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WorldChanging: Tools, Models and Ideas for Building a Bright Green Future: African-Made, Solar-Powered Hearing Aid
The SolarAid is a hearing aid designed and built by Godisa Technologies, a Botswana company founded to make low-cost hearing aids for the developing world. The SolarAid system combines a small hearing aid and a lightweight solar charger; Godisa developed the first No. 13 rechargeable button battery for the system. Godisa is Africa's only hearing aid manufacturer, and the only one in the world making hearing aids specifically for the sub-Saharan Africa environment.
The SolarAid, including the solar charger and an extra pair of batteries, sells for less than $100, and is built to last at least two to three years. But, as low cost as that is, Godisa wants to do even better: they want to make the design free to everyone -- essentially, to go open source -- if the Botswana government will let them.
Developed in Botswana with advisory support from World University Service of Canada, nearly 4,000 SolarAids have been sold in more than 30 countries.
In Brazil, Jordan and Pakistan, non-profit organizations are looking to develop their own versions of the SolarAid and have asked for Godisa's help in providing low-cost hearing aids for their workers.
Flying in the face of all sound business models, Godisa intends to transfer all its technologies for free. [...]
Besides teaching future Godisa staff, the technicians will also travel overseas to help replicate SolarAid's success at the new facilities to be set up in South America, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.
Godisa had no plans to patent the hearing aid and charger, intending to make the technology widely available and free to anyone. But the Botswana government wants to protect the innovation.
Explains Godisa general manager Modesta Nyirenda: "Because this is a 100 per cent Botswana product, the government would like to see it patented. This has to do with pride more than anything else."
Godisa is now seeking donations to be able to offer the hearing aids to African children for free.
A quarter of a billion people around the world are hearing impaired, but cannot afford a hearing aid. They aren't just in the developing world -- according to Uniterra, a Canadian organization coordinating volunteer efforts to help developing nations meet the Millennium Development Goals -- two-thirds of deaf people unable to afford hearing aids are in industrialized countries. The biggest problem: being able to afford replacement batteries.
Moreover, Godisa is as interested in the empowerment of the deaf as they are in regional economic development. Of Godisa's 14 employees, 10 are either deaf or physically disabled -- and they're the only hearing aid company in the world to involve deaf employees in the manufacturing process.
The SolarAid is a hearing aid designed and built by Godisa Technologies, a Botswana company founded to make low-cost hearing aids for the developing world. The SolarAid system combines a small hearing aid and a lightweight solar charger; Godisa developed the first No. 13 rechargeable button battery for the system. Godisa is Africa's only hearing aid manufacturer, and the only one in the world making hearing aids specifically for the sub-Saharan Africa environment.
The SolarAid, including the solar charger and an extra pair of batteries, sells for less than $100, and is built to last at least two to three years. But, as low cost as that is, Godisa wants to do even better: they want to make the design free to everyone -- essentially, to go open source -- if the Botswana government will let them.
Developed in Botswana with advisory support from World University Service of Canada, nearly 4,000 SolarAids have been sold in more than 30 countries.
In Brazil, Jordan and Pakistan, non-profit organizations are looking to develop their own versions of the SolarAid and have asked for Godisa's help in providing low-cost hearing aids for their workers.
Flying in the face of all sound business models, Godisa intends to transfer all its technologies for free. [...]
Besides teaching future Godisa staff, the technicians will also travel overseas to help replicate SolarAid's success at the new facilities to be set up in South America, the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent.
Godisa had no plans to patent the hearing aid and charger, intending to make the technology widely available and free to anyone. But the Botswana government wants to protect the innovation.
Explains Godisa general manager Modesta Nyirenda: "Because this is a 100 per cent Botswana product, the government would like to see it patented. This has to do with pride more than anything else."
Godisa is now seeking donations to be able to offer the hearing aids to African children for free.
A quarter of a billion people around the world are hearing impaired, but cannot afford a hearing aid. They aren't just in the developing world -- according to Uniterra, a Canadian organization coordinating volunteer efforts to help developing nations meet the Millennium Development Goals -- two-thirds of deaf people unable to afford hearing aids are in industrialized countries. The biggest problem: being able to afford replacement batteries.
Moreover, Godisa is as interested in the empowerment of the deaf as they are in regional economic development. Of Godisa's 14 employees, 10 are either deaf or physically disabled -- and they're the only hearing aid company in the world to involve deaf employees in the manufacturing process.
