SPONSORED MATERIAL

Pour la version française, cliquer ici

BY KOSSI GBÊDIGA

[Cotonou, Benin—The African magazine] The outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic has been the golden opportunity for some industries, such as hand sanitizer companies, to make great sales, with some greedy vendors shamelessly practicing price gauging. For a young Beninese entrepreneur, Thiani Sègni Capo-chichi, it’s an opportunity to do good by making safety masks and hand sanitizers that he sells with marginal profit. “What will make me rich will come later in life,” this young entrepreneur tells The African.

Capo-chichi’s company, Sègni Images Service, specializes in communication, namely photography and printing. But the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused quite a scare in Benin—though the country has so far reported only two cases—has opened a new avenue to him, not to make money, but to help.

Not surprisingly, faced with the coronavirus pandemic, the population here has flocked to the pharmacies to acquire the only protection so far available besides isolation: safety masks and hand sanitizers. In no more than 48 hours, the local pharmacies ran out of these precious items. “Being young and knowing that the government cannot do everything, we felt the need to do something,” Capo-chichi tells us. He adds:

“Our primary objective is not to make money, but to help our fellow-countrymen who cannot afford the safety mask to be able to acquire it at a low cost and for multiple uses.”

Demand soared, but production ran into a snag.

Capo-chichi, a graphic designer, web developer and photographer by profession, has no sewing skills. So he obviously requested the service of a tailor, but the latter showed no interest, saying it would be too boring to sow the mask based on the design provided by Capo-chichi. Thankfully, the spouse of an associate came onboard, and the young entrepreneur hired the manpower needed to meet the soaring demand.

MEETING MASK SAFETY STANDARDS

Capo-chichi will not reveal all his business secrets—rightly so—but he tells The African his choice of material for the safety mask is one that provides the right barrier and is allergy-proofed. The mask has the adequate lining to ensure perfect filter and can be re-used multiple times, be washed and disinfected after each use.

“Having been told that this virus does not stand the heat, we advise our clients to disinfect their mask in 100-degree hot water after each use—something that is available in every home in our country.”

Capo-chichi says his choice of material meets the requirements of materials used in the health system (resistance to water, to humidity, shrinking after wash or when soaked in hot water).

He says several adjustments were necessary, down the road, to smooth out production, clientele management, and improve the product’s quality.

SAFETY OF “Protect+” HAND SANITIZER

Here as well, Sègni had to climb some mountains to acquire the ingredients needed for a safe product capable of keeping the virus away. The challenges included the local pharmacies’ reluctance to sell the necessary ingredients without a prescription, especially given the large quantities Capo-chichi needed. Our entrepreneur, however, stuck to his commitment to abide strictly by the World Health Organization’s requirements for the production of hydro-alcohol hand sanitizers. In the end, he said, breathing a sigh of relief, “everything got under control with the support of friends and others.”

Adequate packaging for the sanitizer added significantly to the production cost, but, again, Capo-chichi stresses the primary objective is not to make money, but to help fight an invisible enemy feared by everyone.

Capo-chichi takes pride in the fact that he has found a practical, local solution to a global pandemic. Quoting a Beninese proverb, he says, with a smile:

“One kills a snake with the stick one has. No need to ask the neighbor. Our stick is this product that I have named “Protect+.”

Already, our young entrepreneur is dreaming of producing enough of these guards against covid-19 to be able to export them elsewhere in Africa, if he can acquire the capital necessary to do so.