PearlOxy Uganda Limited: Powering Life When the Lights Go Out

Editor Corporate NewsUpdated 16 hours Ago2 Mins read34

In Uganda, one glaring puzzle keeps health-care teams up at night: power cuts. On average, nearly 44 % of health-care facilities experience outages 3 to 5 times a week, shutting off oxygen concentrators and placing the most vulnerable children at risk.
Enter PearlOxy Uganda Limited, a bold, home-grown solution built by Ugandan biomedical engineers to turn blackout fear into backup assurance.

The Innovation

The team at PearlOxy designed the “MPOS” (Medium Pressure Oxygen Storage) system: a locally-made device with a 2,000-liter oxygen-storage capacity that activates the moment the lights go out. It supplies four hours of backup oxygen to four children simultaneously, giving hospitals the breathing space they desperately need.
But the innovation does not stop at storage. The IoT integration transforms MPOS into a smart system: remote monitoring, predictive alerts, and real-time notifications ensure health-care providers know exactly when to act.
And the impact? At a cost of only US $33 per healthy life‐year gained (DALY), they’re offering something far more powerful than a standby tank. By comparison, the World Bank estimates about US $ 1,000 per healthy life-year in some contexts, meaning PearlOxy could essentially save 30 children’s lives for every one life that traditional funding supports.

Meet the Team

Ainembabazi Cathybert – CEO & Strategy Lead; Biomedical Engineer, FI Graduate
Agasha Faith Anne Marie – Alliance & Compliance Lead; BME, Certified PMP
Kibirige Stephen – Lead R&D; Biomedical Engineer, Lead BME Salutem
Habirah Mahmood Mutangana – CTO & Hardware Specialist; Biomedical Engineer

Together, they bring Ugandan ownership, deep technical depth, and a crystal-clear mission: reliable oxygen access for all.

From PitchFest to Recognition

During the six-week incubation at the Makerere Innovation and Incubation Centre (MIIC), the PearlOxy team arrived focused on hardware—but mentor feedback revealed a missing piece: the software layer. The result: MPOS evolved into a full “uninterruptible oxygen system.” Their entry at PitchFest 2025 earned them first runner-up, along with a US$1,000 prize and a sharpened narrative around the $33/DALY impact. Beyond PitchFest, PearlOxy also secured second place at the Startup World Cup Uganda Regional Final, where they stood out among over 100 startups. These accolades mark them not just as participants but as rising stars in Uganda’s med-tech ecosystem.

What’s Next

PearlOxy’s roadmap is ambitious and focused on long-term impact:

Jan–Apr 2026: Finalise two MPOS prototypes, integrate full IoT software, secure ethics clearance from the Uganda National Council for Science and Technology (UNCST)
From July 2026: Pilot launch in five regional hospitals. Each unit is expected to save 200–300 children annually
End of 2027: After NDA, UNBS, and CE approvals, deploy 45 more units (totaling 50 across 35–40 facilities)
By 2030: Scale to 300 units, avert 1,200 DALYs each year, create local jobs for biomedical engineers, and remain Ugandan-owned and mission-driven

Why It Matters

This isn’t just a med-tech startup; it’s a system-level intervention. Uganda’s oxygen infrastructure has long faced challenges: frequent outages, unreliable supply chains, and limited remote monitoring. PearlOxy flips the script: instead of just generating oxygen, they generate reliability, even when the lights go out.
It’s innovations like these, born in Kampala, staffed by local talent, and laser-focused on regional problems, that begin to rewrite the health-access narrative across Africa.