July 10, 2013
CNN-Moctar Dembele, who is from Burkina Faso, and Gerard Niyondiko, from Burundi, have used locally sourced herbs and natural ingredients to create a soap they say repels mosquitoes, in order to prevent malaria.
Dubbed “Fasoap,” the innovation was awarded the $25,000 Grand Prize in the Global Social Venture Competition (GSVC), in April. Launched by Berkeley MBA students, the GSVC is a global competition designed to help budding entrepreneurs transform their ideas into businesses that will have a positive social impact.
Fasoap is made from shea butter, essential lemongrass oil and other ingredients that are still a secret.
“After using the soap, it leaves on the skin a scent that repels mosquitoes,” says Niyondiko, who studies with Dembele at the International Institute for Water and Environmental Engineering in Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso.
“In addition, waste water products contain substances that prevent the development of mosquito larvae, because the sanitation problem in Africa is one of the causes of mosquito vectors of malaria.”
