San Diego State University

Change the World - One Thresher at a Time

By: SDSU Zahn Innovation Center SDSU students have designed a human-powered teff thresher that will improve farming in Ethiopia. We need your help to produce threshers and make a positive impact on the Ethiopian economy.
$5,250Raised
Goal $5,000
 
100%Funded
40Donors
0Days Left This campaign started on July 21, 2015 and will close on August 21, 2015
A farmer in Ethiopia feeds teff grain into the thresher, which harvests seed that is vital to the Ethiopian economy.

Who we are:

With mentorship provided by lecturer Michael L. Sloan, W.E. Do Good was founded by recent SDSU College of Business graduate Gemechu Abraham as a for-profit social business admitted to the Zahn Innovation Center, an incubator for student and faculty at San Diego State University.

Teff Seeds
Teff is Ethiopia’s most significant crop by area planted and value of production and the second largest cash crop (after coffee), generating almost 500 million USD income per year for local farmers

What we do:

Teff is a major food source in Ethiopia, where 6.5 million impoverished farmers struggle to grow the nutrition-rich grain without means or access to modern technology. Through W.E. Do Good, SDSU engineering and business students designed and produced a low-cost, human-powered teff thresher with a sustainable, scalable, for-profit business model that can dramatically improve farming practices and impact poverty in Ethiopia.

The human-powered thresher is affordable and simple to operate. It transforms difficult, unsanitary, and inefficient teff harvesting into an efficient and manageable task. The W.E. Do Good team successfully field tested the first prototype in Ethiopia while simultaneously completing a second prototype to reduce production costs and increase output. A third prototype in the design phase is expected to improve the thresher even more.

See the thresher in action here.

Why we need your help:

Your generous support allows SDSU to buy threshers to make a dramatic positive impact in the Ethiopian economy and help improve the country’s global identity. Each thresher costs $250 and your donation of any amount will make a difference.

Please support this important project and be a part of helping the SDSU Zahn Innovation Center change the world!

For more information on the thresher project click here.