Based in Ethiopia, Bethelhem’s company, Zafree makes pulp, paper and paper products 100% free from trees by using agricultural waste as an input instead of wood. The company operates in two African countries, Ethiopia and Zambia, following a Pan-African Business model aiming to duplicate Zafree in different African countries.

In 2019, Bethelhem was among the 2,100 African entrepreneurs selected to benefit from the TEF-UNDP Entrepreneurship Programme, where she received $5,000 seed capital, mentorship and the TEF business training on entrepreneurship. She has also been financed by the Development Bank of Ethiopia which enabled her to procure land in Debre Berhan’s industrial park for her soon to be built factory specially purposed for her innovative business process.

Her company deals directly with over 8,000 smallholder farmers, with customers across the continent.

Read More Stories from our TEF beneficiaries

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While the world awaits the COVID-19 vaccine, Marie-Christina Kolo from Madagascar has developed a COVID-19 solution that is proactively saving lives in her community. She was recently approached for collaboration by the Ministry of Sanitation and Water in Madagascar.

The project aims to overcome the lack of drinking water faced by the people of Madagascar and help the poorest who do not have the access to water, soap, and hydro-alcoholic solutions (sanitisers).

“With the coronavirus, washing your hands with soap has become a necessity, but it is not accessible to everyone. We have therefore imagined a soap based on used edible oil, the main source of water pollution in the Malagasy capital Antananarivo,” Marie-Christina Kolo said.

To produce Alt.soap, Marie and her team collect and treat used cooking oil from canteens and restaurants with non-chemical products and then pass it into a centrifuge, where it is mixed with soda.

The post Marie Christina Kolo’s “Alt. Soap” is Helping the Poor in Madagascar Win the Fight Against COVID-19 appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

With the rising cases on the Covid19 crisis, maternal care becomes critical at this time.

HelpMum, a social enterprise with the mission to reduce maternal and infant mortality in Nigeria has embarked on a response plan to the pandemic.

Dr. Adereni Abiodun is the Founder and CEO at HelpMum and a TEF Alumnus 2017.

HelpMum has begun the distribution of 10,000 face masks to nurses and traditional birth attendants in primary health centres and rural areas, as well as pregnant women and nursing mothers in underserved communities. The HelpMum face mask will also be included in the HelpMum clean birth kits to protect nurses, traditional birth attendants and community health workers to ensure safe and hygienic delivery in rural and underserved areas during the pandemic.

“We are also providing health tips to pregnant women, nursing mothers and Traditional birth attendant in remote areas on WHO-recommended precautions on how they can stay safe during this pandemic season,” Dr Abiodun adds.

“At HelpMum, we will not relent,” she continues, “we will keep trying our best in helping to stop the spread of this virus. Please stay safe and follow all necessary precautions.”

You can visit the Helpmum via their website at www.helpmum.org or on Instagram and Twitter @HelpMum_ng.

The post Dr. Adereni Abiodun’s HelpMum Donates 10,000 Face Masks to mitigate the spread of COVID19 in Rural Areas appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Mohammed Akamara is Sierra Leonian. His country like many countries in the developing world is home to some of the poorest people in the world. Water and other basic amenities are scarce in these poor neighbourhoods. The outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic brought a major challenge for such communities and this got Akamara thinking. He came up with ‘automatic’ taps that help small communities avoid contact while washing hands.

Akamara came up with this because one of the precautions of avoiding the spread of the virus is in not touching surfaces.

“We have been faced with the dilemma of touching the tap while washing our hands. It is one of the many easy ways the COVID-19 virus can be transmitted,” he said in an interview published on the Tony Elumelu Foundation website.

Akamara, a Tony Elumelu Foundation Alumnus, comes up with a device that uses locally available and recyclable materials. His company, Light Salone Innovation, has built the Lili Tap to help Africans with a safer and unique hand-washing system.

The device is done in such a way that the tap is opened and closed with a foot working down a lever system. The tap has been endorsed by the Sierra Leonian government. It is being rolled out in communities, homes, offices, business places, markets, and schools.

Akamara is not alone in helping create solutions to the pandemic. In Nigeria’s next-door neighbour, the Niger Republic, access to emergency units and correct information is a challenge. This is true for the whole of Africa. This challenge spurred Hamadou Daouda, a Niger-based entrepreneur and beneficiary of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, to create a solution. With it, communities can connect with relevant information.

In March, a free service which allows the people in Niger to call and get information on COVID-19 in the five official languages. So far, the service has provided answers to over 4,000 telephone enquiries from all over Niger. The Ministry of Health in Niger has approved it. Daouda’s company, Novatech, is shopping for partners to expand its reach and drive awareness to curb coronavirus.

Daouda’s innovation resonates with the plan of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) to provide vital information for people via their phones on COVID-19.

WHO, in a statement on Monday, said three UN agencies had set to work with telecommunication companies to text people directly on their mobile phones with vital health messaging to help protect them from COVID-19.

“These text messages will reach billions of people that aren’t able to connect to the internet for information.

