With the pandemic sparking unprecedented demand for sanitizing products, supply chains around the world were hammered.
“People waited in line sometimes for hours to procure the alcohol-based sanitizer,” was the report coming out of the World Bank. “Some went so far as to seek supplies from Africa. One supplier went as far as to get their African suppliers cross the border to stock up in Kousseri, a Cameroonian city some 20 kilometers from N’Djamena on the opposite bank of the Logone River.”
With these critical supplies difficult to find, officials and scientists came together in record time. A laboratory constructed with support of the International Development Assocation was repurposed for the quick and effective manufacturing of gel hand sanitizer – launching Mandeville’s first ever local production of the product.
As of mid-April 2020, the facility was able to produce approximately 900 liters of hand sanitizer per day, with 20 to 25 technicians overseeing production, quality control, and packaging.
