CAPE TOWN -
Best friends and business partners, Dr Chad Marthinussen and Gino Lange from Paarl and Woodstock respectively, seized an opportunity during the Coronavirus pandemic to launch their Nanowave facemask.
The duo launched their tech startup company Wave-innovate last year with the vision of becoming one of Africa’s leading tech solutions companies who produced quality affordable products.
Marthinussen, a 25-year-old medical doctor, quit his full-time job last year to follow this passion for improving technology in the medical sector and creating a face mask was a project they were working on last year prior to the Covid-19 outbreak.
“The Nanowave brand was envisioned in 2019 and with my background in medicine, I’ve already identified that healthcare workers weren’t wearing masks,” said Marthinussen.
“This is all pre-Covid-19 and it’s because of attitudes towards wearing masks, compliance with rules and mask comfort… this is what led me to do research in the mask-wearing space.
“The Nanowave mask was initially envisioned to fill the gap between the surgical three-ply mask and the face fit-tested N95 mask and create a mask to let healthcare workers wear the mask for longer periods of time,” he said.
In 2019, Wave Innovate launched its Wave TV Box, smartwatches and Air Pods; with its latest product the Nanowave mask which is also available in Dischem outlets.
“Covid-19 did fast track a lot of things and I’m really passionate to continue to improve technology in the healthcare sector.
“We’ve also identified high-risk people who would suffer financially due to the lockdown, and we’ve mobilised them to become distributors for the Nanowave mask.
“The mask is also available now in Dischem and can be used for 30 days which makes for a cost-effective solution,” he said.
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