Meet Darlington Makovere, a Zimbabwean entrepreneur who at 20 transformed his roommate nightmare into Kwilo, an innovative app matching students with compatible roommates while furthering his pan-African vision through multiple ventures.
University life should foster meaningful connections, beginning with shared accommodation. Yet many students find themselves living with incompatible roommates, creating an uncomfortable living environment. Addressing this widespread challenge, Darlington Tadiwanashe Makovere, a Zimbabwean International Business Administration student at a university in Cyprus, collaborated with two fellow students to create "Kwilo" – an innovative application designed to match students with compatible roommates and help secure ideal accommodation.
Kwilo functions as an all-in-one platform tackling student housing issues. The app matches potential roommates based on personality traits and interests through a sophisticated profile system. "If you are an outgoing extroverted person, you will be matched with a similar personality, the same goes for introverts," Darlington explained. The platform also features a couch surfing service, allowing students to rent out their couches to travelers for short stays.
Darlington's inspiration stemmed from personal frustration. As an "extrovert-introvert" who enjoyed quiet reading time at home, living with loud, outgoing flatmates forced him to retreat to the library for peace. "I can be loud out there but when I get home, I just want to have time to myself for reading; that was impossible with the kind of roommates I had," he revealed. His subsequent research confirmed that many students faced similar compatibility issues with their living arrangements.
A fortuitous connection led Darlington to Sam, a business major working on a similar concept for his graduate project. They joined forces and recruited Mohammed, a programmer and PhD student, to handle technical development. The trio co-founded Kwilo in October 2019, with clearly defined roles: Darlington manages marketing and product development, Sam oversees operations and finances, while Mohammed leads system development.
The venture has been entirely self-funded through bootstrapping, though Darlington acknowledges that external financing will be necessary for scaling after the model proves itself. Revenue will primarily come from businesses placing student-targeted advertisements on the platform. With Cyprus hosting over ninety thousand international students, Kwilo is positioned to revolutionize the student market. The founders plan to launch initially in Cyprus, Canada, and Australia before expanding globally.
Beyond Kwilo, Darlington runs Savanna Podcast, where he discusses business with African entrepreneurs and has successfully facilitated funding for participants. He's also involved with African Citizen, an initiative supporting African-run student businesses in Cyprus. "I am a pan-Africanist, it is at the centre of everything that I do. As young people we need to play a part in the development of Africa so that it can fully contribute to the global marketplace," he emphasized.
Darlington's entrepreneurial spirit was cultivated early by his father, who involved him in an auto repairs business and instilled a passion for reading. By age 13, Darlington was consuming entrepreneurial literature like Dottie Walters' "Speak and Grow Rich." His academic journey included joining an entrepreneurship club at Zimbabwe's Hillcrest College and briefly studying software engineering before switching to business administration.
His advice to aspiring entrepreneurs is refreshingly practical: start where you are, even if that means beginning with something as modest as a vending business. Darlington draws inspiration from his vision of himself in 20 years – someone who contributes significantly to Africa's economic development. Judging by his accomplishments thus far, that journey is well underway.
