The Tunisian entrepreneur creating 3D-printed bionics arms for amputees
Mohamed Dhaouafi, Founder & CEO, Cure Bionics, shares his mission to democratise access to bionic prosthetics at scale.
Meaningful Business (MB:) Please tell us a bit about your background.
Mohamed Dhaouafi (MD:) I hold an Electronics Engineering degree from Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Sousse and a master’s degree in Management of NGOs from Tunis Business School.
I co-founded and managed Zeta Hub, a student incubator and capacity building centre, at IHE university group in Tunisia for a year, then launched my startup, Cure Bionics, which specialises in developing advanced 3D-printed bionic arms for amputees. I also co-founded Agaruw, a brand and an online marketplace for eco friendly fashion and furniture.
MB: Please introduce your business and the problems you’re trying to solve.
MD: Globally, there are more than 30 million people with limb differences.
Sadly, only 5% of them have access to prosthetics, 75% of them are not satisfied with what they have and about 40% of the new amputees reject prosthetics for different reasons, such as expensive cost, long manufacturing time, weight, complexity of control, design etc. As a result, 95% of children with disabilities never complete primary school, and about 90% of people with disabilities in developing countries are unemployed.
I founded Cure Bionics with a mission to democratise access to bionic prosthetics in an affordable and scalable way. In fact, Cure Bionics develops bionic arms that enhance the human body with multi-grip functionality and empowering aesthetics for below elbow amputee adults and children aged 8 and above, with the aim to make it more accessible and cool-to-wear.
In addition to that, we can produce and ship a prosthetic arm in less than seven days thanks to our cloud-based software that uses distributed 3D scanning stations. We also have immersive and gamified training solutions.
MB: What is your biggest challenge right now and what support do you need?
MD: We are in the process of applying for regulatory approvals and quality certifications. We are also hiring new talent and upgrading our labs and equipment. For that, we need additional funding. Moreover, we need support with strategy and marketing/branding. We also need support with logistics and supply chain.
MB: What is your ambition for the future of your business?
MD: We want Cure Bionics to become the world largest, most loved and most recommended prosthetic brand. We want to be able to deliver prosthetic arms in less time and to impact the lives of 100,000 amputees in the next 5 years.
MB: What is your advice to other leaders who want to combine profit and purpose?
MD: Have a long-term objective if you really want to solve a real problem and never give up or feel bad about all the ups and downs because it’s part of the process. You will end up either achieving your goals and impacting the life of others, or by learning how to be a better version of yourself.
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Quickfire Questions
MB — Tell us a mistake you’ve learned from:
MD — Not firing in the right time and not hiring in the right time. Hire fast, fire faster.
MB — How do you spend your time away from work?
MD — Play video games, watch movies, workout, spend time with family and friends and travel.
MB — What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
MD — In order to succeed in your business, get a good lawyer, a good accountant and a good tax expert.
MB — What is the one book everyone should read?
MD — “Start With Why” by Simon Sinek.
MB — What is something you wish you were better at?
AH — Financials, as my background is mostly in engineering.
MB — What’s one thing you want to achieve in 2022?
MD — Launching the public version of our product and raising our seed round.
This interview was published on Meaningful Business. View here.
This article is part of the #MeetTheMB100 series, where we profile winners of the 2021 MB100; leaders combining profit and purpose to help achieve the UN Global Goals. This interview series is sponsored by EY.
To read more stories from leaders helping to solve some of the world’s most pressing social and environmental issues, click here.
