Shonaquip Social Enterprise with its Centre for Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship and Rural Assistive Devices Testing Laboratory is turning ideas into assistive technology
In many parts of Africa, assistive devices arrive with good intentions but limited longevity. A wheelchair designed for smooth pavements and controlled urban environments may struggle on gravel roads, uneven terrain, long travelling distances and in communities where repair parts are difficult to source. When equipment fails, the impact extends far beyond mobility. It can interrupt education, employment, healthcare access and everyday independence.
For decades, much of the assistive technology used across the continent has been imported, often designed for conditions very different from those in which it will ultimately be used. According to Dean Mubaiwa, who heads the Centre for Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) at Shonaquip Social Enterprise (ShonaquipSE), approximately 90 percent of assistive and medical devices used in Africa are imported, with South Africa still heavily dependent on devices manufactured elsewhere.
Yet alongside these challenges, a quieter shift has been taking shape. Across the continent, local innovators, clinicians, engineers and entrepreneurs are beginning to rethink assistive technology through an African lens, creating solutions rooted not in theory, but in lived realities. It is within this movement that ShonaquipSE has become one of the most recognised voices in inclusive innovation.
From garage to continental impact
Founded in 1992 by Shona McDonald, the organisation began in a small garage workshop with a deeply personal purpose as Shona struggled to find appropriate assistive equipment for her daughter Shelly, who was born with cerebral palsy. What emerged over time was far more than a manufacturing business.
Today, ShonaquipSE has grown into a social enterprise working across mobility support, inclusive education, parent support networks, rural transport solutions and innovation development. Its work reaches beyond products and into the systems that allow people with disabilities to participate more fully in society.
At the heart of the organisation is a simple but often overlooked understanding: Assistive technology is never only about the device itself. A wheelchair may be expertly engineered, but if it cannot be correctly fitted, repaired locally, adapted over time or supported within the realities of the community it serves, its impact is often short lived. Sustainability, serviceability and context matter just as much as design.
Space for African innovation
This thinking led to the establishment of the Centre for Inclusive Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIIE) in 2025, a space designed to support innovators developing assistive technologies for low resource settings. It helps transform ideas into market ready products by guiding innovators through design, prototyping, testing, manufacturing readiness and commercialisation.
More importantly, it provides something that remains rare within the disability innovation space, which is meaningful support for founders with lived experience of disability themselves. Many innovators have practical solutions born from navigating everyday barriers, yet few have access to the technical support, testing facilities or manufacturing pathways needed to bring those ideas to market. The CIIE exists to help close that gap.
Since opening, the Centre has already received strong interest from innovators across South Africa, Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia, reflecting a growing demand for locally grounded innovation support across the continent.
Rooted in lived experience
One of the first products supported through the CIIE is the Pad Perch, developed by innovator Jenny Webster. With a degenerative eye condition, Jenny began creating makeshift solutions to help improve visibility, function and comfort while working on detailed tasks.
What started as a personal adaptation eventually evolved into an assistive low-vision device designed to support alignment, control and independence during everyday activities such as reading, writing and handcraft.
When she approached ShonaquipSE, the organisation chose not to acquire the concept, but instead encouraged her to retain ownership of the product while using the support structures of the CIIE to refine, test and manufacture the first production run. The result is a product that has already entered the market and begun expanding into Kenya, demonstrating what becomes possible when innovation is supported rather than absorbed.
Stories like Jenny’s reflect a broader shift taking place within African disability innovation, one where people with lived experience are no longer seen only as end users, but as designers, founders and problem solvers shaping the future of the sector itself.
Testing for real world conditions
Alongside the CIIE, ShonaquipSE has also established the Rural Assistive Devices Testing Laboratory, known as the RAD Lab, which focuses on evaluating assistive technologies within the realities of rural and resource constrained environments.
Traditional international testing standards remain important, but many were developed around conditions that differ significantly from those experienced across large parts of Africa. Rough terrain, dust exposure, long distance travel and limited repair infrastructure all place different pressures on equipment.
The RAD Lab is helping to bridge this gap by combining international testing frameworks with practical, field-based evaluation that reflects how devices are actually used in everyday life. The goal is to challenge global standards by strengthening them through locally generated empirical evidence and contextually relevant testing. In doing so, the test lab contributes to a wider conversation about what truly inclusive and appropriate design looks like across different regions, cultures and realities of the world.
Recognition reflecting momentum
ShonaquipSE was included in the Forbes Accessibility 200 list, which recognises organisations around the world driving meaningful progress in accessibility and disability inclusion. For the team, the recognition arrived during a significant period of growth as the CIIE continues to expand its work and partnerships across the continent.
The achievement also reflects something larger than a single organisation. It signals growing international recognition that some of the most important innovation in assistive technology is emerging from communities that have long been expected only to receive solutions, rather than lead them.
ShonaquipSE has built an ecosystem of possibility, one that supports locally driven innovation, strengthens manufacturing capacity, creates pathways for entrepreneurs with disabilities and reimagines how assistive technology can be designed for the environments in which it is actually used.
Changing what is possible
As the demand for accessible, locally relevant innovation continues to grow across Africa, spaces such as the CIIE and the RAD Lab become increasingly important for creating pathways through which African innovators can shape the future of assistive technology on their own terms.
For innovators, organisations or partners interested in collaborating with the CIIE or accessing the RAD Testing Lab, ShonaquipSE can be contacted at 021 797 8239 or Dean@ShonaquipSE.org.za. More information can also be found at www.radtestlab.com.
