Promoting Impact Tech | Spotlight on Kyaro Assistive Innovation
Kyaro Assistive, a Tanzanian organization, specializes in the design and production of assistive devices. In 2018, the organization began as a project under the Jamii program at the Twende Center for Social Innovation. The co-founders, including Mr. Colman, collaborated to create the first version of the multipurpose wheelchair for the Jaffery Academy Special Education Needs unit in Arusha. After the program, Colman continued to work on the development of the multipurpose wheelchair and distributed five chairs to different villages in Tanzania to gather feedback. During this process, he realized that there was a significant need for other types of assistive devices in addition to wheelchairs. He spoke with families and revised the design to meet the needs of the community. Today, Kyaro Assistive is dedicated to developing innovative and affordable assistive devices to improve the quality of life for people with disabilities in Tanzania and beyond.
The Inspiration
Mr. Colman Ndetembea, a mechatronics engineer and the founder of Kyaro Assistive Tech, shares that the whole project started while he was in college. He explains that his passion for contributing to community changes and transformation fueled the organization’s growth today. He shares that as they were working on the project, they realized that most people living with disabilities have challenges accessing some of their systems together than fundamental rights like therapy and mobility, and economic opportunities. He explains that the goal to advance into more than a project was to locally design and manufacture assistive devices considering affordability, appropriateness in terms of design and customizations to users’ unique needs and the environment they live in, and most importantly to make appealing devices by designing devices that will give user comfortability when they use them in public. “When we started, it was all about designing wheelchairs, but as we poured our efforts into transforming lives and making an impact, we have been receiving a handful of requests from different people, and up until now, we have a catalog of ten (10) different products expertise and experiences with implementing the software in Tanzania. Despite not having external investors, Aakva Tech has worked closely with partners around the world who have provided support to make their solution useful for their customers.” Explains Colman.
COSTECH opening doors
Colman explains that the prototype products they made were funded by the Innovation Center, where they did their project. He explains that they took part in COSTECH’s open call and were lucky enough to receive some good funds in their next step of finetuning and testing the products. “This was a turning point to us as it propelled us and helped us make a firm stand on the ground towards a bigger goal,” explains Colman.
Colman explains that through different technological exhibitions, including the MAKISATU, they were able to get more funding for the idea. During this time, they set up a workshop and manufactured their ‘ready for use’ devices. “Through a combination of granters that have been chipping in and the sales that we have done so far, I can say it has been a blessing to us towards making the impact we were looking for, and we are committing our top skills to make that this is a real thing and makes the real impact as intended.” He added.
The business Process
Colman shares that they are working with a multitude of people, and the spectrum of their clients is broad. He explains that it includes people with disabilities and those close to them taking care of them, schools, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, and NGOs with clients or people they need to attend to. He elaborates that they usually work on per-order processing services where the process, especially to individuals, has three stages; first, a person makes a call for order placement; second, they send a member of their team who will visit the client for need assessment including understanding the physical state of the client, the features that they might need and taking the measurements, and finally is the production, testing and delivering the product to the client.
“To ensure that the device delivered carries the need as assessed, we have our specialties deliver them. There they can make adjustments, provide knowledge on best use, and take care of the device.” Explains Colman. Colman shares that the follow-up after that is the most crucial part of the process since people grow and change but also devices wither, so they do follow up every after six and twelve months to see whether there is a necessary adjustment needed for the devices and to make sure that the client is comfortable using the device.
Competitive Advantage
Colman explains that since it is not a populated field, it has been a challenge for people to access assistive devices as most of them are imported and only a few, which of course, are expensive and custom-made to fit the needs of a specific user. “The advantage that we have is as we are closer to users themselves, we can make devices that are user-tailored and can fit in different areas despite the physical characteristics of the areas where they are used. We strive to make sure that we make the devices that fit users’ needs.” Elaborates Colman. Colman further adds that since they use locally available materials, it is easier for them to contact a mechanic for repairs since most are familiar with the materials used. Colman also shares that they feel like they offer a lifetime service as the whole process involves users themselves; thus, it makes it easier for the adjustments and repairs where necessary. “The best part is that this is not a one-part business; once we dispatch a product to the user, we make sure that they are comfortable using the device, and we are always there to ensure that things work well.” He added.
He further explains how the experience of working with other actors has been. Colman explains that the experience working with different organizations in the field has been insightful. He shares that they worked with CCBRT during their initial phases and TMDA as devices are part of medical solutions; thus, they had to ensure that they complied with the necessary terms before they took their product to the market.
Achievements and Challenges
Colman and his team have faced a minor challenge in achieving their goal due to the availability of raw materials. They have found that the market has multiple producers of the materials they require for their workshop. As a result, they have experienced instances where some materials do not match, with differences sometimes being a few millimeters. However, Colman notes that such differences have had a minimal impact on their work and have not affected the entire production process.
Despite these challenges, Colman is proud of his team’s achievements in setting up and operating the workshop to produce their devices. He considers this to be their most significant accomplishment to date. He credits his team’s commitment and hard work for bringing them this far and expresses pride in their accomplishments. The team’s dedication and perseverance have enabled them to achieve their goals and establish their workshop as a successful venture.
Enhancing operations and the Long-term goal
Colman explained that three things are vital to enhancing their operations. First is increasing awareness of the product’s availability, where to find them, and their features or qualities since many people need assistive devices but need help knowing where to get them. Secondly, he is looking forward to having a larger facility that will enable them to produce more devices, as sometimes it takes time to make a larger batch since their workshop can take little. Thirdly, is to have a chance to explore more advanced technologies; since some of the devices are manually operated, we would like to design semi-automated devices which will be durable and allow people flexibility.
He adds that he is looking forward to inspiring more suppliers to join the market and be able to manufacture a handful of assistive devices that will help people live to their potential. “Be it mobility, therapy, communication, or any device people might need to maximize their potential, we have to make available here in Tanzania.” Says Colman. “We want people to not think o where they can get the devices as they will be available, and rather we want them to think of what kind of the device they need as there will be enough room for customization.” He added.
Final Thoughts
Colman and his team have faced a minor challenge in achieving their goal due to the availability of raw materials. They have found that the market has multiple producers of the materials they require for their workshop. As a result, they have experienced instances where some materials do not match, with differences sometimes being a few millimeters. However, Colman notes that such differences have had a minimal impact on their work and have not affected the entire production process.
Despite these challenges, Colman is proud of his team’s achievements in setting up and operating the workshop to produce their devices. He considers this to be their most significant accomplishment to date. He credits his team’s commitment and hard work for bringing them this far and expresses pride in their accomplishments. The team’s dedication and perseverance have enabled them to achieve their goals and establish their workshop as a successful venture.
To read more about our reports featuring Startups in Tanzania https://bit.ly/ImpactTechTZ2021-Report and http://bit.ly/TECHTZ2022