SolarFi Cares

All countries are facing one major dilemma: whether to sacrifice economic well-being to protect as many people from the virus as possible, or to forego public health measures to save the country’s economic state. SolarFi Cares tackles both the current response to COVID-19, as well as creating a long-term plan for economic sustainability post-pandemic. Our solar-powered clinics will serve as a center for primary diagnostic and preventive care in rural areas, equipped with COVID-19 test kits, antibody testing, basic medicines, vaccinations against other preventable diseases, and delivery of health supplies, while also acting as a source of internet access for communities where it isn’t currently available. Along with the immediate medical response, the clinics will also promote long-term economic sustainability by creating local employment opportunities in healthcare and construction, as well as providing communities with educational resources through internet access all while incurring low maintenance costs for its solar-powered energy.

Nigeria’s COVID-19 case load has exceeded 15,000 with over 400 deaths. While the whole world is struggling to contain the virus, Nigeria’s overcrowded, substandard housing makes the requirement for physical distancing and having adequate sanitation virtually impossible. This is more so in the absence of an effective vaccine, poor access and availability of basic services, inadequate food and nutrition security and non-provision of social safety nets for these vulnerable families. As more nurses and doctors get infected, fewer hospitals are accepting patients. Resulting challenges of the month-long lockdown include stalled essential healthcare and social services, an increased chance of  vaccine-preventable disease outbreaks such as polio or measles, misinformation causing harm to mental and physical health, and economic decline as job opportunities are lost. With schools closed, students are falling further behind developed countries which is widening the education gap. 

Our unique solar-powered clinics will focus on primary diagnostic and preventive care equipped with COVID-19 test kits, antibody testing, basic medicines, vaccinations against other preventable diseases, and delivery of health supplies, while also acting as a source of internet access for communities without connectivity. We are tackling the COVID-19 crisis with three key components in mind:

1. Integrated health coverage via the hub – spoke model, increasing the immediate medical response capacity

2. Delivered at a low cost with a focus on sustainability, powered by solar energy with low incurring maintenance costs

3. Utilizing technology and data systems, providing Internet access to homes so communities can access accurate COVID-19 information, telemedicine systems, and continuing education for students

Our solution is aimed towards underserved communities in Nigeria, especially in the most affected regions right outside of Lagos, Abuja, and Niger Delta. These are populations that live in overcrowded, substandard housing, making physical distancing during the COVID-19 crisis impossible. About one third of the population has to leave the house just to access safe drinking water. The densities of nurses, doctors, and midwives in these areas are too low to effectively deliver essential healthcare services (around 1.95 per 1,000 people), exacerbating the pandemic. Our solution will directly improve the healthcare situation for these communities by providing a sustainable testing and treatment center. Moreover, it will alleviate some of the other consequences of the lockdown such as providing Internet access for education and telemedicine, as well as creating job opportunities in construction and healthcare. We are partnering with R&S Manor Medicare Group Ltd., who has done extensive work improving healthcare in Nigeria and has connections with several important people in multiple industries. By working closely with them to understand our target population and leveraging these connections, we will be able to effectively implement our solution. 

Our clinics will improve rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic in the near term by creating a testing and treatment space in areas that need it. People who are less inclined to receive immunizations from large hospitals now will have a safer location where they can receive vaccines, reducing the risk of other disease outbreaks. Because they allow communities Internet access, more people will be able to receive healthcare consultations using telemedicine. This will also enable communities to swiftly adapt in case of a future outbreak, by allowing education to continue from home and spreading updated, accurate public health information.

We are taking a unique approach to fight different aspects of the pandemic’s resulting challenges, with solar energy being the thread that connects them all. None of our competitors have the partners and resources available to implement this solution. There are several existing companies that offer telemedicine such as Savemom and Medici, but their technologies first require power and Internet access that we will be able to provide. Lumos Nigeria is installing single solar panels to power testing equipment in rural Nigeria health centers. However, our innovative solar system design is able to generate much more power with adjustable angles, and prevents the panels from the huge problem of theft that Lumos does not address. Our solution is innovative in that it uses solar energy to allow for more in-person care as well as Internet access for families at home, both of which will be key factors in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.

