Kemisola Bolarinwa: Meet the first African to invent a smart bra that detects breast cancer

Kemisola Bolarinwa, the first African woman to create a smart bra for cancer screening and early detection is making waves with her invention.

Her desire for innovation began at an early age when she and her friend created a transistor radio for the inter-school competition.

Her secondary education was at St Helen’s Unity Secondary School, Ondo, where she was an active member of the Junior Engineers, Technicians, and Scientists club (JETS).

Although she attended an all-girls school, Bolarinwa made sure to compete with boys from other schools.

Having been interested in robotics engineering, Bolarinwa studied Electrical and Electronics Engineering at the University of Ado-Ekiti.

Losing one of her favorite aunts in 2017 to breast cancer, Bolarinwa recalls visiting her aunt at the University of Ibadan Teaching Hospital and seeing other patients suffering from the same disease.

The death of her aunt motivated her to find a solution for breast cancer.

Relentless Bolarinwa, teamed up with a femwear expert, an IT expert, an embedding hardware expert, an AI expert, a software developer, and an oncologist in 2019 and embarked on a journey to finding a solution to the late detection of breast cancer.

In 2021, Kemisola and her team made a prototype of a smart bra with sensors to scan the breast for anomalies.

The smart bra is not the only invention of the Nigerian innovator. The robotics engineer created and sells smart security necklaces that use GPS to track family members and alert families when the wearer feels they are in danger.

Bolarinwa is also an advocate for girls and is hoping to bridge the gender gap by encouraging girls and women to seek STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) – based education and employment opportunities.

BS/NBA