North African Alumni – The Tony Elumelu Foundation

Mohamed Is Developing Affordable 3D Printed Solar-Powered Bionic Hands For Amputees In Africa

Joshua Praise — Fri, 22 Oct 2021 15:18:56 +0000

Navigating life without limbs can be very difficult for obvious reasons. This was the harsh reality for Mohamed Dhaouafi’s friend’s cousin who had been born without upper limbs and couldn’t afford prosthetics. This reality was the inspiration behind Mohamed’s research on limb loss around the world, which then birthed his company, CURE. He is a 2017 Tony Elumelu Foundation Alumna from Tunisia.

The impact CURE has on the everyday lives of amputees is tremendous. Its innovation ensures that these amputees can function adequately despite living in a world that is not built to accommodate them.

For Mohamed, the goal is simple, yet important – ensure that these members of our society can live their lives to the fullest despite this physical challenge. He has established two main programmes to help him achieve this goal: the development of personalised, 3D printed bionic hands and the provision of disruptive physical rehabilitation solutions for amputees who mostly live in rural areas and have limited resources using virtual reality.

He is slowly filling a gap that has existed in our world since the beginning of time. The World Health Organization estimates that there are 30 million people with amputated limbs in poor countries, and only 5% of them have access to prosthetics. There is also the challenge that comes with the cost of fitting children with high quality prosthetic devices which in turn contributes to the stigma and mobility difficulties that keeps them out of school. Mohamed’s innovation will be directly addressing three crucial social problems – poverty, access to education and access to health care.

Even with a major focus on affordability, Mohamed is not compromising on quality. Cure’s prototype is equipped with sensors that allow users to operate the hand by flexing or relaxing the muscles in their residual limb. Thy are also developing algorithms to help the arm recognize the body’s electrical signals more accurately, which will minimize reliance on an orthopaedists for adjustments.

Despite the many administrative, legal, financial, especially in the medical and hardware sector, Mohamed is will be launching his latest innovation in the coming months, as his team has just concluded a successful product testing of the bionic arms with five Tunisian youths and will soon initiate trials at three government hospitals.

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“My purpose in life is to help other people’s development skills,”- Haythem Dabbabi

Joshua Praise — Tue, 30 Mar 2021 09:35:55 +0000

How Robots in Tunisia Are Helping Young African Girls get into STEM

It has been predicted that by the next decade, more than 50% of all jobs around the world will be STEM-based (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). Newsflash: It’s already happening! In the midst of lockdowns and social distancing brought on by the pandemic, we all relied exclusively on technology to stay connected to our employers, colleagues, associates and loved ones. Health-care workers continue to remain at the forefronts, supporting and caring for millions, while scientists are hard at work testing, finalising and rolling out vaccinations for public use.

Indeed, if the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the future is undoubtedly stem-based and it’s imperative that the future generation prioritise and lean into STEM education.

Meet 2019 TEF Entrepreneur from Tunisia, Haythem Dabbabi, whoin this interview, shares how his company, Evocraft, is helping young children and adults become more familiar with STEM, robotics and software programming using fun non-traditional approaches. So far, they have taught and impacted over 200 children.

On changes made so far since the start of Evocraft:
It was a huge change for us going through the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme. Before the programme, we just had a concept, which was just finding the robot, but during the programme, we found multiple services to explore with the robot itself. The TEF seed capital combined with the very important advice from the training helped us implement these new additions.

As a result of the TEF coaching, we have also made significant changes to our business model and operations – This has helped us essentially expand to more schools and sell more robots everywhere.

Our future plans include expanding more on the national territory, to reach more schools.

On what motivates and drives him

I will say in a nutshell, seeing the change across Africa that we are driving using the robots. Because, what drove me to start creating robots in Africa was seeing developed countries use certain technologies for children, and I wondered why we did not have such in our own countries.

I saw the potential in our countries and after I started, I saw how much really changed and the opportunities it gave to those kids. It initially started like that but now, it’s like my purpose in life is to help other people’s development skills.

On key elements for starting and running a successful business
Understanding your customers’ needs, that’s the most important and the key that will help you succeed in your business.

Once you understand what your customers really need, and you meet that need with your product or service, you will be successful.

