Ir. Baraka SafariElectronics Engineer

Baraka Safari ElieElectronics engineer · Co-founder & CTO at Wava

I design the hardware behind everyday essentials, water you pay for by the litre, power you can meter and back up with the sun, and home appliances that keep working when the grid doesn't. Built and field-tested in Goma and Bujumbura.

See the products Download CV (PDF)

Find me online as Ir.Basael / Mr.Basael

Sensinginputs & readers Controlembedded firmware Actuationoutputs & display Connectivitylink to the cloud Powergrid · battery · solar ON
10+ yrsin electronics & telecom, since 2015
4ventures co-founded or led
10water terminals per Wava station
2countries of cross-border payments engineered
Ongoing, field deployment

Wava: pay-per-litre water, one card tap at a time

As co-founder and CTO of Wava (Water Value), I lead the hardware and firmware for smart water distribution points. A resident taps an NFC card, sees their name and balance, draws water, and is billed to the decilitre.

Each station runs a controller that manages up to ten customer terminals, drives the valve, pump and filter, watches tank levels, and stays connected to the backend over a secure link. The terminals combine a card reader and a display, with firmware I wrote in C to keep working through power cuts, reader faults and dropped links.

NFC card accountsPer-user balance, free-pass and inspection cards
Flow meteringPulse-counted flow sensor, decilitre resolution
Self-diagnosingReader health checks and offline alerts on screen
Station controlValve, pump, filter and tank-level sensing
NFC carduser balance Terminals ×10card reader · display Station controllerruns the water point Valve · pump Tank level Backendaccounts · billing taplinksecure link
How a Wava water point is wired, from card to backend.
Wava NFC water terminal installed at a water point

Products I've designed

Select a product for details.

Experience

From telecom networks to my own product lines.

  1. Now

    Wava (Water Value)

    Co-founder & Chief Technology Officer

    Leading hardware, firmware and system architecture for smart water distribution: NFC customer terminals, multi-terminal station controllers, flow metering and backend integration.

  2. Now

    Tujenge Pamoja SPRL · Bujumbura

    Research & Innovation Lead · Head of Technical Department

    Running the technical department and the R&D pipeline: prepaid power and water meters, solar backup systems, and the production workshop that fabricates and installs signage for clients.

  3. 2020 – Now

    Amini SARL · Goma

    Founder & Director

    Brought the Aron rechargeable iron to market in 2022 after two years of study and testing, built around a 12 V lithium pack and assembled in my own lab.

  4. 2020

    Banzela · Goma

    Founder & CEO

    Designed Biron, the first rechargeable clothes iron made in the DR Congo, after eight months of prototyping, alongside a rechargeable cooking stove. Covered by Africanews, 7sur7.cd and others.

  5. 2017 – 2019

    Tresud ASBL

    Co-founder & Head of ICT

    Built the banboo.com e-commerce platform and engineered its cross-border payment system, linking mobile money in the DR Congo and Uganda so buyers and sellers could trade across the border.

  6. 2016

    Huawei Technologies · Uganda

    Telecom engineer

    Worked on mobile network infrastructure with Huawei's Uganda operations.

  7. 2015

    Airtel RDC

    Engineering intern

    Internship in a national mobile operator's technical department, my first exposure to telecom systems at scale.

Toolkit

Electronics

  • Embedded electronics
  • PCB design
  • PCB assembly
  • Microcontroller programming
  • Communication protocols & NFC

Design & engineering

  • Industrial design
  • 3D CAD
  • Basic mechanical engineering
  • Basic chemistry
  • Prototyping & small-batch build

Software programming

  • C (AVR-GCC, register level)
  • C#
  • Python
  • JavaScript
  • PHP

Energy & systems

  • Power & water metering
  • Solar backup & lithium packs
  • Telecom networks
  • E-commerce & mobile money
  • R&D team leadership

Education

Hands-on electronics first, then languages and computing.

  1. 2017 – 2019

    Bachelor in Computer Science

    Cavendish University Uganda · Two years, not completed

  2. 2015 – 2016

    English language programme

    Bright and Happy Kampala Adult School, Kampala, Uganda

  3. 2009 – 2015

    Industrial Electronics

    Institut Technique Industriel de Goma (ITIG Don Bosco), Goma, DR Congo

In the press

Independent coverage of my products.

Africanews 2020

The first made-in-Congo rechargeable iron, and the rechargeable stove that followed it.

 Radio Okapi 2022

Interview on Aron, the Amini SARL rechargeable iron with a 12 V lithium battery.

 Afrik.com 2020

Profile of Banzela and Biron, and where the names come from.

 Afrinik 2020

Biron as an answer to unstable power and charcoal irons.

 7sur7.cd via Zoom News 2020

Eight months of prototyping and the plan to build home appliances in the DRC.

 Kelasi Magazine 2020

A Congolese engineer's iron that works without mains power.

Let's build something that has to work in the field.

Open to partnerships on water, energy and metering projects across the Great Lakes region, and to speaking about hardware entrepreneurship in Central Africa.

Email
barakasafari3@gmail.com
baraka.safari@tujenge-pamoja.com
Phone
+257 68 26 23 23
WhatsApp
+243 970 109 876
LinkedIn
Mr. Basael
Based in
Bujumbura, Burundi · Goma, DR Congo
Company
tujenge-pamoja.com