Deaftronics, a Botswana-based company developed the first solar-powered hearing aid battery charger six years ago. “We came up with the solar rechargeable hearing aid when we realised that most people in Africa and in developing countries are given hearing aids by non-governmental organisations,” says Tendekayi Katsiga, the founder of Deaftronics, in a video interview with Youngpreneur Media.
“But those hearing aids are only used for a month because there is a problem with the batteries – they are not available and they are expensive.”
Tired of NGOs misdiagnosing the problem, Katsiga founded Deaftronics, a solution suitable for hearing-impaired people living in the developing world. The Deaftronics hearing aid is sold with a solar charger and four rechargeable batteries that last up to three years. The batteries can be used in 80 per cent of hearing aids on the market today.
Deaftronics enabled over 3 000 hearing impaired children to attend school and has sold more than 10 000 units in Botswana, Angola, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The company was a finalist international at the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST Tech-I) summt in Kenya in July.
The summit is hosted annually by the US Department of State to empower young innovators and give them access to the finance needed to create start-up solutions that address economic and developmental challenges. The exposure will give Deaftronics greater reach and empower more people in the developing world.
This article has been amended to say that the Global Innovation through Science and Technology (GIST Tech-I) was hosted in July. It previously stated that the summit would be hosted in late September. The article was also amended to credit the quotations to Youngpreneur Media.
