Nabilah Safira
TechInAfrica – Nigerian-based startup Bennie Agro Team is developing ventilators to combat COVID-19, making it one of the global tech-innovators tackling the crisis. The company uses its social media to show the development of the machine made from the available resources.
According to Bennie Agro Team CEO Jerry Isaac Mallo, these ventilators can address challenges beyond the current pandemic and that taking the difficulties of purchasing medical equipment in African countries due to its expensiveness, made him saw the need for locally-produced equipment like ventilators.
The production has received support from the Plateau state government to create a prototype, and now a clinical test has been conducted to improve the features and performance of the equipment. Still, the company is open for more support on providing the best version of the product.
The startup is not alone in this effort as the Faculty of Engineering and Medical Sciences at the University of Benin (UNIBEN) has also announced self-made ventilators that have gone through clinical trials.
The company has also manufactured Nigeria’s first carbon fiber sports car back in November last year, and that there would be many more innovative products to come as stated by the 25-year old Nigerian inventor. It has partnered with firms, individuals, cooperatives, and investors from the agricultural industry to design customizable machines intrinsically crafted to address the farmers’ needs.
On a presidential task force on COVID-19 briefing in Tuesday, 28 April 2020, Nigeria’s Minister of Information Lai Mohammed announced the talks between President Muhammadu Buhari with the President of United States Donald Trump about the handling of the pandemic in the country, and that the talks result in the support of sending ventilators for Nigeria as Trump believes ventilators are much needed to boost its fight against the pandemic.
Source: Venturesafrica.com