On who inspires him
Elon Musk. He has very crazy ideas and when he tells people he would do something, he would do it! And, that’s a very important thing.

On the most rewarding part of running his business
The passion. Waking up in the morning and really having fun every day.

How he encountered TEF

I found the TEF page on Facebook and started reading about it and I applied and gladly I was accepted, and it helped us a lot to grow.

On Support received
We usually were focused on the technical aspects more than the commercial arm of the business and that changed a lot during the TEF Programme. At the programme, we got a lot of ideas and perspectives we weren’t thinking about before.

On what he hopes to see happen soon for small businesses in his country

Taxes. If you are working in the technology field, you would need to pay a lot of taxes. We usually don’t have a culture of working on technology products in our country and we are just starting now, so some rules need to be adjusted for people like us. One of those is taxation, especially in my country.

Advice to other entrepreneurs who are just starting out
I would say believe in yourself, even when other people don’t believe in that project.

I know a lot of entrepreneurs that have started a project, and in the middle of that project, they keep hearing it’s not going to work. Once they abandon that project, they see other people working on the same project and succeed.

You don’t want to hear “people”, you want to hear your customers and the market. If the market refuses it, you need to change something. If the market accepts, it is telling you that you need to work hard on it.

Current Project(s)
Right now, we are working on something called TechBus.

It’s an initiative where the Techbus goes to rural areas to teach kids about software development and programming. We are focusing a lot on teaching STEM to girls in those regions because a lot of girls in there, don’t finish schooling.

We discovered that most of the girls are passionate about technology and they most likely understand even better than those in other areas that have more advanced technology. So, we started this initiative one month ago where we go to different schools in those underserved areas to see what we can change, and how we can give more opportunities to those kids around there.

On Future Plans
I hope we get to be on an international level. We hope to be in all the African markets–we have been engaging people in Egypt, Morocco and we have few contacts also from Nigeria to initiate partnerships in order to sell our robots there.

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Nora Chaynane’s Business, Shine Space, Offers Students in Morocco Opportunities to Learn Early and Prepare for the Future

Joshua Praise — Thu, 02 Jul 2020 09:06:52 +0000

In Morocco, 80% of students between the age of 15 – 18 are uncertain about their future. As a result, they graduate without the personal and professional skills needed for the world of work.

To tackle this growing silent crisis, TEF Entrepreneur and Founder of Shine Space, Nora Chaynane founded Shine Space, Morroco’s foremost socio-educational initiative to bridge the knowledge gap and guide students to finding the right career path.

Shine space offers opportunities to students to prepare early and acquire technical and interpersonal skills, beyond what the schools provide, to meet the demands of today’s world of work.

Before the pandemic, Shine Space delivered over 10 workshops to offer these unique opportunities to students through offline trainings and online interactions.

In response to the Covid-19 panedmic, Nora and her team pivoted their operational strategy online. In addition to that, she collaborated with the small health centres and the Health Ministry to raise awareness and fight the negative social impact of Covid-19.

To further drive the vision of her company, Nora is set to launch Glisa bla VISA (A discussion without VISA) – Morocco’s first interactive platform aimed to improve the professional and conversational skills in foreign languages using focused groups (talk rooms), while discussing trending news.

Since the lockdown, Shine Space has hosted 20 workshops, supported 100 students with the in-person mentorship, and benefited over 2,500 participants.

Shine Space previously won the Social Impact Prize in the National Entrepreneurship Competition GPE in Kenitra and the American Student Leaders program.

Mohamed Dhaouafi – Tunisian Entrepreneur

Joshua Praise — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 07:17:29 +0000

My life before Entrepreneurship

I come from an average Tunisian family of 5; my parents, my two siblings and I. Both parents were civil servants and education was given huge priority over other things, so I attended the regional pioneer high school within my locality; Lycee Pilote de Sousse”.

The foundation of good education allowed my mind to develop at a very early stage in my life. I was always inquisitive and curious, always wanting to know “Why” and “How” everything is the way it is or done the way it’s done.

I hold an engineering degree in electronics and embedded systems from Ecole National d’Ingenieurs de Sousse and a master’s degree in management of NGOs from Tunis Business School.

