presentacion mana desarrollos
TRANSCRIPT
MANA DesarrollosCreating tools for people with disabilities
MANA is a company dedicated to the creation of tools for disabled people.
Our vision is to be a leading company in the development of technological solutions for disabled people.
Our mission is to create technological solutions based on software and hardware for people with different disabilities so they communicate and work despite their mental or physical limitations.
MANA appeals to skillful professionals to create innovating products that satisfies our customers needs.
Who we are
In 2006, a group of students at Universidad Tecnológica Nacional decided to develop a project that could help people with physical disabilities.
The first idea was to create a device that could be controled by head movements. Different solutions were considered.
Finally, the first prototype was successfully made, MouseCap was born. This device took part in different competitions and got national and international awards related with innovation and design.
The beggining
In Argentina in 2006, devices and software for disabled people had to be imported because there were not local manufacturers. This made unreachable these kind of products for most of the people due to their high prices.
This situation encouraged us to start up our company, MANA Desarrollos.
We decided to participate in Live Wired in order to make our first bussiness plan and try to get funds.
Opportunity
The first challenge was to get enough resources and money to make a small production and also an office in order to have a physical space where we can work and meet with our clients.
At the beggining we did not have contact with disabled people or with health institutions.
We got financial assistance and a small office from Buenos Aires Government in December 2007 and we started to get in touch with health institutions.
We realized that MouseCap was not going to be a massive solution. We decide to create new products that fit people needs in a more massive way.
The first challenge
After one year of experience, we developed 5 products that were created according to client needs.
We found that the local market was not responding as we expected. It was not only an economic issue but also there was a cultural barrier.
According to this situation, we planified new policies that would introduce MANA into the community.
We created aliances with non-governmental organizations and with private health institutions in order to provide solutions to their patients.
This allowed us to be a local reference in assistive technology.
News challenges
2007 2008 2009*
Aliances with institutions 2 11 27
Benefited people 59 531 787
People trainned in assistive technology
8 57 82
Results
*During 2009 winter we were afected by Influenza A virus subtype H1N1 and finnancial global crisis.
MANA Tools
Clients and references
We have planned organizational improvements that will be implemented during 2010, in order to be competitived not only in the local market.
We expect to sell our products in LatinAmerica. We would like to enter to Brazilian and Chile market. Nowadays we are getting contact with a Peru Manufacturer.
We plan to export our software products to European market. Our first contacts in Holland and Denmark are being made at this moment.
Future prospects
