Aid in Innovation

Andrew Mwenda, of Uganda, can appreciate the global efforts that bring millions of dollars of Aid into Africa, but he describes how the Aid is designed to treat the symptoms and not address the fundamental problems. Many Governments in Africa become dependent on Aid. He believes that it is easier for African Governments to value their relationship with the Aid suppliers more than their relationship with the citizens. This relationship begins to strip the Governments of their self initiative. Mwenda describes how the only way for truly sustainable development in Africa is to design ways to create wealth. Current solutions focus on "reducing poverty". Well you can not begin to reduce poverty until you begin to create wealth. He believes that the solution is innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Ernest Madu agrees with Mwenda and sees innovation and technology as the key to development in Africa. He focuses on bringing innovation to the health care system, enabling African hospitals and treatment centers to supply world class health care at 1/8 the cost of more developed countries. He says the solution is to use wireless technology to train African doctors, create modular/movable medical equipment, and assembling all equipment in house. These small changes will drastically decrease the cost of health care. It appears the greatest impact we can have in Africa is to design products, systems or serveses that are fully sustained by local recources and local workers.