Even though no one in my family is self-employed, my father and grandfather raised me to believe in myself, to always challenge the status quo and never rest on my oars. These lessons have helped in my personal life, just as much as in my entrepreneurial journey.

My Business

I am the founder and CEO of CURE, a bionic company that works on ensuring that amputees can function in a world that is built for humans with four limbs. Our purpose is to ensure that these members of our society are able to live their lives to the fullest despite this physical challenge. We intend to achieve this objective through our two programmes: the development of personalised, 3D printed bionic hands and the provision of disruptive physical rehabilitation solutions for these amputees who mostly live in rural areas and have limited resources using virtual reality.

Why I chose to be an entrepreneur

I have always had the interest of others at heart. Even as a young undergraduate, I got involved in several extra-curricular activities: clubs and NGOs to satisfy my curiosity about life and my desire to do more for others than for myself. In 2015, I joined the Junior Enterprise network where I learned the basics of entrepreneurship and started networking with diverse brilliant students from different backgrounds and experiences in my country. As a restless young man, full of energy and ambition, I also participated in every student community event at my university which led to me elected as the student representative for my university. A year after that, I became the vice president of Eureka ENISo, the first club of my university.

I then joined the “Youth Council Tunisia” project, which is co-financed by the Polish development cooperation program of the ministry of foreign affairs, Republic of Poland. Our first project was the refurbishment of a local youth library in Sousse, Tunisia. Later on, I was elected local coordinator of the Youth Council Tunisia Project. Under my leadership, we implemented two other projects: the upgrade of our local children’s hospital and “El Tounsya El Horra El Megdiya” project , which means, “strong and free women”, to empower local women through social entrepreneurship by training them on handcraft skills so they can start their small businesses, get regular income and become self-sufficient.

In 2015, I joined Rotaract Pragma El Kantaoui and in less than a year, I became the president of its “Community Service” committee that works on implementing creative projects with social and environmental impact.

How it all started

During my university education, I took part in a student challenge: Tunisia Entrepreneurship IHEC _ ENISO for business and engineering students. It required us to solve problems with innovative ideas that can be turned into businesses. One of my teammates had a cousin who was born without hands and whose parents were unable to afford prosthetics. My team chose to work on that idea. That was my first foray into the world of prosthetics.

Later on, I visited the Centre de Traumatologie et des Grands Brules hospital in Tunisia where they take care of children amputees. I met an 8-year child who was electrified and had lost both his right hand and leg, he was in pain, and his mum was in despair as they could not afford prosthetic limbs for him. That day, I decided to work with children amputees, particularly those who did not have access to prosthetic limbs either because they are not made small enough or because their parents could not afford them.

My Tony Elumelu Foundation Encounter

I found the advert for the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme online and did not hesitate to apply. I believed very strongly in my idea and the opportunities that the Tony Elumelu Foundation could expose me to so I was glad to be selected. During the TEF program, I learned new business management skills through the online training. I also learned more about my business and the industry in the process of developing my business plan. The seed capital also helped significantly, I was able to develop the project further and that transformed my idea to a stage where I can seek additional funds or investment.

My Growth and Achievements

While the business itself has not turned a profit due to its peculiarity, medical or technologically heavy projects like ours mostly require a lot of research, development and testing before being commercially available. We have however achieved our growth in areas more synonymous with our sector, received recognition and support from global and local organisations and authorities.

My family and friends have also supported me tremendously on this journey.

In July 2019 I became an Obama Africa Leader
In 2018, I raised additional funding of $,5000 from the UNDP funded YAS! Open Innovation Challenge.
I was recently selected for the UN Solution Summit as one of the best eight projects from more than one thousand ideas.
In recognition of my work, I was invited to the presidential palace by the immediate past Tunisian president: The late President, Beji Caid Essebsi.
I have also had the privilege of participation in more than 60 national and international programmes and events as a participant, a panelist, a speaker or as a trainer
In 2018, alongside my friends, I cofounded ZETA HUB, the first private early-stage incubator and capacity-building center for university students in his city Sousse

We currently employ three people who work in research and product development, but our team will grow in leaps and bounds soon as we go into commercial production to make them available to thousands of amputees.

