SIA-Africa's Person of the Month for September 2018 is young Nigerian-born entrepreneur Silas Adekunle. Adekunle founded his own business Reach Robotics in 2013. The company is specialized in fusing gaming and augmented reality to perform real world functions. Today, the company counts 40 employees and has developed a lot of experiences on robotics in four years’ time, including the goal to teach STEM education through gaming robots.
Adekunle started his education in Lagos, his hometown, before moving to the UK where he graduated with first class in Robotics from the University of the West of England. Adekunle was also a team leader of Robotics In Schools programme, a programme which encourages and pays attention to students in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This experience encouraged him to develop robotics to make education more entertaining for STEM students.
In 2016, Silas Adekunle created MekaMon, the first four-legged multifunctional gaming robot that battles, pilots and plays in true augmented reality and that can be controlled by a smart device. Reach Robotics has so far sold 500 robots and secured a deal with London Ventures Partners for $10 million. His company also partnered with Apple for exclusive sales of MekaMon in Apple stores.
