MELBOURNE: What star­ted as a per­sonal chal­lenge has turned into an inspir­ing innov­a­tion for 25-year-old Sifiso Maseko, an Auto Elec­trical stu­dent at BSA Train­ing Centre, who designed and built his own elec­tric wheel­chair to help him move around inde­pend­ently.

Maseko drew the atten­tion of vis­it­ors at the Water­ford KaMh­laba UWC South­ern Africa Career Fair on Wed­nes­day, where more than 80com­pan­ies, uni­versit­ies and train­ing insti­tu­tions exhib­ited their products and ser­vices. Stu­dents also had the oppor­tun­ity to show­case their own innov­a­tions and projects, with Maseko’s elec­tric wheel­chair becom­ing one of the dis­plays that attrac­ted the most interest.

Maseko said liv­ing with a dis­ab­il­ity pushed him to find away of becom­ing­mor­einde­pend­entin­steado­fac­cept­ing the chal­lenge as a per­man­ent lim­it­a­tion, he used the know­ledge and skills he gained through his stud­ies to come up with a prac­tical solu­tion.

“I became tired of depend­ing on other people to help me move from one place to another. I wanted something that would give me the free­dom tomove around onmy own,” he said.

The wheel­chair is powered by a rechargeable bat­tery and comes fit­ted with sev­eral fea­tures designed to improve safety and con­veni­ence. These include head­lights for bet­ter vis­ib­il­ity, reflect­ors, a horn and a stor­age car­rier at the back for car­ry­ing per­sonal belong­ings.

With a smile, Maseko referred to his inven­tion as his own vehicle. “I have my own car which helps me move from one place to the other without assist­ance,” he joked.

He explained that the wheel­chair takes about six hours to fully charge. Once charged, the bat­tery is able to last for the entire day under nor­mal use, allow­ing himto travel with con­fid­ence without con­stantly wor­ry­ing about rechar­ging.

Bey­ond help­ing him­self, Maseko has set his sights on a big­ger goal. He dreams of estab­lish­ing a local com­pany that man­u­fac­tures elec­tric wheel­chairs in the coun­try, say­ing this would make them more afford­able and easier for people with dis­ab­il­it­ies to obtain. He noted that most elec­tric wheel­chairs are impor­ted, mak­ing them expens­ive and out of reach for many who need them. Pro­du­cing them loc­ally, he believes, would improve access­ib­il­ity while cre­at­ing oppor­tun­it­ies for innov­a­tion and employ­ment within the coun­try.

Many vis­it­ors stopped at his stand to learn more about the project, with some prais­ing both the design and determ­in­a­tion behind it. His inven­tion demon­strated how tech­nical skills can be used to solve every­day chal­lenges while improv­ing the qual­ity of life for people with dis­ab­il­it­ies. For Maseko, the project is about much more than build­ing a wheel­chair. It rep­res­ents inde­pend­ence, con­fid­ence and the belief that dis­ab­il­ity should never stand in the way of innov­a­tion. He hopes his story will inspire other young people, espe­cially those with dis­ab­il­it­ies, to use edu­ca­tion and prac­tical skills to develop solu­tions that can make a mean­ing­ful dif­fer­ence in their com­munit­ies.

His project was one of many innov­at­ive ideas show­cased at the career fair, high­light­ing the cre­ativ­ity and tal­ent that stu­dents are bring­ing to the coun­try’s grow­ing tech­nical and voca­tional sec­tor.