A startup in Nigeria is set to revolutionise drug delivery in Africa with the use of drones to reach local clinics and hospitals that urgently need the medication. This innovative use of drones to deliver medical supplies is a first in Nigeria and West Africa.
Inspired by Life Bank, a startup that delivers blood to hospitals that urgently need supplies, Emmanuel decided to set up his own startup, which he called Arone. It is a drone delivery company and it is building the future of personalised drone delivery systems in Africa.
Speaking on how he got the idea he had this to say
“I visited Lagos and experienced the traffic. During that time, I had the opportunity to meet the founder of Life Bank – and that was when the whole idea came about,” “Life Bank is a startup that delivers blood. They find blood banks that have blood and they connect this blood to clinics where supplies are needed urgently. I started thinking about the impact it would have if we were able to assist them by using drones to deliver blood much quicker to people that need it so desperately. So that was when the idea came.”
Ezenwere, an artificial and intelligence engineer who designs and builds software for autonomous flight at Arone, said the feedback he got from people also propelled him to start working on and developing the idea after his visit to Lagos.
“I kept getting hints and feedback from people that I should really look into this, so I felt convinced that I should do this,” he said.
Using high-tech devices, Emmanuel’s ‘Arone‘ solves major problems encountered daily with the traditional delivery system in Africa by providing fast, secure, eco-friendly and cost-effective delivery with emergency health supplies, e-commerce and food delivery as the target market.
“In Africa, medical delivery is a big problem,” Ezenwere said. “Every year, about 1,6 million Africans die from preventable causes.”
The goal of Arone, according to Ezenwere, is to solve these problems by closing the gap between rural communities and clinics and urban health care centres by providing adequate supplies of medical products such as units of blood and medicine in order to save lives.
Arone is currently made up of six team members who are working towards achieving the goals of their startup: “saving lives in Africa”.
The startup, which is currently incubating at the Roar Nigeria Hub, hopes to reach more African countries in the coming years as a way of saving more lives by delivering medical supplies where they are urgently needed.
