The low-down on AidPods

The AidPod is at the heart of the ColaLife model.

The AidPod is a wedge-shaped container that fits between the necks of the bottles in a crate of Coca-Cola. It makes use of unused space to get simple medicines, such as oral rehydration salts, and other social products like water purification tablets to the places that Coca-Cola gets ie most places.

This short animation shows how the AidPod works.

The next animation explains how the whole process would work: from getting the social products into the AidPods to their effective use at the destination.

We are currently (November 2009) seeking funding to build prototype AidPods and test them under field conditions. When we are happy with the prototype design, we want to manufacture several thousand so that we can start properly evaluated trials.

We also need funding to design and develop the processes behind the ColaLife model. We are now convinced that the delivery of an AidPod to its destination should be as finacially attractive as the delivery of Coca-Cola. For ColaLife to be sustainable, the micro-enterprises that make money out of deliverying Coca-Cola should also make money from the delivery of AidPods.

So how would this work in practice? Initially we’d like to investigate the use of mobile phone, SMS-based systems to:

  1. Confirm delivery
  2. Trigger micro-payments to the person who confirms delivery and to the person who delivered the AidPod

This is the second area of activity that we need funding for. If you can help, our contact details are here.