Africa innovates Magazine -AI4DEV - Flipbook - Page 14
AFRICA INNOVATES
DA N I E L N D I M A ( S o u t h A f r i c a )
TRAILBLAZING
TEST
KIT
WITH UNIQUE BIOLOGICS
& REAGENTS
R A P I D C OV I D - 1 9 T E S T I N G K I T
CapeBio is a multi-award winning tech start-up, more so in the
field of in applied genomics. Founded by its CEO Daniel Ndima,
it is a spin-off of the premier science research agency, the Centre
for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). CapeBio’s QPCR testing kit, which provides results in 65
minutes, is proving vital in South Africa - one of the countries worst hit by COVID-19 in Africa.
W H AT I N S P I R E D YO U TO
C R E AT E YO U R P R O D U C T ?
What inspires us as a company has always been the
fascinating world of science and our interests are mostly
about understanding how microorganisms can be used to
produce certain proteins as well as enhancing biological
processes. Moreover, how these molecules and biological
processes can be used for pharmaceuticals, diagnostics
and food technologies development.
Key indigenous resources are hallmarks of our innovation and may enable us to develop diagnostic tools to
respond to diseases outbreaks in future, both in Africa
and globally.
14 SHOWCASING AFRICAN INNOVATION
We knew that our country relies heavily on imported
diagnostic kits and other technologies used in the Life
Sciences field. We positioned our company to respond
to the need for local products – especially during a crisis
like COVID-19. Before the pandemic, we were selling our
products in both South Africa and the United States of
America – as reagents for research and development.
Before the rapid spread of the virus, we decided to use
some of our existing technologies, proprietary formulations and processes to develop a COVID-19 test kit that
can be distributed across the continent. CapeBio has now
developed a rapid COVID-19 PCR testing kit with unique
biologics and reagents developed in South Africa.
