3D printing in Kisumu, Kenya

Kijenzi 3D prints low-risk medical devices and spare parts to create localized healthcare supply chains. They have a catalog of items hospitals can order from, a strong core of engineering in State College coupled with a worldwide network of designers, and locally operated 3D printer farms to make and deliver the items to the hospitals. Kijenzi offers hospitals a way to get what they need, when they need it, at a fraction of the cost of typical supply chains. 

Kijenzi is located in Kisumu, a Kenyan city on the border of lake Victoria. Current internship opportunities are listed below. If you are interested, contact Jenny Dankelman.

Biomedical device design - Given the input of a functional need for an Occupational Therapy device, develop a product that can be 3D printed and that is accepted by therapists. This would include developing a quality control process for the device. The intern can be located at Delft, at Penn State University in the US, or at Kijenzi in Kenya. If located in Kenya, they will have the opportunity to interact with the therapists; if in the US, they will interact primarily with our US engineers.3D

Printer Guru - Kijenzi is in the process of setting up the first printer farm in Kenya. This farm will supply regional healthcare facilities with the parts they need to operate. Interns would be responsible for helping to plan, install, operate, maintain, and evaluate such a facility. This is a position for someone who knows quite a lot about 3D printers and is looking for a serious challenge and resume boost in terms of managing hardware.3D printed product development - Given specific requirements of a replacement part for a medical machine, develop the replacement part in such a way that it can be scaled for any other similar machines that may have the same issue. This person must be particularly adept at CAD with good 3D printing skills. This person should be located in Kenya for at least 10 weeks.

Economics of 3D printing - We are looking for a person with skills and knowledge in technology development and entrepreneurship to help develop an economic model of localized, distributed manufacturing for healthcare in Kenya. We can walk a person through model elements in the first month, as well as models others have developed and our data. However, from that point on the person will be expected to iterate with model development and data collection locally in Kenya.

Pricing of 3D printed healthcare products - We are looking for people to conduct pricing testing for various types of 3D printed parts, including Kijenzi healthcare products. Our goal is a comprehensive model that would allow others to enter the localized, distributed manufacturing industry with good information about product pricing.