What is next for CURE

We plan to go to market with the bionic limbs by the end of this year and we will expand our business once we validate the concept in the local market.

We are also in the testing phase of our VR based rehabilitation programme, which should be launched in the first quarter of 2020.

We are however still in search of additional funding and partnership opportunities for this first African-made prosthetic hand.

Contact details for interested partners

+216 55 968 767

curetunisia@gmail.com

https://dhaouafimed.wixsite.com/curetunisie

The post Mohamed Dhaouafi – Tunisian Entrepreneur appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

The Boy from Bangui & His Romance with the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme

Joshua Praise — Wed, 18 Jan 2017 15:28:20 +0000

While growing up in Bangui, the capital of war-torn Central African Republic, Gabino Guerengomba and his family would strive to fully utilize the electricity when it came on for just four hours every day across the entire town. The rationing was because Enerca, short for Energie Centrafricaine, the national energy utility company had to be creative seeing as he electricity supply was never enough to power up the entire city at once.”

The situation was so bad that he and his peers would go the streetlight down the road, with book and pen in hand, just to study after sunset. “I recall that as a student in High school, we had to resort to going to a part of town where electricity was available or of to the nearest street light”, he says.

“This indeed affected my resolve and my determination in solving this issue so the future generations of Africans especially Central Africans, can have access to reliable and cost effective electricity.”

So he set about building a solar energy company to alleviate the suffering of his compatriots.

But first, he had to take the long walk to freedom, gaining experience in business after finishing his education. While working as an engineer at the Discovery Channel in Washington, DC where his job included providing technical support for crews on remote shoots, he found out something. “One of the biggest frustrations in that role was the inconsistency in electricity flow in high insolation conditions environments and the plastering on solar panels would cause them to melt in extreme heat. ”

So he began Integrated Solar Technologies (IST) a business which is designed to address both this frustration and his childhood struggle to get electricity. “We founded IST to find an off the grid way to deliver reliable electricity and broadband at a price point that would suit the African consumer market.”

The young boy from Bangui had finally come through and was about to deliver reliable power and affordable internet to his people. Because of the scale of his dreams, he needed help. And help came in 2015 in the form of investor and philanthropist, Tony Elumelu through his eponymous foundation, which he founded in 2010.

In 2015, Guerengomba was selected as one of 1,000 entrepreneurs from across 52 countries in Africa to participate in the inaugural edition of the Foundation’s flagship initiative, the Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme.

“It felt like I won the lottery”, says an elated Guerengomba. “I could not believe that a young boy from a war torn country would be among the most elite [gathering of] African Entrepreneurs in the world, so I set up to distinguish myself within the group so I can inspire the upcoming generations in my country.”

Armed with the first phase seed capital of $5,000 as well as 12 weeks of mentorship and training on a dedicated platform, he arrived at the bootcamp in July 2015 where he networked with the rest of the 1,000. He rates the friendships and business leads that have come out of it, as sterling. ” The TEF Entrepreneurship Programme… is my primary source of business leads, professional support and put me among the only people in the world that will not only bring Africa into the global economy but redefine it.”

And he is grateful to the man behind it all too. “I am now a mentor who is recognized within the global business community. This has opened a tremendous number of doors. I will always be grateful to the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme and Chairman Tony Elumelu for being our first biggest endorsement of validation.”

“As a person, Chairman Tony Elumelu has had a transformative impact on my life, because he is the ultimate living evidence of self made in Africa success story. While the money was extremely helpful, I have benefited more from Chairman Tony’s continued support and advice. I look forward to developing both our personal and professional relationship.”

IST now has eight employees and 20 subcontractors and is looking to quickly establish a solid African footprint that will eventually reach his home country. “In October 2015, we won an $80 million concession to provide 20 MW of solar energy for the Government of [the Republic of]] Benin. As part of this agreement, we are building youth training facilities and will be inviting 4 engineers from Benin between the ages of 18-35 to Pittsburgh where we will train them on our technology and therefore making them into Master Engineers. Then they will be charged with building the professional capacity of engineers in Benin.”

“We have [also] recently reached an MoU to do a pilot with Akon’s Lighting Africa initiative and under those terms will be deploying our innovation to 15 countries within the next 2 years.”

