Кенийская компания Drop Access внедряет технологии холодовой цепи для доставки вакцин и продуктов в отдаленные районы Африки

A Kenyan social enterprise, Drop Access develops practical technologies that help underserved and off-grid communities access essential services, from medical refrigeration and vaccine cold chains to food preservation and temperature-controlled logistics. We learn about its work at the intersection of healthcare and clean energy with Norah Magero, co-Founder and CEO. Q&A WITH NORAH MAGERO, CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, DROP ACCESS Firstly, could you outline the mission, vision, and core values of Drop Access? Norah Magero, co-Founder and CEO (NM): We develop practical technologies that help underserved and off-grid communities access essential services, from medical refrigeration and vaccine cold chains to food preservation and temperature-controlled logistics. At Drop Access, our mission is to manufacture and distribute clean energy solutions using flexible payment models, whilst our vision is to provide sustainable clean energy to all underserved communities in Africa. These goals are guided by our core values of innovation, excellence, eco-friendliness, honesty and fairness, and customer centricity. What drives us is a simple belief: where a person lives should not determine whether they can access life-saving healthcare or climate-smart technologies. We are committed to designing solutions that are reliable, affordable, environmentally responsible, and tailored to the realities of the communities we serve. Drop Access was born out of a deep understanding of the barriers rural populations face, particularly in accessing life-saving vaccines and medicines. Can you explain? NM: The challenge is not only about whether vaccines and medicines are available; it is also about whether they can be stored safely and delivered to the people who need them. In many rural and off-grid communities, health facilities struggle with unreliable electricity, weak cold chain infrastructure, long distances, and difficult transport conditions. As a result, vaccines, insulin, blood products, antibiotics, and other temperature-sensitive medicines often face significant risks before reaching patients. For me personally, this challenge became very real whilst I was living in a rural town and trying to access the right vaccines for my young daughter. Later, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the importance of resilient cold chain systems became even more apparent. Before developing our solutions, we spent time listening to nurses, healthcare workers, mothers, health facility managers, and communities. We wanted to understand the daily realities they faced and design solutions around those realities. That process helped shape Drop Access and our commitment to strengthening last-mile healthcare delivery in underserved areas. The Drop Access journey began with your portable solar-powered refrigerator, Vaccibox. What makes it ideal for vaccine storage and cold chain logistics? NM: Vaccibox was specifically designed to address the challenges of medical cold chain management in remote and resource-constrained environments. It is a portable solar-powered medical refrigerator equipped with integrated lithium batteries and designed to maintain temperatures between two degrees Celsius (°C) and 8°C, which is the recommended storage range for many vaccines. It can be used both for the storage and transportation of vaccines, blood products, insulin, oxytocin, laboratory samples, and other temperature-sensitive medical products. One of the features I am particularly proud of is the integration of real-time monitoring technology. Vaccibox provides data on temperature, battery status, charge levels, location, and inventory, helping healthcare providers maintain visibility and accountability throughout the cold chain. Mobility was also central to the design. In many remote communities, bicycles, motorcycles, and boats are often the most practical means of transportation; Vaccibox can be transported using these modes, helping healthcare workers reach populations that are otherwise difficult to serve. Ultimately, it was created to make safe and reliable vaccine delivery possible wherever people live, regardless of infrastructure constraints. What about Koyo, your other solar-powered refrigeration solution for farmers, small to medium-sized enterprises, and households? NM: Koyo extends Drop Access’ clean cooling work beyond healthcare into food security, household resilience, and productive use of energy. Whilst Vaccibox focuses on medical cold chain applications, Koyo is designed to provide reliable solar-powered refrigeration for farmers, small to medium-sized enterprises, and households that may not have access to dependable electricity. Post-harvest losses remain a major challenge across many African communities. Farmers often lose valuable produce because they lack access to cold storage, whilst households and small businesses face similar difficulties preserving food safely. Koyo helps address those challenges by providing clean, reliable cooling powered by solar energy. We offer Koyo in several different sizes to meet the needs of a wide range of users, from individual households to commercial operators. The broader goal is the same as with all our solutions: improving resilience and creating access to essential services through sustainable technology. Coolride is Drop Access’ professional cold chain logistics service. How does it ensure safe and reliable transport of