Abel Masresha is the founder and CEO of Jireh Tech, a startup company engaged in the technology sector. Abel studied Electrical and Computer Engineering at Addis Ababa University. He is an embedded technology researcher and inventor. He is honing his skills in embedded technology, AI, and related things. He is striving to create innovative solutions. By continuing his research and innovations, Abel has produced a prototype of his own designed modern electric wheelchair, named Mobwix.
Abel is among the youth innovators joining the startup businesses. These days, startups are coming up with local solutions to solve societal problems. The youth is struggling to innovate something new to solve existing problems within the society. Most innovations being undertaken by the youth generation today first identifies a real problem within the society and their innovation targets solving the existing problem.
As a result, the innovations are bringing new solutions to existing problems by saving time, energy and costs. Considering the role and contribution of startups and innovations, Ethiopia continues creating suitable environment for startups to help new innovations to join the business. Using the opportunity, startup businesses have flourished in Ethiopia in recent years. And they are innovating problem-solving products.
Abel Masresha is among the youth innovators. Abel created his own designed embedded electric Wheelchair and named it Mobwix. Approached by EPA, Abel noted that he started the idea of producing a modern wheelchair while he was in university as witnessed the suffering of his classmates living with disability in campus while using a manual wheelchair. Since then, he started the idea of producing a modern and comfortable wheelchair for physically disabled people.
As a result, his graduation paper was focused on how to make a modern wheelchair at home. Abel graduated from Addis Ababa University in Electrical and Computer Science. After graduation, Abel continued working on translating the paper he conducted for graduation into practice, to manufacture a modern electric wheelchair. To realize his dream of producing a modern electric wheelchair, Abel founded Jireh Tech which he still is the CEO. By founding the tech company, Abel continued striving to realize his vision of producing a modern wheelchair to solve the problems of physically disabled people. Before starting to produce the wheelchair, Abel conducted an assessment of the availability of modern electric wheelchair in Ethiopia and he learned that there is a huge gap in demand and supply in Ethiopia. Then, he continued working on realizing his dream.
Innovation is Abel’s childhood hobby. Abel has started innovational activities while he was attending his primary education. But, due to lack of supported ecosystem, he has been investing on inventions for some years. After he realized that the government gives special attention for technological innovations and startups in recent years, he again turned his face towards investing in innovations and other technological activities.
Similarly, Abel conducted a survey to assess the distribution of electric wheelchair in Ethiopia. According to the findings of his survey, he realized that there are imported electric wheelchairs in the market, despite few in number. In addition, he learnt that the imported electric wheelchairs are not that much suitable for Ethiopia’s infrastructural accessibility and are not that much comfortable for solving the challenges of the users. Then, he continued to invest on his idea of manufacturing a modern wheelchair that could solve the existing challenges of wheelchair users.
According to Abel, the imported electric wheelchairs are almost identical and are not comfortable to use in Ethiopia’s infrastructure. At the same time, the imported wheelchairs are expensive which makes it difficult for all physically disabled people to accommodate the price. Hence, Abel’s idea is to produce comfortable electric wheelchair suitable to Ethiopia’s infrastructure and easily accessible with affordable price for all people who need it.
Citing data from sources, Abel stated that some 80 million people in Africa and some 10 million people in Ethiopia are physically disabled. According to him, from these physically disabled people, only less than one percent have the chance to use an electric wheelchair while the rest use either a manual wheelchair or a Walking stick. He added that most physically disabled people are forced to stay in their homes due to lack of wheelchairs. He added that due to the lack of comfort using the manual wheelchair and the road infrastructure that is not suitable for a wheelchair; most physically challenged people choose to stay in their homes.
Considering the limitations of the manual wheelchair and the comfort of wheelchair users, the new electric wheelchair innovated by Abel aims to solve these limitations. Abel stated that Mobwix electric wheelchair was designed mainly giving due attention for the comfort of the users. The new wheelchair, as to him, is foldable, easy and portable.
The wheelchair also uses an electric chargeable battery, which makes the new wheelchair easy and comfortable for users. In addition to that, Abel noted that the new wheelchair is easy to use smoothly both on asphalt roads and cobblestone roads, and material is installed within it to protect the comfort of the users on unsuitable roads.
The wheelchair also has a wireless remote control to be used by another person when the user needs support to move the wheelchair. The remote has full information about the wheelchair, including the speed, light, and other necessary data about the wheelchair. To make the wheelchair more modern and easier to use, a mobile application is also integrated into the system of the wheelchair.
The wheelchair, according to Abel, is made up of plastic, metal, and electric materials. Currently, the wheelchair is on its prototype level, still at its prototype level, the wheelchair can provide service for children up to 30 kilograms. In addition, the design of another wheelchair which has the capacity of carrying up to 120 kilograms of is already finalized. To manufacture the wheelchair, there is a need for capital to buy the necessary materials and if he finds financial support, it is possible to manufacture the wheelchair for market consumption. Currently, Abel is undertaking all the tasks through his own efforts with limited capital and if he gets budget support, he is ready to manufacture the product and create job opportunities.
Manufacturing a modern electric wheelchair at home has two advantages. Mentioning the benefits, Abel stated that the locally manufactured wheelchair would decrease the price at least by half. Similarly, when the imported electric wheelchairs break or need some maintenance, there is no professional expert to maintain or repair the imported once. But, the locally made wheelchair can be easily repaired or maintained at home as it is locally produced one. Despite most material inputs to produce the wheelchair availablity at home, currently, Abel started the process of importing some necessary inputs from abroad. In the future, he is dreaming to produce all materials necessary to produce the wheelchair at home.
According to Abel, he finalized the production of the prototype wheelchair within three months, and he started the process to secure patent right. Parallel to the activities he undertook to manufacture the product, Abel is also working on improving the features and quality of the product. Currently, he is looking for financial supports to manufacture the product by establishing a workshop. He delivers his product to the Ministry of Labor and Skills and the ministry has promised him to support his efforts, according to the innovator. By manufacturing the product in the future, Abel is dreaming of filling the local demand, and in the long run, he is eyeing to start exporting.
BY DARGIE KAHSAY
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 30 AUGUST 2024