IST claims to be the only solar technology providers designing solutions tailored for Africa in line with its goal to provide cheap, reliable electricity and internet connectivity to entrepreneurs in other sectors, providing them with the infrastructure they need to build global level businesses.

In all of this, Guerengomba’s humility shines through and he attributes his success to being part of the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme, stressing that: “I have the credibility to do this thanks to being part of the Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurship Programme.”

“The TEF Entrepreneurship Programme to me is …the birthplace of the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Thomas Edisons, JP Morgans, Henry Fords of Africa… The programme is led by one of the most charismatic, very accessible global visionary man, who not only knows our story but has surpassed all expectations, beat every odd and redefined in what it means to be a successful African businessman.”

The post The Boy from Bangui & His Romance with the TEF Entrepreneurship Programme appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Winning Wednesday with Nassima Hofra

Joshua Praise — Wed, 24 Aug 2016 12:40:38 +0000

It’s Winning Wednesday again and this week, we caught up with Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur, Nassima Hofra from Algeria. Nassima is the CEO of Tepropack, a company that manufactures plastic packaging, designed for household detergents and auto maintenance products. Nassima, just like her fellow Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs, attended the TEF Forum in 2015 where she made key connections for her business and is still practising all she learnt during the intense 12 weeks of training.

Meet Nassima

TEF: Tell us how you got the idea for Tepropack?

Nassima Hofra: I had worked in a family business where I wanted to create my own and develop a different product because the plastics industry is very huge in Algeria and variety of product were needed. So I thought to myself, why not start a business?

TEF: What was your mission from the outset?

NH: My mission was to create my own business and manage it well enough that I involve all staff; all 9 of them in the development of the company and ensure that the company helps training by the practice of crafts such as plumbing, welding, electricity, turning and milling. Overall, my mission is to run a successful company and also a place of learning and personal development

TEF: How does your company help your community?
NH: For Tepropack, our focus is to empower people in the workforce, help employees to develop themselves for a better life by becoming a better serving individuals in their various careers and the community at large. We believe in the empowerment in the work place.

TEF: What was the feeling like when you were selected to participate in the TEF Entrepreneurship programme?
NH: Wow! I felt lucky to participate, and still feel very proud to be part of such a wonderful community. I learnt a lot of from other Africans at the TEF Forum where I made some friends, as well as during the Mentor Learning programme.
The programme opened my eyes to Africa’s potential in developing enterprises and the opportunities that can make a better living for our families, continent and the world at large.

The post Winning Wednesday with Nassima Hofra appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Winning Wednesday with Nassima Hofra

Joshua Praise — Mon, 08 Aug 2016 15:59:03 +0000

It’s Winning Wednesday again and this week, we caught up with Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur, Nassima Hofra from Algeria. Nassima is the CEO of Tepropack, a company that manufactures plastic packaging, designed for household detergents and auto maintenance products. Nassima, just like her fellow Tony Elumelu Entrepreneurs, attended the Bootcamp in 2015 where she made key connections for her business and is still practising all she learnt during the intense 12 weeks of training.

Meet Nassima

TEF: What was the feeling like when you were selected to participate in the TEF Entrepreneurship programme?
NH: Wow! I felt lucky to participate, and still feel very proud to be part of such a wonderful community. I learnt a lot of from other Africans at the Bootcamp where I made some friends, as well as during the Mentor Learning programme.
The programme opened my eyes to Africa’s potential in developing enterprises and the opportunities that can make a better living for our families, continent and the world at large.

The post Winning Wednesday with Nassima Hofra appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Winning Wednesday with Gabino Guerengomba

Joshua Praise — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 11:44:04 +0000

Our entrepreneur, Gabino Guerengomba’s revolutionary solar module was first released after the TEF Forum on September 18th 2015 at the Pennsylvania smart Infrastructure collaboration center. The success there was so tremendous that his business was convened to the country of Benin for a Energy and Infrastructure trade mission.

He has as a result signed a USD 80 Million MOU to provide Electricity to 10 rural areas in Benin.

In his words, “We are on pace to become the very 1st start up to generate USD $100 Million in revenue.”

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