Daniel Ndima – COVID-19 Rapid Testing Kits

CapeBio is a multi-award winning a tech start-up, more so in the field of  in applied genomics. Founded by its CEO Daniel Ndima, it is and a spin-off of the premier science research agency, the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). CapeBio’s QPCR Testing kit, which provides results in 65 minutes, is proving vital in South Africa – one of the countries worst hit by COVID-19 in Africa.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO CREATE YOUR PRODUCT?

What inspires us as a company has always been the fascinating world of science and our interests are mostly about understanding how microorganisms can be used to produce certain proteins as well as enhancing biological processes.  Moreover, how these molecules and biological processes can be used for pharmaceuticals, diagnostics and food technologies development. Key indigenous resources are hallmarks to our innovation and may enable us to develop diagnostic tools to respond to diseases outbreaks in future, both in Africa and globally. We knew that our country relies heavily on imported diagnostic kits and other technologies used in Life Sciences field. We positioned our company to respond to the need for local products – especially during a crisis like COVID-19. Before the pandemic, we were selling our products in both South Africa and United States of America – as reagents for research and development. Before the rapid spread of the virus, we decided to use some of our existing technologies, proprietary formulations and processes to develop a COVID-19 test kit that can be distributed across the continent.  CapeBio has now developed a rapid COVID-19 PCR testing kit with unique biologics and reagents developed in South Africa.

WHAT HAS BEEN THE IMPACT OF YOUR PRODUCT?

South Africa is currently a net importer of these reagents, enzymes and kits used for DNA analysis. With the global lockdown regulations in place, access to the reagents has become limited, impeding our efforts to diagnose and control the spread of the virus. The high costs of these imported products, together with the increasing Rand to Dollar exchange rate, are placing constraints on our limited resources to conduct nationwide testing. With our invention, our country will now spend less on our test kits and more importantly have them readily available in order to manage the spread of the virus.

HOW DID YOU START YOUR JOURNEY?

I wanted to study medicine but diverted to study biotech- nology as I got interested in biotech due to many oppor- tunities in the industry. From my background research the USA, Europe and Asia were the leading technology developers and I did not understand why, Africa with such a diverse population and professionals across the world, did not have any form of popularity in the global biotech space. This realisation helped me understand that Africa needed to find its own solutions to its challenges and that biotech could play a pivotal role in this regard. My biotech courses enabled me to know how to engi- neer, rationalize and develop novel biologics at commer- cial scale for different biotech applications.

After doing my Masters degree in structural biology at the University of Pretoria, South Africa – specializing in protein crystallography – I became part of a CSIR research team that conceptualized CapeBio’s spin-out. I worked as a technologist and business developer for the initiative. Today I am CapeBio’s founding CEO. We have successfully commercialized a scienti c research project, launched a biotech company that won both local and international awards with well-established international partners and a growing footprint.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES TO PRODUCING AND DEPLOYING YOUR PRODUCT?

We are not a well-established brand but we compete with multinationals. The government of South Africa and some of the local private organisations have been instrumental in helping us to deploy our technology to the market.

WHAT HELP WOULD YOU NEED TO SCALE UP AND IMPROVE YOUR PRODUCT?

The most important aspect of our technology is it can be deployed even beyond the pandemic as a tool for general diagnostics. We need channels to share our technologies with other African laboratories, research institutions and organizations doing molecular research and testing. The need to scale up will be influenced by our ability to reach as many users as possible on the continent.

TELL US ABOUT YOURSELF AND YOUR BACKGROUND.

I have a Masters degree in structural biology – trained in protein engineering and crystallography by the University of Pretoria, bioprocess engineering and bio-manufactur- ing by the Council for Scienti c and Industrial Research (CSIR). I have multiple awards and scholarships for excel- lence in academics, social responsibility, student leader- ship, and entrepreneurial initiatives. I am a fellow of Allan Gray Orbis Foundation, which provides education beyond a degree, offering entrepreneurial training to ensure that Fellows create value through responsible entrepreneur- ship, view entrepreneurship as a viable career path and strengthen their ability to take an idea and develop it into a viable opportunity.I am the CEO of CapeBio Technologies, a South African company that develops Life Science tools and molecular biology reagents, enzymes and kits to empower African Scientists, Research and Development (R&D) institutions and companies to innovate in the academic and health- care industries.

WHAT ARE YOUR HOPES FOR THE FUTURE OF YOUR INNOVATION AND YOUR BUSINESS?

As a company, we have created a platform for making diagnostic kits. We would like to position our company as a biotech center of excellence in Africa – responding directly to African diseases outbreaks and using our proprietary platform to invent and manufacture other technologies. Our mission is “to deliver excellence in innovation so that others can have quality of life”.

By UNDP Africa Innovates- 50 Homegrown African Innovations Tackling COVID-19