Miri Africa’s Regional Focus on Air Quality

An OpenAQ Partner Profile by Matt Lane

OpenAQ, the world’s largest open-source, open-access air quality data platform, is pleased to announce that Miri Africa is now an OpenAQ air sensor partner. This signifies that Miri Africa supports customer data sharing via OpenAQ and we have a joint technical integration implemented. I recently sat down with Miri Africa’s founder and CEO, Temidayo Oniosun, to discuss the company’s goals, products, and customers. (see Figure 1 below)

Figure 1: The Miri African team (top, Temidayo Oniosun is 7th from the left) and the company’s Miri Air sensor (bottom).

A Devastating Epidemic

Air pollution is a “silent killer” in Africa and accounted for an astounding 198,000 premature deaths in Miri Africa’s home country of Nigeria in 2019.¹ As we kick off our discussion, Temidayo highlights that Africa lacks broad, on-the-ground environmental monitoring. This monitoring is a crucial foundation to help tackle this health crisis for forecasting, raising awareness, research, and guiding governmental policies.

Miri Africa Is Launched

Start-up Miri Africa is stepping up to help address this air quality monitoring gap on the continent. Temidayo starts by telling Miri Africa’s origin story, “We were originally focused on in-situ weather stations, which are also sparse in Africa. As we got into it, we found that air quality has an even more severe data gap. We were also encouraged by the government in Lagos to focus there.” Based on their sensor testing experience and R&D efforts in 2023, they launched Miri Air as a new, home-grown African air sensor product line and platform in 2024.

Built for African Needs

Miri Africa’s ultimate goal is to facilitate a rapid build-out of environmental monitoring networks across Africa. To do this, they have designed and manufactured the product in Africa and for Africa. Temidayo explains, “We addressed the harsh weather conditions and often poor connectivity environment in Africa with Miri Air. Each monitor includes a wide range of sensing elements at an affordable price.” (see Figure 2 below)

Figure 2: The Miri Air sensor with a list of key features optimized for the African market. (OTA = Over the Air and WMO = World Meteorological Organization)

Growing Customer Interest

Miri Africa services two unique segments: government regulators and industrial companies. Temidayo describes how they have worked hand-in-hand with their top customers to co-design the product (e.g., adding additional sensing elements). He goes on to highlight that the industrial side of the business (manufacturing, oil and gas, pharmaceuticals, etc.) is seeing strong organic demand. Temidayo says, “We are finding our customers in the African market appreciate our software dashboards, multi-sensor capability, over-the-air calibration, and flexible connectivity.”

Support for Open Data

Miri Africa is also seeing success with regulators, including one of its initial customers, the Lagos State Environmental Protection Agency (LASEPA), and has since expanded to other Nigerian cities including Ibadan, Abeokuta, and Port Harcourt. (see Figure 3 below)

Figure 3: The LASEPA and Miri Africa team at the outset of their partnership.

LASEPA was struggling with limited data and manual reporting as it sought to curtail the dangerous levels of air pollution in Lagos (the largest city in Africa and one of the fastest growing mega-cities in the world) largely driven by transport and biomass burning. The agency turned to Miri Africa to implement a reliable, continuous, real-time network of more than 80 low-cost sensors in Lagos. (see Figure 4 below) Furthermore, Miri Africa’s support for open data was spearheaded by LASEPA. The agency is sharing its air quality data from a subset of sites with third parties and the global community via the OpenAQ platform. (see Figure 5 below).

Figure 4: LASEPA’s visualization dashboard that is powered by Miri Africa. The network monitors air quality, temperature, and noise levels.

Figure 5: LASEPA shares air quality data from its Miri Air sensors with the global community on the OpenAQ platform.

A Vision for Future Africa

We wrap up our conversation by discussing Miri Africa’s future ambitions. Temidayo explains, “Our long-term vision is for Africa to have tens of thousands of environmental monitors across the continent so governments and private companies everywhere can make better decisions to protect communities. We aim to have 1,000 sensors deployed this year and double that number the following year.” Amidst tight budgets and competing priorities, I am left feeling excited and heartened that a new, native African company is striving to broaden air quality monitoring across the region.

Sources

1. Clean Air Fund, Lagos and Air Pollution