Itumeleng Matshego is leading a group of young innovators who are paving the way for asset tracking in a Gauteng township.

The group of six from Sebokeng in the Vaal are finding ways to tackle crime by customising trackers that can be used for a broad spectrum of assets.

"A few schools have commissioned me to create a tracking device that will be able to monitor when a child enters and exits a school to combat absenteeism," said Matshego.

He said the device will join his individual tracking systems used by parents to monitor their children.

This device can be described as a chip that uses GPS to find the closest approximate location of an asset or individual; these chips are put into watches that children can wear.

"The special thing about this tracker is that we can customise it to sense if a child is travelling at a high speed or if they have been involved in a car accident."

Butter was one unique product a client requested the innovators to protect.

"A baker came to us and told us that he had repeatedly been a victim of crime after massive amounts of butter were stolen from his truck.

"We managed to come up with a tracker that had a special casing to stick into the butter to track it down after being stolen," Matshego, 34, said.

He started Legratron in 2014 after spending 10 years in the IT industry.

He said it was his dream to create the first place of its kind in a township where he could innovate tracking technology.

His team make customised trackers that can be fitted to anything his clientele of 80 find valuable: keys, phones, cattle, vehicles and humans. The prices are from as little as R89 to R36 000, depending on customisation.

"I've had potential investors ask me to move Legratron to the city for convenience's sake. But it is important to me to be accessible to people in the community and to grow the innovation culture in my community," he said.

"We also track fuel trucks, which have contributed a big chunk of revenue."

Matshego and his team have studied in different areas such as computer systems, IT and mechanical engineering.

He has ensured that the talent employed is from the Vaal area to combat the high levels of unemployment.

"All of my employees have studied at the Vaal University of Technology or surrounding colleges."

Kenny Mabebe, who has two young children, said the kids' tracker watch had given him peace of mind.

"It is very useful because I can tell where my children are and where they have been."