The key technological feature of our solution is solar power. Using solar energy to generate power allows for the clinics to be completely off-grid, bringing healthcare to the most remote communities. Electricity is necessary to power numerous essential components of basic primary healthcare centers, including vaccine fridges and lab equipment. Our technology also includes Internet connectivity, which is accessed through TV whitespace. This uses old TV frequencies and rebroadcasts them for Internet, and we will be able to use repeaters to transmit connectivity through to households. Our innovative technology selection has been done keeping in mind the rural communities we are designing for, in order to best serve their needs. 

Solar power is becoming increasingly popular and affordable all over the world, and is being used in everything from generating electricity to heating water. It is the cleanest and most abundant renewable energy source available- it can’t run out and using it is much more environmentally friendly than fossil fuels. Our technology of using TV whitespace to broadcast Internet has been proven by Microsoft: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=89&v=DgD9aOrVK5g&feature=emb_title

Solar power is becoming more affordable, and regions endowed with renewable energy sources like solar are placed to leverage a decentralized, off-grid approach to energy access. Off-grid mobile clinics are increasingly playing an important role in maximizing reach to remote communities while lowering cost barriers of healthcare access. According to a WHO study covering over 4,000 clinics and hospitals, about one in four health facilities in 11 countries in sub-Saharan Africa had no access to electricity in 2013, and most facilities with access had an unreliable supply. Diesel generators have traditionally powered off-grid facilities and also served as back-up power sources in grid connected health facilities. But these struggle with both high fuel costs and unreliable fuel delivery. Using solar energy to power our clinics overcomes this issue. By providing communities access to the Internet, we will be bringing connectivity between individuals and the world at a time when they need it the most. The immediate impacts of our project include improving testing capabilities and medical supply delivery, families accessing telemedicine support on tablets for physical and mental health while social distancing, sustained education through Internet access for children and adolescents at home, and improved social behavioral practices for COVID-19 in Internet-enabled households in the targeted communities. In the long term, an important effect will be economic sustainability through increased employment opportunities in solar panel installation and maintenance, while panels themselves incur low costs. Other impacts include educated younger generations that are capable of contributing to the country’s development as well as empowered healthcare worker communities that are experienced and prepared for future epidemics. Providing access to the Internet closes the digital divide in developing communities- an important factor for promoting sustainable development.

We expect each clinic to serve at least 30,000 people in Nigerian communities. This is both through providing healthcare services at the clinic and Internet connectivity in households. In one year, we hope to implement at least 10 clinics across Nigeria, serving around 300,000 people. In five years the goal is to scale across borders with the project’s proven success, reaching over 1 million people in rural areas. 

Our goal for the next year is to implement solar-powered clinics with medical equipment and supplies, hire healthcare workers, and educate the public about public health measures in rural areas in Nigeria. At the same time, we will also set up Internet connectivity using TV whitespace and repeaters and deliver tablets to households in these communities to encourage development while social distancing. In the next five years with sufficient resources we will scale in different areas:

Geographic – expansion in the areas of coverage to other LGAs and across states, this will not be our last pandemic. We will scale the virology lab for testing for HIV, Malaria, and TB, engaging governments to have the clinic be mobile and sign a 3 year contract to provide these services to IDP’s and rural constituents 

Financial – with the added foot traffic we will sell more services through partnerships with FlourMill, and Coca-cola as anchor tenants. USAID, and DFID may also provide additional funding and sponsorship as we scale. 

Administrative/political – advocate and mobilize governments and all partners in the social sector to adopt and use the approach or model nationally. We have a strong advisory team connected  to the government, REF, Power Africa, and UN agencies that we will leverage to scale. 

