Yusuf Bilesanmi’s ShiVent Wins Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation’s “One to Watch” Award
Nigerian innovator and founder of ShiVent Yusuf Bilesanmi, received the highest vote for the “One to Watch” award by the audience at the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation final event which was held recently.
Yusuf Bilesanmi was one of the 12 Africa Prize shortlist who pitched their innovations to a live audience. The live audience voted ShiVent as a promising and potential business, which earned Yusuf a brand new One to Watch award worth a £5,000 prize. Other Nigerians in the contest included Jacob Azundah, Elohor Thomas, Olugbenga Olufemi Olubanjo, and Taofeek Olalekan.
ShiVent is an affordable, non-electric and non-invasive ventilator for patients with respiratory difficulties, available at a fraction of the cost of mechanical ventilators. Its simple design enables it to be operated by unspecialized healthcare workers. ShiVent is designed for under-resourced clinics with unreliable electricity supply and limited specialist knowledge.
“In designing our solution, we noted the requirements and guidance of the NHS and MHRA (Medicines and Health Regulations Authority) in the UK on the standards for a medically-compliant ventilator. After 10 weeks of development and testing, we are proud to introduce what we call the ShiVent, a Bubble Continuous Positive Air Pressure device,” said Yusuf.
ShiVent was developed in response to the high demands placed on the healthcare system during the Covid-19 pandemic. Using the principle of Bubble CPAP (Continuous Positive Airway Pressure), the ShiVent blends air with a high-flow oxygen supply through a specifically designed Venturis air blender and delivers this to a patient who is still able to breathe by themselves. The device is essential to the survival of patients experiencing respiratory distress. It requires only 150 to 200 cylinders of oxygen daily, at a rate of 5 to 12 litres of oxygen per minute (Ipm). The Lagos State government currently uses 400 cylinders of oxygen a day, at 15lpm.
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ShiVent has completed functionality testing at the National Centre for Sports and Exercise and Medicine at Loughborough University and Leicester Royal Infirmary Hospital. It has also undergone preliminary clinical feasibility tests at NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre, Glenfield Hospital, notable for coronary and respiratory diseases. The results showed that the device meets CPAP requirements set by the Medicines and Health Regulatory Agency in the UK.
The Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, founded by the Royal Academy of Engineering, is Africa’s biggest prize dedicated to engineering innovation. It supports ambitious African innovators developing scalable engineering solutions to local challenges, demonstrating the importance of engineering as an enabler of improved quality of life and economic development. The Africa Prize is generously supported by The Shell Centenary Scholarship Fund and the UK Government’s Global Challenges Research Fund.
Congratulations Yusuf Bilesanmi.