Twenty-year-old Sebelewongel Biruk used to receive sharp criticism from her family on her ability to bake injera, a sour flatbread made of teff.

She was never able to bake the perfect injera and found the task to be tedious, time consuming and unenjoyable. That is when she started thinking of solutions.

"I thought anyone would want to avoid the task if there were an alternative means, and such an option could be of great help in the households across Ethiopia," said Sebelewongel.

She started doodling designs when she was in high school and said the product development took close to two years as she was busy when she became a full-time medical student at Black Lion Specialised Medical Hospital.

"I spent a significant amount of time reading and doing research online, as the area was not my profession, and there was a lot I had to learn," said Sebelewongel.

The complete injera processor Sebelewongel designed does not need any human intervention. It can carry out the whole process required to bake injeraon its own from mixing raw dough with water to taking out and piling the baked injera.

The machine also has an option to let its users decide on the thickness of the injera, the speed it bakes as well as colour.

Two years ago, when she was showcasing her product at an event, she got suggestions that she should patent her innovation. Subsequently, she started the process of registering her injeraprocessor at the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office (EIPO).

She went through all the procedures from filling out forms to publishing a notice of her innovation on a newspaper and waiting for three months to see if anyone objected to her patent request. Finally, after two years, her innovation was patented under her name.

Sebelewongel is glad her processor was patented and feels secure about it. She is one of the 95 people that got their innovations patented in the passing Ethiopian year by the Ethiopian Intellectual Property Office, which was established with the principal objective of giving protection for innovations in the country.

Getting innovations certified is the first and major step in protecting one's ideas, work and goodwill, according to Elias Mohammed, public relations officer at EIPO.

The office also facilitates the commercialisation of intellectual property (IP) assets through the distribution of information to different entities so that the technology can be optimised, transferred and promoted to the general public, according to Elias.

The Office is structured in four core departments and gives IP protection in four areas. Its main department works on issuing a patent for utility model innovations, innovations at a small scale level, as well as registering, examining and certifying patents for industrial designs.

Its second department deals with trademark registration & protection, while the third extends protection for literary and artistic works through copyright law. The last is the Intellectual Property Asset Development Department, which manages and governs IP issues.

In the passing Ethiopian year, the Office issued 95 patents, 3,245 trademarks and 366 copyright certificates. Out of them, Fortunezeroed in on 10 captivating innovations.

A COMPLETE INJERA PROCESSOR

The machine, which was invented by Sebelewongel, takes up tasks from raw ingredient entry through dough mixing and baking to aerate, collect and store each loaf of injera.

It saves processing time by heating the flour before the battering stage, and also by raising the temperature of the dough chamber to facilitate fermentation. Major components of the processor include the decantation tube, yeast storage cavity, linseed brush, dough faucet, lithe plate as a take-out slide and drawer.

"The invention is compatible with modern kitchens, saves time and energy, is less spacious and has a multi-purpose processor," said Sebelewongel.

TEFF AND FERTILISER ROW FARMING MACHINE

The machine, which was built by Kidane Gebreselassie and Dawit Melese, brought together a farmer and mechanical engineer in Bishoftu, Oromia Regional State. The machine spent the past five years in development and the one that got patented this year is the 14th version of the first prototype.

“Extra caution needs to be taken when planting teffand using fertiliser, since the crop is susceptible to chemicals," said Kidane.

While fertiliser can be beneficial when a teffseed is planted, the seed gets wasted if it comes in touch with the fertiliser, added Kidane.

The machine uses a vibrator connected to a power source to plant teffseeds while applying fertiliser at the same time, managing perfectly to keep the two from getting in contact.