Disaster relief agencies  - we will secure contracts with disaster relief agencies i.e. NEMA (Nigeria Emergency Management Agency , and FEMA.  The vision is to have several of these clinics in stock ready for the next disaster.

Our main limitation at the moment is financial. Insufficient funds would be a barrier to completing the construction of the clinic and implementing Internet connectivity due to low technical and human resources. On the other side, if we are successful in obtaining several grants and other funds, we can scale up the project and implement clinics in multiple areas, impacting more lives and tackling the spread of the virus. Another important note is that since the COVID-19 situation is so fluid, it is possible that additional lockdown and travel restrictions will make construction difficult. However, we are prepared to adapt to the situation in any way we need to as we have done so since March. 

To obtain the necessary monetary resources, we are applying to 5-7 funding competitions and grants every week. We have already secured equipment donation partnerships to reduce our costs, and have also made it to the second round for a few funding competitions which showcases our potential. To address the COVID-19 travel restrictions, we are very well connected with partners in Nigeria who will be able to coordinate project implementation in case we can’t be on-site.

3 full-time

2 part-time

Our team is uniquely qualified to solve this problem is we have two of the best government people in Jerry Shaye who was educated at Columbia and Dartmouth and was a former Director of International trade at New York State and Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah a former Ambassador of Ghana to the USA, An account director with Hill and Knowlton (A top-five PR firm) and board member of former telecommunications companies. Amera Stacy comes from Sinclair Broadcasting where she has a deep understanding of media, sales, and marketing. She was the digital sales manager. Antonio Dixon was the number #1 sales rep for one of the largest medical device companies. Our engineers Jean Lam and Dr. Manoj Shah are building the technology. Dr. Shah has over 100 patents to his name and worked for GE for 34 years and met the SolarFi team when they partnered with RPI engineering school contacts in New York, London, Kenya, and Ghana.  We have assembled a team of legal and financial advisors to advise the company.

We are currently partnering with the following for our solution:

- The University of Massachusetts, engineering services

- Thompson Reuters Foundation, Legal

- Henry Schein, medical supplies

- Microsoft, Microsoft Insider's Lab, training, IoT/AI Lab, capacity building, 

- Harvard Center for African Studies, Human Capital

Each SolarFi clinic will generate $775 a month. SolarFi’s beneficiaries are underserved communities in Nigeria, especially in the most affected regions of Lagos, Abuja, and Niger Delta. These are populations that live in overcrowded, substandard housing, making physical distancing during the COVID-19 crisis impossible. Because SolarFi clinics allow communities to access the Internet, more people will be able to receive healthcare consultations using telemedicine and public health information and education, strengthening health systems across the country. The clinics will be run and staffed by local healthcare workers, and as a business they will save energy costs because the clinics are entirely solar powered. Healthcare services will be offered at a subsidized cost based on what patients can afford to pay. Revenue will also be generated from the clinics through the sales of food and drink products, through partnerships with FlourMill and Coca-Cola. The medical staff will be paid through the local and federal government, as well as from patient spending. Because we are using TV whitespace technology to deliver Internet, this will be provided for free and with no incurring costs.

Leveraging our existing know-how of bringing other solar solutions to life, we have a multi-stakeholder plan. We have designed our project with two leading engineering universities.  Furthermore, we are working with leading experts in the Internet of things, and electrical engineering, as well as a former Chief of Health at UNICEF (The United Nations Children's Education Fund). Our plan is to have two founding sponsorship partners: Facebook, and J&J for $1mm each over two years to provide visibility and communications. This will break down to $100,000 per clinic. Our goal is to run to have the biggest impact. If we can impact 3,000,000 people throughout rural regions in the US, we will have several DFI’s and corporate sponsors that want to be part of this mission. We will create a controlled internet portal that will provide free internet, access to health and education. With this in mind, we can generate more revenue and provide accurate information to constituents. Currently, there is a lot of misinformation. Large companies such as Google, NRG, Microsoft, and GSK have committed billions to fighting COVID. This presents a huge opportunity for us to tap into ad revenue/donor funding. The company can invest $20K as a match to launch project in Nigeria. Advertising revenue will be generated from controlled internet portal, branding of the solar-powered clinic, and advertising through the telemedicine software. We cannot make financial predictions without engaging the community. Additional revenue streams will be from donors, programming, sales of FMCG products, branding, and pharmacy. 

