Three techjunkies, Stephen Chege, Kenneth Njendu and Glorai Kidullah teamed up and came up with a digital access control register called Sentinel a security program that is has ‘eyes of an eagle’.
Sentinel, which als acts as a surveillance portal helps keep tabs on both human and vehicular traffic access within business premises. With all this glory the three decided to start a tech firm called Centuria Limited.
“The blackbook used at entry points to our buildings is archaic and bulky. Sentinel enables users to monitor individual trails of vehicles and people visiting a building daily and can send alerts in case one overstays or access an area they are not allowed to,” says Mr Njendu,36 who studied computer science and physics at the North Eastern University, Boston USA.
They first piloted the product on three firms. One of the firms, Wallstreet Business Park, became their first client in 2016. It was then that Ms Kidullah quit her job to concentrate on running the new startup that by year end had gobbled up Sh500,000, while being hosted on a Sh20,000 annual fee cloud server.
To enhance security for their clients, they interlinked to the national Integrated Population Registration Services (IPRS enabling their customers (guards) to verify details provided by clients at the point of entry.
The platform has three secured log in segments for security managers, individual businesses in a building as well as guards where each user has a separate log in thereby helping them contribute to the overall security of a building.
Security managers view goings-on using CCTV and verify the same on entries made by guards on tablets managed by Centuria. The tablets are used to record all human and vehicular entries where pictures are taken for reference purposes.
Each building owner or security manager can receive alerts in case of unauthorised entry thereby facilitating prompt response including closure of main entrance, floor access points and deactivation of the lift.
In 2017, Centuria registered a Sh11.3 million turnover with its clientele growing to include a hotel, two Westlands-based office buildings and a business complex in Industrial Area.
It is available on a subscription basis where individual homes pay Sh6,000 a year, residential complex is billed Sh50,000 while commercial buildings pay Sh200 a unit per month.