RISD grad has designs to grow his firm in R.I.

Before attending the Rhode Island School of Design, Jr Neville Songwe designed a wheelchair for athletes while studying in Italy and gave cell phones a new look during a job in Korea. With his latest creation – which reshapes the insides of police cars – he wants to grow his young design firm in Rhode Island.

Yet Songwe says the firm’s future in the state depends on his success in gaining resources to further develop his police car design. Realizing the potential for the invention to create jobs here, state political and business leaders are beginning to listen to the industrial designer.

“I think our objective is we have to keep [Songwe] in Rhode Island, and help him and the people he works with succeed here,” said Edward M. Mazze, dean of the College of Business at the University of Rhode Island. To that end, Mazze last month joined the advisory board of Joneso Design, Songwe’s firm.

Because Rhode Island finds it difficult to compete with larger states’ low tax rates and living costs, many of the top thinkers in business and academia say the state needs to position itself as an incubator for new products and technologies. And the state must retain more of its top graduates to make this happen.

Songwe and his firm fit those two mandates to a tee. He, for one, graduated with a master’s degree in industrial design from RISD last spring. Secondly, his company thrives on innovation. But will he stay?

“I turned down a job in China, turned down a job in Korea, and believed that Rhode Island would help me,” said Songwe, 31, who grew up in western Africa’s Cameroon, and whose parents now live in Washington, D.C.

“I got my education in Rhode Island. I did my research in Rhode Island. So why should I operate this business [elsewhere]?” he added.

So far, leaders in the state have stepped up to help Songwe. RISD President Roger Mandle has promoted the police car project since it was first proposed in 2004, introducing him to Providence Police Chief Col. Dean Esserman, who donated a Ford Crown Victorian for Songwe’s prototype.

Also, top professionals have volunteered to serve on Joneso’s advisory board, including Mazze, along with Capt. Steven Melaragno, of the Providence Police; Justin Ania, from Urban Ventures; Don De Luca, an industrial designer; William Richardson, of SCORE; Nelson Gregor, a retired U.S Army capptain; and Anthony Pencek, a CPA.

Still, Songwe said his company needs development dollars to bring his design for the cab of police cars to the market. Mazze estimated that $400,000 would cover the cost of developing a functioning model of the design – which aims to give police easier and safer access to computers and other communication systems in their patrol cars.

Songwe presented the design to U.S. Sen. Jack Reed’s senior staff earlier this month, hoping to get federal research and development funding. He has plans to show the design to U.S. Rep. Patrick J. Kennedy’s office and the R.I. Economic Development Corporation. Last month, Lt. Gov. Charles J. Fogarty’s R.I. Small Business Advocacy Council viewed the project.

Mazze said the design has definite market potential. Police and security cars total some 300,000 in the United States, with an annual replacement rate of 15 percent to 20 percent, he noted. The design also could work in other emergency vehicles, expanding its profit potential. (Because patents are pending, Songwe would not disclose details about the police car design or other products under development.)

The success of the design – named “Brijo” after Songwe’s mother, Brigette, and father, Joachim – could be a boon for the state, Mazze said. “I could easily see this business employing up to 100 people, working directly for [Songwe] on the design side and the assembly side.”

The “Brijo” system has been Joneso’s mainstay, but Songwe is working on other products, with an eye toward assisting disabled people. His wheelchair design offers greater stability during sporting events. He is also developing a cup that prevents fluids from spilling when shaken, useful for people with Parkinson’s disease.

Though Joneso isn’t a one-product company, Songwe is the only full-time employee at this point, and he said he needs funding to hire engineers to bring the “Brijo” system to life. “If there’s not a way to find funding in Rhode Island,” he said, “I’d close up Joneso, and I’d get a job in Asia.”