Live in Narok County, Kenya

Keeping the lights on when a mother is giving birth

BioKite trains local engineers to build backup batteries for rural health clinics. Community-owned. Zero subscriptions. Seven-year lifespan.

Donate Now How It Works

<$105 per DALY

15 engineers certified

15 clinics first wave

Catchment

150K

Lives served in first wave

3 Steps.
Mothers survive.

You Give

Your donation enters a transparent budget. Every dollar is accounted for, published with line-item detail.

100% traceable

Engineers Build

Local youth complete 160 hours of certification, assemble batteries from recovered EV cells, and deploy them to clinics.

Community-owned

Clinics Stay Powered

Oxygen concentrators, vaccine fridges, and surgical lights stay on through outages. You get quarterly impact reports.

7-year lifespan

The Problem & Our Fix

What happens when the power goes out

6,000 maternal deaths per year in Kenya. Many during power outages at rural clinics.
Oxygen concentrators shut off. Vaccine fridges warm. Surgical lights go dark.
95,000+ clinics across Sub-Saharan Africa lack reliable backup power.
Diesel generators are expensive, unreliable, and no one is trained to maintain them.

What BioKite does differently

NuruGrid — Backup battery systems assembled locally from retired EV cells

NuruLoop — Last-mile delivery via Narok's existing motorbike network

160-hr certification — Engineers stay, maintain systems, own the infrastructure

Zero subscriptions — Community keeps the power on for 7+ years

$75K funds the full pilot: 15 engineers, 15 clinics, 150,000 lives in catchment. Cost: <$105 per DALY at scale. WHO benchmark: $2,200.

Leadership

The Team

Harvard, MIT, the United Nations — joined by 15 youth engineers from Narok County building the future with their own hands.

Sarah Wang, MPH

Co-Founder & CEO

Harvard T.H. Chan (Coca-Cola Gold Scholar). MIT AI Certificate. Full-time.

Mike Tuffour Amirikah, MD, MPH

Co-Founder & Vice President

Harvard Chan MPH. Physician, 10+ years rural clinical experience in Africa. US-based.

Maison Ole Kipila

Co-Founder & Chief of Partnerships

8+ years as Maasai community leader. UN Indigenous Peoples Caucus (COP30). The reason BioKite has trust in Kenya.

Naeku Leshao

Chief Marketing Officer

7+ years empowering Maasai Mara communities. Founder, Elongo Afrika Initiatives. Top 100 Women of Influence 2025.

Youth Engineers, Narok County

The first cohort. They aren't waiting for someone else to fix the power. They're building the batteries themselves.

FAQ

Common questions

NuruGrid is a locally-assembled backup battery system using retired electric vehicle cells. Each unit powers critical clinic equipment — oxygen concentrators, vaccine refrigerators, surgical lights — through grid outages for 7+ years with zero subscription fees.

Narok County has 1.2 million residents, many served by rural clinics with unreliable power. We've co-designed the pilot with 24 local stakeholders including Maasai Mara University, community leaders, and local engineers. The pilot is designed to be replicated across 95,000+ clinics in Sub-Saharan Africa.

$75,000 funds the full pilot: 15 certified engineers, 15 clinic deployments, 150,000 lives in catchment. The projected cost is $350–$525 per life-year saved in pilot, with potential to reach below $105 per DALY at scale. The WHO cost-effectiveness benchmark is ~$2,200.

Community ownership. We train local engineers who stay in their communities and maintain the systems. Zero subscriptions, zero dependency on outside technicians. The 160-hour certification program ensures each engineer can build, install, and service the batteries independently. Weekly scorecards and quarterly reports track every system.