SHE SAW WASTE. SHE SAW POSSIBILITY: HOW ALINE NICOLE IS REIMAGINING MOBILITY IN RWANDA
What if the waste we throw away could help someone move with greater freedom?
For Aline Nicole, that question became the foundation for something much bigger.
The Rwandan entrepreneur is the CEO and co-founder of Geuza, a startup turning electronic plastic waste into affordable mobility aids for people living with disabilities.
Through Geuza, discarded electronic materials are being transformed into products such as crutches, walkers and prosthetics.
It is an unusual connection: electronic waste, technology and mobility.
But for Aline, it is also an opportunity to address two important challenges at once.
From Waste to Possibility
Electronic waste continues to create environmental challenges across Africa. At the same time, many people living with disabilities face difficulties accessing affordable assistive devices.
Aline saw an opportunity between the two.
Instead of allowing useful materials to become waste, Geuza processes and repurposes them to create mobility solutions designed with users in mind.
The goal isn’t simply to make another product.
It is to make mobility more accessible while restoring something that cannot easily be measured in a price tag: independence and dignity.
According to the UNDP, Geuza has developed products including crutches, walkers and prosthetics, while working through Rwanda’s innovation ecosystem to improve its materials and prototypes.
Innovation With People at the Centre
What makes Aline’s work stand out is the human side of the innovation.
The team has worked on refining its products based on feedback from the people who use them.
That means the question isn’t simply, “Can we build this?”
It is also:
“Does this actually make someone’s life better?”
Geuza has also moved beyond the prototype stage, securing regulatory approval in Rwanda and certification for its functional assistive devices.
That is an important step for a young African innovation company.
A Different Picture of African Innovation
Aline Nicole’s story challenges the idea that innovation must always begin with something completely new.
Sometimes, innovation begins by looking at something everyone else has overlooked.
A discarded material.
An unmet need.
A community searching for a better solution.
And then asking:
“What else could this become?”
In Rwanda, Aline is showing that the answer can be both environmental and human.
She saw waste.
She saw possibility.
And through Geuza, she is helping turn that possibility into mobility, inclusion and dignity.