It’s 12 pm and there’s a hive of activity at the Anwar homestead in Karen. Everyone appears to be rushing somewhere, the scorching hot weather notwithstanding. It is about a week to the WRC Safari Rally.

The Anwars have been in motorsports for ages, and naturally, they have a full-fledged garage at home, where teams from different places are busy.

Currently, the focus in the rallying family is on Hamza Anwar, who is this year participating in his fourth Safari Rally, this time in a Rally 3 Ford Fiesta as part of the M-Sport Ford World Rally Team.

Hamza has been driving since around the age of five, having learned how to drive automatic cars at that age. By eight years, he had moved on to manual. He has always been feisty and a car lover. He is giddy with excitement, and his attention is in great demand. His name is called out every few seconds: “Eh Hamza, wapi impact gun (Hey Hamza, where is the impact gun)?” And off he goes.

There is a team preparing his M-Sport Ford for the rally with branded merchandise from lead sponsors and a smart vehicle tracking telematic gadget installed by a team from Safaricom. He checks on the progress of the work being done on his rally car, comments to the branders and mechanics here and there, and settles down for a tête-à-tête.

With the vision to succeed and moral backing from his father, Asad Anwar, Hamza has grown to become a renowned rally star in Kenya. He broke out properly in 2021 when he participated in the Safari Rally for the first time sponsored by Safaricom under the FIA Rally Stars programme.

Ahead of the WRC3 Safari Rally, where he is sponsored by Safaricom, Hamza is hoping that the stages treat him better and will not encounter mishaps that will stall his journey.

Safaricom will support the youngster driver with KShs 5 million in cash to compete in the WRC3 category. The sponsorship deal oversees Hamza’s rally car installed with a telematic gadget, a Smart Vehicle Tracking System that uses the Internet of Things. The Smart Vehicle Tracking solution is used by Safaricom’s enterprise customers for fleet management.

A sim card is placed in the telematic gadget, and using GPS technology, Hamza’s team can monitor his car remotely.

This technology integrates with the vehicle’s onboard computer and collects information on several parameters that are accumulated and recorded at the end and start of each trip, providing insights into journey duration, vehicle speed, route information, fuel consumption, and driver behaviour.

“Through our intelligent telematics and sensors within the car, it will be a great opportunity for us to showcase the power of technology in the rally through quick and informed data-driven decisions,” said David Kago, Enterprise ICT and IOT Lead at Safaricom.

The fans who will not make it to Naivasha for the rally will also get to enjoy and follow the ride through provided links that will be shared on Safaricom’s social media platforms.

For Hamza, the most exciting part about the installation will be having readily available data he and his team can always go back to. “Through the raw data, we will see where we were on the stretch from corner to corner, what speeds we were doing, and we will revise and monitor the progress of the routes and perfect our strategy over time,” he said.

For his fourth Safari Rally, Hamza’s target is to finish, which could mean going at a slower pace where necessary to prevent damage to the car.

“We have a good vehicle, a capable vehicle, and the best sponsors, and we are looking forward to it. We hope we can secure a partnership and do the whole African Championship this year and hopefully win it, God willing,” he said.

The onset of the rains has changed circumstances on the ground, and this has been evident in the recce, where the smaller cars got stuck in the watery fesh fesh, the very fine and light powdery sand that is prevalent on the floor of the Rift Valley.

Hamza has been watching the weather and planning for the slippery conditions.

“Because we are expecting rain during the Easter weekend, every time it rains, I get in my car, and I go out and play in the mud and to be honest, that’s the only training I’ve been doing. Having fun,” he said.

Safaricom has also partnered with the WRC Safari Rally as the official technology partner, committing KShs36 million to enhance and provide seamless and speedy 4G network connectivity through the provision of five Cell on Wheels (COW) on the ground to support seamless connectivity during the four-day rally event. Two COWs will be set up at Hell’s Gate, two at Soysambu, and one at the Kedong stage.

The 25-year-old organises remote camping and outdoor activities for nature lovers as his day job whenever he is not racing.

As for his future in motorsport, Hamza, who in 2023 had a nearly fatal crash during the last round of the Junior World Rally Championship in Greece, said, “I have had my fair share of crashes, and I have learnt from them and gained experience. I am looking to further my limits and hopefully emerge victorious this time round.”