From Visa Setback to Tech Founder: How a 23-year-old Ghanaian built his own tech product

A 23-year-old Ghanaian engineer, Melvin, has detailed how he turned a difficult period of 90 days deadline to secure his next opportunity in the United States of America (USA) into becoming the inventor of a device that enables a person to stay connected with loved ones.

Melvin developed the Makoma bracelet, a six-beaded wearable device that allows people to communicate through touch and voice messages without having to constantly check their phones.

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Melvin was born and raised in Ghana before moving to the United States on a scholarship to study biomedical engineering at the University of Florida, with a minor in electrical engineering.

After completing university, he undertook research internships at Princeton University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), followed by three years of research in deep brain stimulation.

He later applied to 17 graduate programmes as he planned to continue his studies. Only two of the applications were successful, including an offer from Columbia University, with the remaining 15 rejected.

Melvin said he graduated with a Biomedical Engineering degree, an Electrical Engineering minor, four publications, and a 3.83 GPA.

He then shifted his focus to finding a job and secured an offer from Neuralink, the brain-computer technology company founded by Elon Musk.

However, the offer was later withdrawn because the company was unwilling to fund his visa as an international student.

The setback left him with 90 days to find another job or take up one of the two PhD offers, including the opportunity at Columbia University.

Instead of giving up, Melvin decided to invest his savings and time in developing his own technology, but the idea behind the Makoma bracelet came from an earlier and more personal experience.

His visa application had been denied three times, preventing his family from travelling to the US for his graduation.

He therefore attended the ceremony alone and could only speak to his mother through FaceTime.

That moment made him think about how he could stay connected to people he loved even when they were far away. The idea was to create something that could help him “feel his mother’s touch and voice” even when they were apart.

Just 54 days after his graduation, Melvin had built the first working prototype of the Makoma bracelet and was ready for pilot testing.

The bracelet works with a phone, which acts as a relay between users. Each of its six beads can be assigned to a particular person in the user’s circle.

A touch or pause on a specific bead lets the wearer know who is contacting them without having to look at a screen.

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The bracelet can also be used to send an emergency alert by tapping a bead. People who do not own a Makoma bracelet can still communicate with someone who has one by sending voice messages through their phones.

The Makoma user can receive and respond to those messages through the bracelet.

@melvin_oop #fyp #startup #wakandaforever #tech ♬ original sound - Melvin / MAKOMA

MAG/VPO

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