The nafas app
In 2018, Piotr Jakubowski noticed that the air quality in his birth city Jakarta had deteriorated over years. This prompted him to conduct a research to understand the gravity of the problem, and the findings were just astonishing.
“Air pollution causes about 8.8 million deaths a year, US$2.9 trillion in economic loss and 1.8 billion days of sick leave,” said Jakubowski, who previously held the role of CMO gojek. “This is a staggering loss of health and productivity.”
So, in 2019, Jakubowski reconnected with his school friend and founder of wearables startup Zulu, Nathan Roestandy, who also shared the same concern about impact of the deteriorating air quality in the archipelago and beyond.
“Together we decided to create an ecosystem and raise awareness, and nafas was born,” he said.
nafas — which means “breath” in Bahasa — was launched in September 2020 with the vision of bringing air quality data and knowledge to the people of Jabodetabek (the Jakarta metropolitan area).
The key component of the nafas ecosystem is a network of about 65 on-ground air quality sensors, which have been deployed in areas such as Jakarta, Tangerang, South Tangerang, Bekasi, Bogor and Depok.
The sensors were developed by Airly, an EU startup whose outdoor sensors were listed as one of the best by Airparif, a French organisation focused on air quality topics, in 2019.
The sensors — which have collected over 10 million data points over the last six months — send the data to the nafas mobile app which displays and updates air quality data every 20 minutes.
The app also allows users to save their most important locations in one place, so they can take a quick glance at the current status of air quality in their location before conducting any outdoor activity.
Users can also set alerts to receive air quality notifications.
It also has ‘Air Quality 101’, a learning material which is available in both English and Bahasa Indonesia.
Busting the myths around air pollution
nafas co-founder and Chief Growth Officer Piotr Jakubowski
According to Jakubowski, there are many popular myths around air pollution and air quality. These include misconceptions such as ‘I live in an area with a lot of trees, so I’m safe’, ‘the worst pollution is during peak traffic on the roads’, and ‘there are no cars where I live, so it can’t be polluted!’
“Air pollution is a problem you generally can’t see; it is an ‘invisible killer‘,” he warned. “By bringing outdoor air quality data to your neighbourhood, we ensure that you are aware that living in a green, residential part of the city doesn’t mean you are not affected.”
Starting with Greater Jakarta
Of the top 10 capital cities in the world with the worst air pollution, eight are in Asia which have a combined population of over 100 million. This population breathes air that is 3-5x above the limits set by the World Health Organisation.
Jakarta is on this list, where lifetime exposure to the 2019 air quality levels corresponded to a predicted 4.8 years reduction in life expectancy, according to the Air Quality Life Index published by the University of Chicago.
(In 2010 alone, there was over US$4 billion in economic loss in the city due to the over 5.5 million cases of air pollution-related illnesses.)
Recently, Berkley Earth developed a scale comparing air pollution levels to the number of cigarettes smoked. According to this scale, just breathing outdoor air in Jakarta in August 2020 was the equivalent of smoking 84 cigarettes.
“Contrary to popular belief, our data show that the worst time for air quality in Greater Jakarta is between 4 am to 9 am,” he shared. “This is when many of the residents do their morning exercise.
“Since heavy exercise increases breathing volume, many people who thought they were getting healthy when exercising in the morning were actually putting themselves at risk by conducting outdoor activities when air pollution was high,” he warned.
nafas has also created a report, called ‘Does exercising in Jakarta’s air pollution impact our health?’. Based on the findings of the report, the startup has added a special feature on the app for athletes, which alerts them to reduce exercise when air quality levels increase risks of health issues.
“In highly polluted cities like Jakarta, prolonged exposure to bad outdoor air quality increases health risk. This is why we have added the ‘Trainer’ feature to the app,” he said.
“In Greater Jakarta, we are focusing on building communities of people who, by learning about the air quality problem, become advocates of our brand,” he remarked.
Also Read: This IoT device monitors air quality using laser tech that counts each individual air particle
The app (available on iOS and Android) is and will always be free for consumers, so more people understand the gravity of the problem.
On being asked about monetisation, Jakubowski revealed: “The possibilities for monetisation are rooted in data — there is simply no other source of on-ground air quality data at the density and size of nafas. Our mission is to grow nafas into the most robust and most respected air quality data source.”
Leveraging the gojek experience
Jakubowski, who headed the marketing department at gojek from January 2016 to August 2018, said that his more-than-two-years of experience at the tech giant has ingrained two things in his mind: the importance of prioritisation and the power of communities.
“For any business”, he opined, “it is incredibly important at the beginning to narrow down and really understand your core users; those who gain the highest value from your product/service and who have the highest potential of becoming evangelists. By focusing and prioritising on this beachhead, you have the opportunity to build an incredibly strong community that will be key to driving future growth.”
Bootstrapped until recently, nafas now has several angels backing it.
“Air pollution is not just a climate problem, it is an enormous health problem. We are glad to have conversations with VC firms that are looking to contribute in this global battle,” Jakubowski signed off.
—
Image Credit: nafas
The post This app from gojek’s ex-CMO notifies you about the quality of air in your location every 20 minutes appeared first on e27.