A Nigerian man called Femi Odeleye came up with a special design of a tractor intended to be used by small scale farmers. This was way back in 2007 but now the design has been turned into a real product, which is being marketed to Nigerian farmers. It is called a Tryctor. It is a three wheeled vehicle based on a motorcycle but can perform the tasks of a tractor, albeit to a small scale.
We need African solutions to African problems. The Tryctor is an example of such solutions. For too long, we have relied on products designed elsewhere to meet the conditions of those places. Some years ago, a friend of mine went to study in Canada. When he came back, he imported a Canadian vehicle whose head lamps used to go on once the engine was started. This was appropriate for Canada, where sunlight is a scarce commodity but not so appropriate for Malawi, where sunlight is always in abundance.
Taking advantage of the abundance of sunlight along the equator, engineers in Uganda have developed a solar powered bus which has been christened Kayoola. It is the first African solar powered bus. We need that kind of thinking, yes thinking outside the box to find unique products compatible with our unique environment.
For this to happen we need much collaboration among various stakeholders. Designing and building innovative gadgets is an expensive venture. Unless one is assured of support all along the way, one will be averse to attempting such a feat. The support should start at the early stages of the exercise where one should be able to access soft loans or indeed outright grants (why not?). But that does not quite sound Malawian, does it? When I last checked, the lending rates in Malawi are in excess of 40%. How scary!
Even more importantly, the inventor/designer needs to be assured of a steady market when the product is fully developed. Recently, the Ghanian Government announced that it would purchase units of the Ghanaian Kantanka vehicles, designed and assembled by a local man, the Apostle Kwadwo Safo Kantanka. At a Kantanka organised Technology exhibition in December, 2015, the Ghanaian Vice President, Kwesi Amissah Arthur had this to say: ”I am here to reiterate and emphasize that support will be provided so that we will be able to develop [at] a much higher level the work that you have started here.”
The Ghanaina opposition too pledged its support to Kantanka, promising to purchase some units from the company to use in their 2016 campaigns.
By contrast, the effort by one Malawian to try and assemble a helicopter has so far received no support from Government. Agreed, it is not a viable product at this stage but the developer needs to be supported nonetheless, in my view. The mere fact that somebody has defied the odds to attempt to build such a complex machine should be openly encouraged and supported by Government. It is on the basis of such pioneering work that countries in the East and in the West have developed a solid manufacturing industry.
Mr Felix Kambwiri, the helicopter developer, has exhausted all his financial reserves. I once called him to enquire on the progress of his work and he told me that he had not touched the aircraft for some days because de did not have any money to buy fuel. When you consider that the tank he was using at that time had the capacity of a mere two litres, this was quite pathetic. Are we, as a nation, serious about the dream to one day develop into a middle income country with an economy led by manufacturing? Sometimes I develop gooseflesh meditating on this.
Let me reiterate what I have said often, namely that if we are serious about once graduating into manufacturing, we must build a manufacturing culture. Such a culture is not native to any society on Earth. People have to do certain things to develop it. One of such things is to get interested in and support those who take the initiative to assemble something. If we ignore them, we do so at our own peril.
We have the duty to search within our communities and single out people with potential for innovation then seek ways of supporting their initiatives. At the very least we may link them up to individuals or organizations that can support them.