“Now more than ever, technology must ensure that everyone can access the information they need; the collaboration will start in the Asia Pacific region and then roll out globally.

“The goal is to reach everyone with vital health messages, whatever their connectivity level.

“An estimated 3.6 billion people remain offline, with most people who are unconnected living in low-income countries, where an average of just two out of every ten people are online.’’

ITU and WHO are urging all telecommunication companies worldwide to join this initiative to help unleash the power of communication technology to save lives from COVID-19.

This initiative builds on current efforts to disseminate health messages through the joint WHO-ITU BeHealthy BeMobile initiative.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is the first pandemic in human history where technology and social media are being used on a massive scale to keep people safe, productive and connected while being physically apart.

Health workers are utilising telemedicine to diagnose patients and hospitals rely on being connected to coordinate and triage them.

Resilient and trustworthy telecommunication networks and services are essential, as more countries, companies and individuals turn to digital technologies to respond to and cope with the impact of COVID-19.

Building on their longstanding collaboration, ITU and WHO are committed to identifying and scaling best evidence-based digital health solutions and to leveraging frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence and big data to diagnose, contain and predict outbreaks better and faster.

Testing is another challenge in managing the pandemic and this is where a Nigerian, Chidi Ohammah, who is the CEO of Sevenz Healthcare, has come in. His invention is an answer to the lockdown implemented across Africa and the world. The Tony Elumelu Foundation beneficiary has devised a way for people to get tested from their homes.

“With KompleteCare’s team of over 15,000 doctors and technology, individuals can easily check for symptoms of COVID-19, undergo a health check and make better decisions about their well-being.

“KompleteCare also provides real-time data to government agencies for contact tracing and data accuracy.

“KompleteCare is looking for funding and partners to give more Nigerians access to quality healthcare straight from their devices,” said the foundation on its website.

There is also Nadiatu Ali, a Ghanaian entrepreneur. His enterprise is focused on producing sanitiser gels and donating face masks to people in his community.

He said: “As the need has arisen for lots of medical and personal aids, my business has started producing hand sanitiser gel and hand-rubbing alcohol which we are producing and selling within my region, Northern Ghana.

“We will start production on Monday to supply freely to our community as per our social responsibility. We are however in need of support for materials and sewing machines to engage more young people who will provide free labour in the production process.”

For Cabo Verdean Erico Pinheiro Fortes, who founded PrimeBotics, his goal was to develop versatile drones that deliver customised technological solutions to farmers, governments and non-governmental institutions related to agriculture in Africa and around the world.?

Erico and his partner are refocusing PrimeBotics with new solutions to mitigate the spread of COVID19 in Cabo Verde.

“Their idea is to use their drones to disinfect streets, deliver medical & non-medical supplies, and produce 3D-printed face shields for hospitals.

“With PrimeBotics’s current production capacity of 20-30 face shields a day, he seeks partners to upscale his impact in Cabo Verde,” said the Foundation.

Source: The Nation
Writer: ROBERT EGBE

The post Coronavirus inventors appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

She shared 3 important key points to ensure business growth across Africa.

• There is hope for startups and the opportunity to rewrite history if startups think out of the box this period.⁣

• TEF is supporting entrepreneurs with business training and initiatives to support startups after coronavirus.⁣

• ⁣Public and private sectors must collaborate to create the infrastructure for business growth

Press PLAY to listen to the full discussion.

The post There is Still Hope for African Startups in This Global COVID-19 Pandemic appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

This entrepreneur, a Tony Elumelu Foundation Alumnus, Mohammed Akamara, from Sierra Leone is solving this major problem.

Using locally available and recyclable materials, and through his business, Light Salone Innovation, he has built the Lili Tap to help Africans in Sierra-Leone with a safer and unique handwashing system for small communities.

His concept design which involves opening and closing the tap with a foot working down a lever system, has been endorsed by the government of Sierra-Leone and is currently being rolled out in communities, homes, offices, business places, markets, and schools.

Watch how it works.

The post Mohammed Akamara’s Innovation, Lili Tap, Helps Small Communities Avoid Contact When Washing Hands appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.

Nadiatu Ali, a Ghanaian entrepreneur shared the story of how his enterprise is focused on producing sanitizer gels and donating face masks to people in his community.

“As the need has arisen for lots of medical and personal aids, my business has started producing hand sanitizer gel and hand-rubbing alcohol which we are producing and selling within my region, Northern Ghana,” he said.

“We will start production on Monday to supply freely to our community as per our social responsibility. We are however in need of support for materials and sewing machines to engage more young people who will provide free labour in the production process.”

Nadiatu Ali has applied to several Programmes, including this year’s Tony Elumelu Foundation Entrepreneurship Programme, and he is hopeful to be among the selected beneficiaries in 2021. His story is one of hope and resilience despite the circumstance.

The post “How I am Helping My Community Survive the Global COVID-19 Pandemic” – Nadiatu Ali appeared first on The Tony Elumelu Foundation.