Afaté GNIKOU is an IT engineer in Togo who wanted to tackle two important goals:
- create the first 3D printer from Togo,
- reduce the alarming number of E-waste dumped into his country.
Here is a presentation of the 3D printer project, called W.AFATE :
A. Gnikou is a member of the Woe lab, a maker collaborative space based in Lomé, capital city of Togo. Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou, founder of Woe Lab, explains Afate's thought process for the project [fr]:
L’imprimante W.AFATE est inspirée de la Prusa Mendel [..] Afate ayant cerné le problème que posait la disponibilité d’un kit dans la concrétisation de ce projet, a initié la démarche de fabrication d’une machine autonomisante, facile à reproduire, 100% à base de recyclage et autres matériaux disponibles.
The W.AFATE printer is inspired by the Prusa Mendel [..] Afate identified a clear problem : the absence of a basic toolkit to achieve his project so he opted to create a machine that is 100% based on recycled materials and easy to replicate.
E-Waste is growing issue in Togo and the nearby countries. The following infography illustrates the increased proportion of E-Waste in the region :
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