temperature-sensitive goods across various industries? NM: Coolride was developed to address a critical gap that extends beyond refrigeration itself: transportation. Even when products are stored correctly, they can still be compromised if they are not transported under controlled conditions. Coolride provides temperature-controlled logistics services for vaccines, medicines, laboratory samples, perishable foods, and agricultural products. The service combines temperature-controlled vehicles, real-time GPS and temperature monitoring, trained personnel, and standardised operating procedures to maintain product integrity throughout the journey. Depending on the use case, we offer transportation solutions that operate at 2°C to 8°C, at -20°C, or under ambient conditions. Our fleet includes cold-box motorcycles for last-mile delivery, and vans fitted with refrigerators. By combining technology, operational discipline, and visibility throughout the supply chain, Coolride helps ensure that temperature-sensitive products arrive safely and reliably at their destination. How does your commitment to local innovation, manufacturing, and community-driven impact set Drop Access apart? NM: One of the things that differentiates Drop Access is that we do not start with technology, but with people and the challenges they face. Every solution we develop is informed by conversations with the communities that will ultimately use it. We spent time speaking with healthcare workers, mothers, health facility managers, and community members to understand their realities before designing Vaccibox and our other products. Local manufacturing is equally important to us. We believe that building solutions locally helps strengthen technical capacity, create jobs, improve after-sales support, and ensure products are adapted to local conditions. It also helps reduce dependence on imported solutions that may not fully address the realities of African communities. At our core, we are committed to local innovation, local manufacturing, and community-driven impact. We want African challenges to be solved by African innovators working alongside the communities they serve. How did becoming a finalist for the Health category of the 2026 edition of the Zayed Sustainability Prize help Drop Access grow its projects, credibility and network? NM: Being selected as a finalist in the Health category of the 2026 Zayed Sustainability Prize was an important milestone for us. The Prize is one of the world’s leading sustainability awards, attracting thousands of submissions from around the globe. Being recognised amongst the finalists provided strong validation of both our technology and our mission. It increased our visibility among partners, investors, policymakers, healthcare stakeholders, and innovation ecosystems. It also gave us access to a valuable global network of sustainability leaders and organisations committed to solving pressing social and environmental challenges. Another significant development was the enhanced support provided to finalists. The Prize introduced a funding model through which organisational finalists receive USD$100,000 to help advance their work. For a growing company like ours, that support can help accelerate deployment, strengthen manufacturing capacity, and expand our reach into underserved communities. Most importantly, the recognition reinforced that locally developed African innovations can play a meaningful role in addressing global healthcare and sustainability challenges. Finally, what are your key priorities in order to make essential healthcare and climate-smart innovations accessible to the most underserved communities? NM: Our priority is to continue scaling solutions that make healthcare and climate-smart technologies more accessible, affordable, and reliable for underserved communities. One important focus area is expanding access to Vaccibox through flexible financing approaches such as lease-to-own and cooling-as-a-service models. We know that affordability remains a barrier for many facilities, and we want to ensure cost does not prevent access to critical cold chain infrastructure. Another key priority is continuing to strengthen quality, compliance, and certification processes as we scale. Achieving international standards is essential for ensuring our solutions can serve more healthcare systems and reach more communities. We are also committed to expanding local manufacturing capacity. My long-term vision is to see advanced HealthTech and CleanTech products fully manufactured within Africa, creating jobs, building expertise, and strengthening local value chains. Finally, we want to continue broadening our impact beyond healthcare alone. Through Vaccibox, Koyo, Coolride, and future innovations, our goal is to build resilient systems that improve healthcare access, strengthen food security, support livelihoods, and help communities adapt to a changing climate. At the end of the day, our mission remains the same: ensuring people in underserved communities have access to the technologies they need to live healthier, safer, and more resilient lives. This article was produced by the editorial team at Africa Outlook and published as part of the Outlook Publishing global network of B2B industry magazines. Outlook Publishing delivers industry insights, company stories, and sector coverage across manufacturing, mining, construction, healthcare, supply chains, food production, and sustainability. Africa Outlook provides ongoing coverage of organisations and developments shaping industries across Africa.