Samuel Karonji, founder of SwiftResponse [File]
Imagine getting a medical emergency at night and there are no ambulances or any other rapid response methods available. Even worse, imagine getting caught up in a robbery or a road accident.
How do you call for help in such crisis?
Before August 2021, Samuel Karonji the founder of SwiftResponse, had for two years made it his mission to develop an emergency service application that bridges the gap between emergency services and incidences.
Today, his platform has 1,300 active users. Karonji’s drive emerged from the many insecurity incidences across the country. And with the Covid-19 pandemic that escalated the need for in-person and concentrated medical attention, his inspiration even grew bigger.
“I noticed tendencies of insecurity and I wanted to provide solutions where I could. A case study was South Africa which had high cases of insecurity and techpreneurs there brought homegrown solutions which is what triggered my urge to develop SwiftResponse,” Samuel told the Innovator.
To him, security and safety are human rights. SwiftResponse works by pressing a red panic button on the app. The alert then goes to the app’s call centre where personnel gather detailers from the callers.
Afterwards, they are linked with nearby emergency service providers who locate the callers in need of an emergency via GPS. In dire situations, the request goes directly to the partners for a quick response.
SwiftResponse has partnered with over 100 medical and 600 security responders in all four Kenyan cities and 33 other major towns. All their Emergency Services (EMS) providers and security responders within the SwiftResponse network are expertly trained, vetted and experienced.
To access the app’s services, one has to part with Sh2000 monthly. “You never know when you could be in an accident or in an emergency, so the amount is an indemnity, in any case, you get hit,” said Karonji.
But in an ever-competitive market, having a cutting edge is key. Samuel says they ask clients to voluntarily give any sensitive medical information just for more specialised attention. Samuel plans to knock more corporate doors for partnerships.
“We are also working on Global Systems of Mobile Communications (GSM) devices to take care of any areas that may not have the best network connectivity.”