Karpolax

Green Nanotechnology extending the shelf life of fruits and vegetables by 33 days.

We have developed sachets that can be placed in fruit boxes during delivery or storage and they preserve fruits by releasing a formulation obtained by combining molecules that decrease the rate of ripening in fruits giving the farmer and retailer an extra shelf life of 33 DAYS.

Our product works by inhibiting phospholipase D activity. Phospholipase D is the key enzyme involved in the initiation of membrane deterioration that ultimately leads to senescence.

Our product is composed of

• Beta Cyclodextrin complex where Hexanal, Tween 20, and Ethanol are mixed in a ratio of 1:10:10 and then mixed with cyclodextrin using extruders, then dried in a vacuum and cut into pellets this is after wrapped with a nanofibre below.
• Zein solution (10 % w/w) is made by dissolving zein powder in 95 % ethanol. PEO is prepared by slowly adding 1 g of PEO into 20 g of 80 % ethanol. Electrospinning solution is prepared by blending the hexanal, zein and PEO solutions at a ratio of 1:2:5 forming a fibre that we put around the cyclodextrin.

All the molecules we use are safe and approved by USFDA independently or in combination.

30% of all food produce never reaches the market, that's pretty a high figure since the world population is increasing daily and the landmass is not. This causes losses in billions to the global economy and the small-scale holder farmers are forced to take a small profit or nothing at all sometimes.

The global economy is at stake because of the low shelf life of fruits contributing to over 3 Billion losses as a result of 12 million tonnes of fruits and 21 million tonnes of vegetables lost each year due to low shelf life.

More to that, Each year, about 1 in 7 people worldwide die from things like heart disease and strokes caused by not eating enough fruit, and about 1 in 12 people die due to the same reasons from not eating enough vegetables.

Talk about the extraordinarily hot and cold temperatures that are becoming more common as climate change accelerates and are responsible for 5 million deaths globally every year, caused by a contribution of 2.5 Gigatons of greenhouse gas emissions which could be reduced if we would increase the shelf life of fruits.

Our target market is farmers, retail shops, supermarkets, grocery stores, and fruit or vegetable consumers.

Currently, this is the shelf life of some fruits when kept on a shelf or in a store.

Apples 4 days
Avocadoes 3 days
Bananas 7 days if green, 2-4 days if ripe

With our solution, our customers will be able to have their fruits good for selling for extra 33 days!

At karpolax, we believe that time is money, so we give our customers to make money before their produce goes bad.

We have engaged potential users and offered to give them our pilot product so as to receive feedback from them. We are currently receiving feedback from 34 farmers and 15 grocery stores that are using our pilot product. With this, we have received feedback that on average, their income has improved by 35%. 

We are currently testing our solution with small-scale holder farmers in mukono district Uganda as well as grocery stores in Uganda. Currently, our pilot solution is being used by 34 farmers and 15 grocery stores.

Our business model is B2B and B2C

Our product is composed of

• Beta Cyclodextrin complex where Hexanal, Tween 20, and Ethanol are mixed in a ratio of 1:10:10 and then mixed with cyclodextrin using extruders, then dried in a vacuum and cut into pellets this is after wrapped with a nanofibre below.
• Zein solution (10 % w/w) is made by dissolving zein powder in 95 % ethanol. PEO is prepared by slowly adding 1 g of PEO into 20 g of 80 % ethanol. Electrospinning solution is prepared by blending the hexanal, zein and PEO solutions at a ratio of 1:2:5 forming a fibre that we put around the cyclodextrin.

The cyclodextrin pellets prepared are wrapped with the electrospun fibers to give us the karpolax sachet. The sachet weighs 1 gram and it can be used in a box with mangos 2-3 kg. Each sachet is able to release hexanal for over 33 days ensuring that the mangos are preserved by inhibiting phospholipase D activity. Phospholipase D is the key enzyme involved in the initiation of membrane deterioration that ultimately leads to senescence.

We plan to serve 150000 farmers in 2022 

We also plan to serve 25000 retail and grocery stores in 2022

SDG 1

Our impact goal in 2022 is to increase the income of 150000 farmers by 30%.

For small-scale farmers who on survey have an average income of $4285 every quarter, improving their income by 30% means that they will earn $5570 with an improvement of $1285. This totals $5142 in income improved per farmer.

This will be a total contribution of over $25,714,285 in total impact of our solution to 150000 farmers we plan to reach in 2022.

SDG 13

Our goal is also to reduce greenhouse emissions which are a result of food spoilage. With karpolax, we plan to save at least 10200 tons of carbon dioxide emissions by the end of 2022. We shall measure this using Life cycle assessment tools.

SDG 5

We shall offer our products at a loan financing plan to enable women farmers and vendors to extend the shelf life of their fruits and vegetables and pay later. 

We are measuring our impact based on the number of farmers using our solution and grocery stores that adapt our solution. This will help us measure the economic impact

We are measuring our climate impact based on the carbon emissions saved as a result of using our solution. For every sachet sold, we are saving on greenhouse emissions that could have resulted if the fruits rot.

We are seeking 100,000 USD to scale up our production and automate our systems.

We are also yet to incorporate our company so as to be a legal entity.

TEAM 

We have three co-founders as listed below

Namboozo Sandra - Team Leader/CEO (Female)

She is a graduate in Chemical Engineering and with great leadership, project, and resource management skills. She is both analytical and visionary with the aptitude to lead a team toward specific milestones. She is a critical thinker and an agile leader.

Musamali Maggie - Chief Technical Officer (Female)

She pursued a bachelor's degree Bio-Chemistry and she is fully committed to the company and the development of our product with in-depth knowledge of molecular biology techniques. She is able to conduct scientific experiments and analyses with accuracy and precision.

Muyita Samuel - General Manager (Male)

He pursued a bachelor's degree in environmental engineering and he is a great multiplier to our team. He is an expert in financial management with solid presentation skills and the ability to explain complex processes to an audience. 

ADVISORS

We have two advisors who are listed here below.

1. Dr.  Job Kasule

• Post Doctoral Fellow at West Virginia University

• Post Doctoral Research Associate Texas University

• Ph.D. Chemical Engineering at West Virginia University

• Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering; Clarkson University

With great experience in the integration of chemical processes into biological practicality, he has also worked on the "Techno-Economic Optimization of Process and Energy Plants with Integrated CO2 Capture & Utilization Processes.". We are glad to have him as part of our team.

2. Dr. Dan Egesa

• Ph.D. Chemical Engineering, University of Bath

• Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University

He is currently a lecturer at Makerere University, and he is a great multiplier to our team. He is greatly skilled with diverse knowledge about biochemical operations and has been a backbone to our progress.

We are currently partnering with the department of natural sciences Makerere university, and we using their laboratory space.

We are also in partnership with National Agricultural Research Organisation Uganda.

N/A

We qualify for this prize because we shall help women who are smallholder farmers to earn more from their agricultural produce. In Africa alone, 70% of all food is grown by women, yet they continue to face losses due to the low shelf life. 

More to that, women working in markets as fruit vendors have little or no profit at all because of the low shelf life of fruits and vegetables. With karpolax, we shall be able to give them an alternative solution to enable them to make more money.

The Pozen social innovation Prize will help us reach out to women farmers and vendors by equipping them with fruit and vegetable handling knowledge and as well give them the karpolax sachets at a financing plan.

We shall be able to give them our sachets and receive payments in installments enabling them to have their fruits and vegetables preserved.

With this prize, we shall be able to make this happen.