Gérard Niyondiko is a Burundian engineer and Co-Founder of Maïa Africa, a social company (first B corp accredited in Burkina Faso). The mission of Maïa Africa is to protect African families from malaria. Malaria is a disease that still kills a child every two minutes on the African continent. The uniqueness of Gérard’s approach is to leverage existing daily habits of local families to protect them. After working on a repellent soap (called “Faso Soap”), Gérard and its associate Franck Langevin pivoted to create MAÏA, the first long lasting repellent and moisturising ointment. MAÏA helps thousands of families to avoid bites of malaria mosquitoes whenever they are not protected by a mosquito net. The product is currently launched in Burkina Faso and will be distributed in the West African countries most affected by malaria by 2021. The project has won the Glocal Social Venture Competition (University of Berkeley), the WHO African Innovation challenge, the Patient’s Innovation Award, and the “Marathon du Sahel” (World Bank).
![Accelerate_social_tile_1d[4]](https://meaningful.business/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/Accelerate_social_tile_1d4-300x300.png "Introducing Accelerate - Working Together for Disability Inclusion")
