Reclaiming the Narrative from Circuits and Scrap

There’s a certain silence that lingers in Nigeria’s tech conversations—loud with app founders, fintech buzz, and pitch decks, but quiet when it comes to hardware. Yet somewhere in Benin City, a group of young engineers is filling that void—not with noise, but with innovation.

Havitech Core wasn’t born out of a Silicon Valley playbook. It was birthed from scarcity, curiosity, and an unshakable belief that Africans could build for themselves, from the ground up. Not just software. Not just platforms. But machines, sensors, robots—hardware.

Founded in October 2024, Havitech is Nigeria’s quiet, confident answer to the global question: Can Africans build their own tech ecosystems without always importing one?

The answer is yes—and it’s soldered in wires, wrapped in code, and driven by visionaries who see beyond barriers.

From Tinkering to Thought Leadership

In a conversation with David Onwuchekwa, one of the co-founders of Havitech, you don’t just hear a tech founder—you hear someone who wants to fix things. Literally.

Their journey began in garages and student hostels, working with discarded circuit boards, broken printers, and outdated laptops. Where others saw waste, they saw possibilities.

“We didn’t have access to fresh components. So we learned to extract. We learned to rewire, to rebuild. And before we knew it, we were building smart sensors from dead phones,” Onwuchekwa shared.

It was the classic Nigerian dream—but unlike others, theirs wasn’t about escape. It was about rewriting the script from where they stood.

Meet the Founding Sparks

Behind Havitech’s rise is a small, disciplined, and driven team: Festus Efemena, Success Imhoengamhe, Joel Idahor, and David Onwuchekwa. Together, they represent a new kind of startup leadership—collaborative, unflinching, and continent-conscious.

They’re not simply trying to “disrupt” markets. They are actively trying to build an ecosystem that doesn’t yet exist.

Their lab is not just a workspace. It’s a classroom. A workshop. A testbed for dreams.

eXhibot NG: Robotics as Resistance

In May 2025, Havitech organized the inaugural edition of eXhibot Nigeria, a robotics competition targeted at students, technologists, and curious tinkerers. Held at the University of Benin, the event drew dozens of participants who showcased robots they built with their hands—not imported kits, but locally-sourced components.

For many attendees, it was the first time seeing robots that didn’t arrive from China or the U.S.—but were born in the very same classrooms they studied in.

The competition wasn’t just a show. It was a message: “We can build, too.”

It was also a spark for many students who had long buried their hardware interests beneath the pressure of job markets, school strikes, and the lure of tech shortcuts.

Now, Havitech plans to take eXhibot NG national. From Benin to Jos. From Ibadan to Sokoto. Not as a PR stunt—but as a movement to democratize robotics in Africa.

Binz: Waste Management, Reimagined

Innovation, for Havitech, doesn’t just live in robotics. It lives in the streets, too.

Binz by Havitech is their smart waste-sorting bin, programmed to detect and classify waste into plastics and non-plastics—ideal for schools, markets, and public institutions struggling with environmental compliance.

It uses sensors to identify materials, sorts them appropriately, and helps communities maintain cleaner, safer surroundings. It’s not just smart—it’s scalable.

And it shows that Havitech isn’t building for buzz. They’re building for problems that need solutions.

Bootstrapped but Bold

Without angel investors or big VC backing, Havitech Core has grown through sweat equity, small grants, and a deep sense of purpose. They were shortlisted for the Tony Elumelu Foundation grant in 2025, and have since attracted attention from local tech hubs like Midtown Innovation Hub in Benin City.

But funding remains tight. Hardware is capital-intensive. Yet, they press on—engineering prototypes, hosting events, and mentoring young builders.

In a world driven by funding rounds and exits, Havitech’s biggest capital is belief.

Digital Colonization and the Hardware Rebellion

There’s an uncomfortable truth in Africa’s digital economy: we often build on borrowed infrastructure. Most of our phones, routers, switches, and processors are imported. Even our “smart cities” are designed abroad.

Havitech is part of a new generation challenging this passive model.

“We don’t want to just consume innovation,” Onwuchekwa notes. “We want to build it. We want children in Nigeria to grow up knowing they can build their own gadgets, not just buy them.”

This is no small ambition. But it’s necessary. Because when a continent cannot build its own tools, it becomes dependent. And dependency, in time, becomes another form of colonization.

From Scraps to Standards

Havitech isn’t chasing Silicon Valley. They’re chasing relevance. Their systems don’t need to impress investors—they need to work in public schools with unstable electricity. Their sensors don’t need billion-dollar IPOs—they need to sort waste in Nigerian classrooms.

And that’s where their genius lies.

They are not trying to look foreign. They’re trying to look familiar—and still futuristic.

What the Future Holds

In the next 12 months, Havitech plans to:

• Expand the eXhibot Robotics League to at least five Nigerian universities

• Install Binz waste stations across selected LGAs

• Launch training modules in embedded systems and microcontroller development for secondary and university students

• Publish open-source hardware designs to empower student makers across West Africa

The dream is bigger than devices. It’s about building a culture—where tech is not a mystery but a craft.

Imminent Stars: More than a Spotlight

Havitech is the first feature in our Imminent Stars series. On startups re-defining and re-shaping Africa from within. 

It’s not the field that defines the stars. It’s the spirit.

And Havitech has that spirit in spades.

They teach us that a startup isn’t about hype. It’s about helping. That you don’t need a $10M check to change lives—you just need vision, grit, and tools.

A Final Thought: Tools with a Soul

In the end, Havitech Core isn’t just building hardware.

They’re building hope.

And in a time when Africa is flooded with imported gadgets and alien software, there is something sacred about young people who say: “Let’s build ours.”

It is a quiet resistance. It is a cultural resurrection. It is the kind of starlight that never dims.

It is, simply put, imminent.