Author: HILDA MHAGAMA
AfricaPress-Tanzania: NECESSITY is the mother of all inventions; Fish processing machinery designed by a young Engineer, David Ng’unda certainly embodies that phrase.
Inspired by his mother who was diagnosed with an illness that restricts her to eat red meat, Ng’unda was less than impressed with the hurdles and pains, one has to endure in preparing fish.
Mr Ng’unda is among the graduates of St Joseph University who are showcasing their inventions in the on-going 44th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) exhibitions.
The machine has countless applications as the fish scales are used in lipstick making and another waste is a rich fertilizer for the plants.
“Within five seconds the machine removes the fish scales as well as other wastes; It also cleanses it and cuts fish. For a vendor who receives a large quantity of fish order they will spend less time preparing it without hurting hands,” he noted.
Ng’unda who is currently working on the best ways to improve the appliance says the machine simplifies the acquisition of all the raw materials thus increasing the income of the entrepreneur.
He extended gratitude to Tanzania Automotive Technology Centre (TATC)–Nyumbu in Kibaha and teachers at St Joseph’s for their mentorship in the production process who in one way or another assisted in realising the innovations, until completion it has cost him about 5m/-.
Expounding further he said it took him more than six-month researching to determine the size, the shape of the fish and after that, it took two months to do the designing, within one month they were able to finish it.
Ng’unda who has a dream to own a fish processing factory said the biggest challenge in the country was the availability of raw materials but they have to use the available raw materials to come up with the machine in 2019.
He said the discovery of the machine means that Tanzania has people capable of producing a variety of machines to simplify work, also, the beauty of local designers is that they know the end-user instead of relying on foreign ones.
The young innovator said the government has commenced providing support through Higher Education Students’ Loans Board (HESLB), provides funding for design.
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology will spend 750m/-on improving innovation and technology of 70 finalists at this year’s national competition for science, technology and innovation.
The Deputy Minister for Education, Science and Technology, Mr William Ole Nasha committed while announcing the 2020 National Competition of Science, Technology and Innovation.
The government, he said, acknowledges a lot of innovation projects are undertaken by talented young people in the country that if adopted would spur economic development.
