SA man designs wheelchair that can climb stairs
He started fixing wheelchairs, then realised there was a need for a model that could go up and down stairs – so he designed one
NAVIGATING a staircase in a wheelchair requires nerves of steel and a very strong helper – nearly 90% of wheelchair injuries are caused when people fall out of the chairs. There are motorised chairs that can navigate stairs, but they’re American-made and come with a prohibitively expensive price tag – between R370 000 and R452 000.
Enter Ernest Majenge, the self-proclaimed “Wheelchair Doctor” from the Free State.
Ernest (29), an accountant by qualification and an entrepreneur at heart, has made it his business to transform wheelchairs and the lives of their users. He’s invented a unique, South African-made wheelchair that can navigate stairs – and it’s a fraction of the price of the Ibot, the motorised US chair.
“People really struggle to imagine how hard it is not to be mobile and I sympathise with the disabled – I want to make their lives easier,” Ernest tells us.
His wheelchair, which can help the disabled manoeuvre up and down stairs, has attracted attention outside SA. He’s already sold five to customers in France for R50 000 each, a little over 10% what an Ibot costs.
The wheelchair has segmented wheels with handles, and the person using it can go up or down a step by pulling the handles. When the chair doesn’t need to be used for climbing stairs, a smaller set of retractable wheels is lowered for use on level surfaces.
In addition to this innovation, Ernest also customises wheelchairs, “because as human beings, we all like nice things”.
He and his team of technicians repair up to 30 wheelchairs daily at schools for the disabled, and customers have asked him to beautify wheelchairs belonging to disabled loved ones.
“We’ve made repairs more affordable than usual,” Ernest says.
“We go door-to-door, school-to-school and we take our services to people, but we also have a warehouse in Soweto.”
Ernest and his team embroider cartoon characters onto kids’ wheelchairs, craft patterned wheels for the chairs and reupholster chairs in livelier colours than the usual gloomy shades often used for wheelchairs.
The wheelchair repair side of his business also promises a 24-hour turnaround instead of the three weeks it often takes other repair companies, and during which time their owners are left housebound.
ERNEST isn’t disabled and growing up in Zastron in Free State he didn’t know anyone who was disabled, he tells us. He got into the wheelchair business because he saw a gap in the industry and potential for a business opportunity.
“Before this idea, all I knew is that I wanted to start a company – I didn’t know what I wanted to do. But after I did some research, I learned that many South Africans with disabilities are ignored or don’t have their needs catered for and I fell in love with helping people. So now it’s not just a business, it’s a passion.”
Ernest, who’s single, was raised by a single mother after his dad passed away. He is the oldest of three children.
‘I learned that many South Africans with disabilities are ignored’
After matriculating in 2011, he studied accounting and then internal auditing at Nelson Mandela University. He graduated in 2015, then set about making his dream of owning his own company come true. He applied to join a seed-funding programme run by Y-Beca, a non-profit organisation that teaches business skills to unemployed youth. He was selected to join the programme along with 20 other applicants, and he was also in the running to win R25 000 to invest in a budding business idea. His wheelchair idea won him the start-up capital he needed to get his business off the ground in 2018. Ernest used the capital to buy equipment and tools, and went on to win more money at the Ekurhuleni Youth Economic Summit where he received a R30 000 cash prize and the Gauteng Enterprise Propeller, which allowed him to purchase more equipment to the value of R40 000. Wi t h hi s new perspective on disability, Ernest used R35 000 to repair wheelchairs – at no charge – at the Takalani and Adelaide Tambo Schools for the disabled in Soweto.
“When we did repairs, I realised there were people with wheelchairs that didn’t suit them, because disabilities differ for many people.
“Then I saw that I could tailor-make them to fit people’s needs, and that’s where the idea of manufacturing wheelchairs came from.
“I donated a colourful wheelchair to a school and when I saw the response of the children, that made me realise I should bring art to the wheelchairs by decorating them or putting on pictures kids would like.”
He now has a team of four technicians, all of whom have a background in repairing wheelchairs, as well as engineers and educational therapists with whom he consults.
“Wheelchairs are like cars – you can put people’s lives at risk if they’re not properly made. I get safety advice from an educational therapist as well as engineers to check if my ideas are possible.”
HE LAUGHS when he recalls his brief stint in an officebound, nine-to-five job at a bank in Sandton.
While he was trying to get his business off the ground, he applied for an internship at the bank and was accepted, but after one day he’d had enough.
“I decided to leave, and I told them to give [the internship] to someone else, because I knew I didn’t belong there. I left to focus on my company. I knew that I shouldn’t give up on it – the fire in me was too hot to ignore.”
His search for investors eventually led him to French businessman Les Saux (65), whom he found online. Les is also in the wheelchair business.
“He believed that I have potential after I told him about my invention of a wheelchair that can go up and down stairs more easily.”
Les helped Ernest sell five of the stair-navigating chairs to customers in France. There’s currently just one of these chairs in South Africa, the prototype, but Ernest hopes to attract more investors so he can manufacture more wheelchairs like it and help more people. Until then, he says, he’ll just carry on trying to help people.
“I love what I do with all my heart – it’s so much more than just a business. The feedback I get is priceless. To know that I’m helping someone live better really warms my heart and lifts my soul.”