NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Thursday, June 5, 2014

What do you get when an electronics engineer, a certified accountant and an IT guru come together and decide to become social entrepreneurs? CladLight. At least that holds true for the CladLight’s trio founders that comprise brothers Charles and Joseph Muchene and friend Michael Gathogo.

CladLight is a social enterprise that addresses motorcyclists’ safety through a sustainable business model.

Motorcycle accidents in Kenya have become prevalent to the point where major hospitals have annexed special wings for bike victims while riders have also earned the moniker “organ donors” due to the high mortality rates.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that there are between 3,000 and 13,000 accidents annually while Kenyan government figures indicated that the number is sandwiched between the aforementioned figures at 6,205 as at 2013.

Fatalities are however high at 3,000 per year most of whom are pedestrians and motorcycle riders.

A 2011 WHO report indicated that Kenya had an estimated 34.4 road deaths per 100,000 people which is slightly more than 6 times the UK’s ratio and nearly two and a half-times higher than the US’s ratio.

AFKInsider chatted up the trio behind the venture at Nailab, a Nairobi-based accelerator program for startups. With their wearable tech startup, they hope to bring down Kenya’s heartbreaking motorcycle accidents statistics.