating challenges, and watching ideas come to life. My academic journey is a reflection of this curiosity, as I delve into the ever-changing dynamics of business landscapes, seeking to understand the heartbeat of innovation and sustainable growth. On a more personal note, there's something incredibly fulfilling about helping young minds explore their own potential. I'm not just into mentoring for the sake of it; I genuinely get a kick out of sitting down with enthusiastic individuals, hearing their ideas, and brainstorming cool ways to tackle real-world problems. It's not about the spotlight or grandiose solutions; it's about the authentic joy of connecting with others, nurturing their creativity, and collectively finding meaningful solutions that make a difference.Project ideas
Building KeepUp: An Inventory Management Tool for Small Business Owners
Business owners in the SME sector across Africa find it difficult to manage and track aspects of their business such as sales, inventory, expenses and other customers relations. After conducting a series of interviews, surveys, and focus groups, I found these points below to be the main pain-points for business owners. - Difficulty in tracking their sales and creditors. - Using books to manually record receipts, invoices and sales makes it inefficient when finding creditors and tracking sales growth - Difficulty in managing their inventory. - Manually managing large inventory slows order processing and comes with a high labor cost. Difficulty in tracking growth of their business. - Lack of business insights to help track growth and make informed decisions. To address this, I designed and developed a web and mobile application that would help business owners track and manage their business. 1. Using invoices and receipts to record sales and track creditors. 2. Simple inventory management tool with reminders to keep track of product quantity, availability and location. 3. Using the bookkeeping data to generate insights and analytics to help business owners make informed decisions.