A while back, I introduced you to the Kantanka: a 4×4 AWD Made in Ghana by Ghanaians for Ghanaians which was the brainchild of Dr. Kwadwo Safo, and whose work had been featured on the BBC, Forbes, and Al-Jazeera. Today, I would like to introduce you to a young Togolese inventor in Togo who made his own homemade 4×4 AWD with all recycled materials, all by himself in a year. We salute his creativity, and wish for more great inventions and sponsoring of the youth by our governments and private sectors. Africa needs her sons and daughters to partake in her development, and creativity should be supported. Excerpts below are from AfricaNews. Enjoy!

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A young Togolese inventor is making waves with his self-made 4X4 car, constructed using mostly recycled materials.

Sourou-Edjareyo Malazouwe, 25, is a self-taught engineer with a passion for sports cars. But as he could not afford to buy one himself, he decided his only option was to build one himself.

‘I finished secondary school in 2016 and after that, I started my own business, selling and repairing mobile phones and computers. It’s because of that that I could afford to build this car,’ he said.

Work got underway about a year ago in his workshop in the Forever district of the capital, Lomé, and the first model has been out on the road for some time now. The young inventor has named the car the ‘RAF-X Raptor’, a play on his own nickname, Raouf.

‘I used a lot of recycled parts. I paid for a few new ones. In this box you can see parts from Titan buses, from motorcycles, from cars, it depends. I get the parts from everywhere which is how I manage,’ he says.

Malazouwe says there are plenty of people who are impressed by the car and he has received several orders for one, …

In the meantime, he is the pride of Togo. In May, he met with the country’s Prime Minister, Victoire Tomégah-Dogbé Dogbé, who later tweeted that she was amazed and charmed by his genius.

‘I told him how proud we were and reiterated the government’s commitment to support him,’ she said, adding that her government was proud to help develop the enormous potential of Togo’s youth.