Mosla mosquito trap by inventor who just finished 8th grade

It wasn’t until the Mosla mosquito trap was patented that people started calling Nguyen Van Khoe an inventor. He appeared on Shark Tank season 2 with his solar drying project and only had an 8th grade education.

Bẫy muỗi Mosla của nhà sáng chế mới học hết lớp 8 — *Mr. Nguyen Van Khoe and the Mosla mosquito trap he invented - Photo: CONG TRIEU*

Mosla mosquito trap is not simply a product for him to start-up, but also from his pain to find a solution to suppress dengue fever.

Green mosquito catcher

The large mechanical workshop owned by Mr. Khoe is in Cu Chi district (HCMC). As the name suggests, at the age of 60, Mr. Nguyen Van Khoe still cuts steel as quickly as the young workers in the workshop. "I am haunted when reading newspapers and listening to the radio, everywhere there is news about dengue fever, the number of dengue fever cases in HCMC is increasing, and the whole clean and green country of Singapore is currently experiencing an outbreak of dengue fever," Mr. Khoe explained the reason for Mosla's creation. In fact, he started researching mosquito traps in 2016. When the market already had mosquito coils, sprays, electric rackets, or more modern methods of cultivating genetically modified mosquitoes. However, dengue fever is still breaking out in many places in the country and the world . It seems that the existing measures are not optimal. Without using electricity or chemicals, what can be done to kill mosquitoes? The question has troubled him forever. The inventor only studied until grade 8, reading books and newspapers to learn about the habits and reproduction of mosquitoes. Understanding the characteristics and life cycle of mosquitoes was also when he came up with the idea for the device. The mosquito trap is designed in a round, hollow shape, forming a water jar with a lid. On the lid, there are small gaps that Mr. Khoe likens to "bait" to attract mother mosquitoes to come and lay eggs.

With Mosla, there is no dengue fever, that is the declaration and mission for the product, this business was born.

Inventor NGUYEN VAN KHOE

All are made of plastic, can use recycled plastic from plastic waste, does not consume electricity, does not generate smoke that affects users. Mr. Khoe confidently introduces Mosla mosquito trap as the only "green" mosquito catching and killing product currently on the market! "With natural conditions and weather like our country, I think there is no way to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. Thinking simply, I made a jar of water in a dark corner to "lure" the mother mosquito to lay eggs, but even if the larvae hatch into mosquitoes, they cannot escape, so after a few days they die", Mr. Khoe confided.

Mosla mosquito trap ends its mission when dengue fever ends

There were many obstacles in the research project of this man who had just finished 8th grade. The design and understanding of plastic materials were almost zero, so at first he struggled. The first version of the product was flawed. The gap on the lid was too small for mosquitoes to enter, then too big for baby mosquitoes to escape. The height, width, minimum water level... were all recalculated. At the end of November 2017, after about a dozen iterations over 2 years, Mr. Khoe was finally satisfied with the complete design of his mosquito trap. Long-term experiments showed that the rate of mosquitoes entering to nest and lay eggs was very high. When the details were refined, the rate of larvae developing into mosquitoes that returned to the outside environment was estimated at only 1%. At this time, Mr. Khoe submitted the product and presentation to register a patent for the Mosla mosquito trap. However, the time to review this application was also very long, and he himself admitted that there were times when he was so busy with work that he forgot that he had invented the Mosla mosquito trap.

Mr. Khoe once submitted a Mosla mosquito trap to participate in and won third prize in the Dong Nai Province Innovation and Startup Competition in 2024. He calculated that each Mosla mosquito trap sold on the market costs about 100,000 VND, but its usage value is almost permanent. If not applied too much force, the product will continue to meet its goals and usage value.

It took more than 5 years from the time the application was submitted for the exclusive patent for the useful mosquito-catching solution Mosla to be recognized and handed over to inventor Nguyen Van Khoe. He confided that at that moment, he longed to bring the Mosla mosquito trap to the market, continuing the initial mission of "with Mosla, no dengue fever" when he started researching. Although it is not yet on the market, the inventor looks forward to the moment when dengue fever is pushed back and mosquitoes are prevented. "In fact, being able to announce the closure of the business and stop producing Mosla mosquito traps is a happiness because I have fulfilled my mission," Mr. Khoe smiled.