Shona is the Founder and Director of Shonaquip which was first established in 1992. She is also the Founder and Director of Uhambo and a Founding Director of the Western Cape Medical Devices Cluster, a provincial initiative established with the support of DTI and Wesgro to promote and develop the local economy.
Her life’s work, and the company’s origin was inspired by her daughter, Shelly, who was born with cerebral palsy. Her family experienced first-hand how difficult it was to find appropriate assistive devices. When Shona, together with Mike Price from the Biomedical Engineering Department at UCT designed the first South African pediatric posture support wheelchair in 1984, she understood that wheelchairs were about more than transport, more than ensuring that children did not develop secondary (often life threatening) complications, wheelchairs were about independence, dignity, access to school and inclusion. Appropriate assistive devices allow people to live their human rights.
