The largest tech channel in the Netherlands (Bright.nl, daughter company of RTL) wrote an article on Solvoz. The piece explains how we as the ‘eBay of procurement’, as they call it, can make the difference in tackling COVID-19 in Africa.

You can find the original article (in Dutch) here, the English translation is posted underneath:

Dutch online tool for corona aid in Africa

The Dutch tech-startup Solvoz is building the eBay for development aid. With this tool, you can quickly and easily find a set of standardised but customisable solutions for corona aid.

Due to the corona virus, there has been a lot of attention in the Netherlands in recent months for the capacity of hospitals and especially intensive care. But imagine for a moment that you live in Africa. ‘I will share with you the number of beds available in intensive care in Africa. There are 5000. That is for the whole continent,’ says Claire Barnhoorn, CEO of Solvoz. Her tech-startup has a tough and urgent mission.

Ebay for development aid

The very minimal number of IC beds means you have to be even smarter with them. Solvoz does this by thinking differently from most aid organisations in developing countries. Technology is the key to success. The online tool Solvoz.com is a kind of marketplace where field workers of Médecins Sans Frontieres, Unicef or Plan quickly and efficiently find the products they need to help.

An employee often spends 50 percent of their time on tenders to find the right tent, beds, stethoscopes, mouth caps at an affordable price. Or they hire a consultant for up to 10 percent of the development money. Click on Solvoz.com and you will find a solution that has already been compared and checked but also consists of a complete solution package.

Solution package

After all, had you thought of a method of disinfecting the mouth caps, which could then suddenly be reused? And spare valves for the breathing apparatus, which we know from Italy is the Achilles’ heel? ‘We know the pictures of a discarded incubator in the corner of a field hospital. Discarded because spare parts were not immediately purchased, or because nobody learned how to maintain the unit,’ says Barnhoorn from years of experience as a field worker for MSF.

‘Solvoz is rethinking the demand for a product according to real needs: with us the search term is not “aggregate” but “reliable electricity supply”, so you will also find this solar cow including maintenance.’.

Technology can save Africa

Non-profit investor TechLeap.nl, the successor to StartupDelta, selected Solvoz as DutchTechHero. Technical brain behind Solvoz Robert Simpson: ‘We are converting a growing amount of expert knowledge about the response to COVID-19 into a practical tool.

It is a hell of a job to get the search engine technology right. At the back-end, we set up systems to structure and classify expert knowledge, translate user needs into solution packages, and establish criteria before we find them good enough to offer through the database. But then this technology can really make a difference.’

Call to designers and creators

For now, Solvoz makes an appeal to the creator community. Do you have a brilliant idea but no entrance to your client and audience? Contact Solvoz and your product can create real impact.