Mbari Uno launches open innovation platform to impact social well-being

Mbari Uno (House of Collaboration) a design hub in Lagos has officially launched its open innovation platform, the Mbari Uno Forum (Muf);a non-profit organization.

The forum is a Collective of designers and professionals using design thinking rooted in indigenous realities to develop culture, products and services that solve social problems in Africa.

The group is set to begin its first innovation cycle in the Public Health sector in line with the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goal 3: Health & Wellbeing.

Speaking on the launch, Chuma Anagbado, one of the founders of Mbari Uno, said that “the forum is our solution to the numerous challenges we face as a people and the time has come for us to look inwards and take charge of our life and destinies. It is time for Africans to solve the problems of Africa. The Mbari Uno Forum provides the platform for meaningful collaboration and pooling of skills by not just African professionals but people that bear the brunt of the problems – all of us.

“The Covid19 pandemic engulfing the world has brought to fore the pathetic state of health infrastructure in Nigeria and by extension Africa.

There have been predictions that we would be the hardest hit as a result of our weak economies and deficient health infrastructure,” anagbado said.

Reiterating the organization’s objective, Anagbado explained that the first innovation cycle of MUF will focus on SDG goal 3: Good Health and Wellbeing.

“We have chosen this goal in response to the unprecedented Covid19 pandemic and the attendant needs to urgently address the quality of public health care in our communities. We will be challenging ourselves on ways to improve public health care quality, accessibility and infrastructure in Nigeria, by identifying gaps and needs in public health care delivery.”

The first innovation cycle would begin this July and run through to September 2020.

At the end of each cycle, a detailed report of the Collective’s activities and solutions birthed will be published and an exhibition held within the premises of the Mbari Uno.

This exhibition is expected to attract investors, policy makers, captains of industry, agencies and government functionaries in attendance. The group plans to hold an annual design summit that would be a roundup of all the developments from its quarterly innovation cycles.