A Ugandan entrepreneur who is now in the running for a “business hero” award has told the BBC her struggle with malaria as a child sparked her business idea. Joan Nalubega, who grew up in an orphanage, has developed an organic soap that repels mosquitoes. “In 2016 I realised that the interventions that people use locally are the same interventions that had been in use for decades,” she told BBC Focus on Africa. Ms Nalubega also saw that malaria cases were still on the rise in rural Uganda despite government campaigns. “A lot of people have tried to do what the governments are telling them, gotten mosquito nets and sleep in them but then because they still get malaria they have given up on them,” she said. Ms Nalubega says the soap she developed can be used every day. It is available in shops and hospitals and has been subsidised for poor communities. Her invention has seen her reach the final list of the Jack Ma Foundation award for African entrepreneurs that helps start-ups to grow their ventures.

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