Solve’s goals align with ours because we want to focus on bringing technology-based solutions to solving pressing global issues that can impact millions, and ultimately disrupt the systems that allow poverty to exist. We believe that being selected to participate in Solve will give us the guidance we need to successfully launch and scale our project, by refining our business model, marketing campaign, and giving us new technological insights that could boost our project. The Solve community has the talent and resources we need to accelerate our impact. Beyond Solve, the potential to partner with other labs and faculty at MIT who have similar missions would greatly benefit us, and without Solve it would be hard to access these connections. 

We are still working on refining our business model, and the Solve community's experts could help give us insights on what kinds of approaches we can take. For our solution's technology, we are always looking for new partners who could help advance our concept or provide specific technologies that could allow our solution to have an even greater impact. We know that any good business needs a strong marketing campaign, and believe that partners with expertise in this area could help us reach a broader audience and give us the exposure we need to improve and implement our concept.

The MIT D-LAB would be a great resource for us, since they have collaborated on numerous projects that have helped build capacity in poverty-stricken communities around the world. Their expertise would help us identify how we can engage local innovators and engineers to maintain the sustainability and long-term impact of our project. Additionally, Solve member Johnson & Johnson is a global leader in healthcare and their guidance on vaccine promotion and medical devices would be greatly beneficial to our project development. Other organizations that we are interested in partnering with include:

• The Rockefeller Foundation

• The World Bank

• The Gates Foundation

• Amazon

All of these organizations have a mission to reduce poverty. We would tap into their connections for advice, funding sources, contacts with other foundation executives, governmental representatives in developing African countries in which we do not yet have these contacts.

The project targets the youth and women in rural areas in Africa that are economically productive and eager to learn. This is effective for the success of the project and social development. Women face most of the burden resulting from poor economic development so to solve such problems they are willing to take part in economic activities. We are serving people in rural areas of Africa with a focus on women and youth. We have worked with several focus groups at the UNDP, USAID Power Africa, OXFAM, Save the Children, Women's groups, CRS, as well as national and  local governments.  Solar-Fi will resolve the universal need for connectivity in rural Africa as well as providing educational videos stressing sectors such as maternal and infant health, agricultural best practices and even literacy classes. The project extends free education in rural areas thus reducing illiteracy levels. When the children in rural areas are educated there are high chances for them to get jobs in different organizations. They are also equipped with skills to create and manage their own businesses thus reducing on unemployment levels. 

According to the WHO, “Over the last nine years the Boko-Haram insurgency in north-eastern Nigeria has caused a humanitarian emergency, with estimated 7.7 million people in need of support including health services. The insurgency has created a situation that has led to significant displacement of people thereby resulting in significant psychological suffering of the affected population. In addition to the impact of the displacement and the weakened health delivery system on the health; gross atrocities such as abduction, suicide bombings and killings are also expected to have a negative effect on mental health.”

Our solution will benefit refugees in these regions by providing a space where they can receive medical attention without facing discrimination like in large hospital settings. Additionally, providing Internet access will allow them to access mental health resources from home and stay connected with family and friends. They will also be able to connect to online educational resources, where they can learn entrepreneurship skills to be able to sustain themselves financially and build capacity within their families. 

Expected outcomes include:

1.     Internet access for healthcare, mental health, and education

2.     Opportunities for economic growth

3.     Financial inclusion

4.     Self-reliant communities independent from aid