"If you're ambitious, the opportunity is there. You just have to apply yourself." For Odwa Ndyaluvane, MD and founder of software engineering company Developmenthub, those words have deep resonance.
Hailing from a township in the Eastern Cape, Ndyaluvane worked his way through university, where he discovered a passion for using software to solve business challenges.
That journey ultimately led to the founding of Developmenthub, which began by building bespoke software solutions for businesses. The company has since expanded its model across cloud engineering, proprietary software products, usage-based services, re-usable technology capabilities and a growing AI portfolio.
"We are emerging as a digital infrastructure organisation, where we build proprietary technology that other engineers and businesses can consume and integrate into their own solutions," he told ITWeb TV Biz.
Expanding with AWS EEIP
This shift accelerated when Developmenthub joined the AWS Enterprise Equity Equivalent Investment Programme (EEIP), an AWS South Africa business development project designed to support qualifying Black-owned technology businesses with technical, business and customer skills needed to grow.
"Prior to AWS EEIP, we were a bespoke engineering company. Companies asked us to build bespoke software. But with our engagement in the AWS EEIP programme, we've got products of our own. We went in with one product. By the time we finished, we had around six products," said Ndyaluvane.
The programme combines technical development with broader business support. Qualifying participants gain access to AWS partnership opportunities and certification pathways for employees, alongside guidance in areas such as business strategy, financial planning, processes, networking and marketing.
For Developmenthub, some of the value was in building the organisational foundations needed to support its next stage of growth.
"You are guided into account processes, governance, compliance and the like. For the first time, we had an HR system. We had skills development roadmaps and all those kinds of things. There was a lot of growing the business outside what I thought I knew."
Expanding revenue streams
The experience also helped Developmenthub expand its cloud engineering capabilities and rethink how it takes products to market.
Rather than relying solely on once-off software development projects, the company can offer software as a service, creating recurring revenue opportunities while making its technology available to a broader customer base.
"We now have the confidence to say to our customers, when they say there's no budget, 'Do you want me to build it? Sign here.' Then you build it, and that becomes annuity income for you, because they are now renting the software rather than owning it. That allows us to expand our business model," said Ndyaluvane.
One example is Livestock Affairs, an animal identity platform designed to give livestock a persistent digital identity, something Ndyaluvane often describes as a “Home Affairs for livestock”.
The platform creates a digital identity layer for animals that can support capabilities such as identification, traceability and the management of livestock-related information across different participants in the ecosystem.
Developmenthub is also making selected capabilities developed through Livestock Affairs available via APIs. This means third-party developers can call these services from their own applications rather than having to build the underlying technology themselves.
"If someone wants to build a practice management [system] for a vet or an animal nutritionist, they can build on top of Livestock Affairs. The AWS Marketplace is allowing us to build our own marketplace."
AWS Marketplace provides an additional commercial route through which Developmenthub can make these re-usable technology capabilities available to other businesses and developers.
Skills that build careers and client confidence
The benefits of the programme extend beyond the business itself. Developmenthub employees are working towards AWS certifications, helping them build technical skills and open up further career opportunities.
For Ndyaluvane, the value of working within the AWS ecosystem also extends to the credibility it can provide when engaging larger customers.
For a smaller technology business, demonstrating the governance, processes, technical standards and expertise expected by enterprise customers can be challenging. Access to AWS expertise and support is not just an accelerator; it's a confidence booster that helps win deals.
"Things are vetted. And the team that we were working with, from the AWS ecosystem, the AWS architect, the AWS account managers – these guys come to your meetings."
For a business that started with a founder's determination to build a different future, that confidence is becoming increasingly important as Developmenthub sets its sights on larger opportunities.
Ndyaluvane's ambition began long before he attended university. His mother taught him that if he wanted to change his life, he needed to step up and take responsibility for creating that change.
He found his path in software engineering, built a business around it and is now evolving that business beyond bespoke development into a digital infrastructure organisation with its own products, platforms and growing AI capabilities.
And for other ambitious entrepreneurs, his message is simple: "If you put your mind to it and know what it takes, you can make it."
You can view the full video here.
* ITWeb TV Biz episodes are sponsored.
Share
