From Raindrops To Gold Mine : Creativity at Work

Sometimes the best business ideas comes from seeking answers to unasked questions – thinking for the customer- or tapping from free resource. No one asked for an iPod or Google search, but the ability of Steve Jobs, Larry Page and Sergey Brin to think on our behalf and proffer solutions for the future have helped shape the world, while they amassed a fortune.

"Money never starts an idea.  It is always the idea that starts the money"

Ever thought about rain as a resource? Well, daring entrepreneur Joel Mwale has. Mwale built on a possible solution to the problem of access to clean water while he was recuperating from dysentery, which he got from consuming contaminated water provided by his municipal council during Kenya’s annual dry season.

Whilst still in his teenage years, he thought about possible solutions to combat a recurring problem with dysentery. This led Mwale to build a borehole in his village, investing all his savings on the project at that. ”I thought that what if this thing keeps on happening, year in, year out, what if next year the same problem happens?” Joel opined.

Today, Mwale has move from a $95 investment into building a borehole to creating SkyDrop Enterprises, a water harvesting project, which purifies, bottles and packages rain water for sale. The inspiration to create SkyDrop Enterprises was quite peculiar. “I remember it was in April during one of the heavy rainy season in Kitale. I was just walking as the rain poured and happened to spot a closed down yoghurt shop. Next to the building there was this water tank that was storing the rain water from the gutters of the roof,” he explains.

“So I said that if there’s anything that I could do to be able to trap this rain water, store it in a reservoir, then be able to purify it and sell it to the public, this would be a good idea.”


Mwale once described his financial constraints and how it was difficult to convince possible financiers that his idea was a viable one. Notwithstanding, he had already managed to convince the owner of the yoghurt shop to lease him the location.
Most significantly, Joel Mwale knocked on doors of all the local banks and NGOs for funding, and they all declined his proposal. “I guess they did not see my idea as viable. Besides, who could listen to a 16-year-old school drop-out?” he recalls.
Entrepreneurship is the point where creativity meets innovation and resourcefulness. After his idea was frowned upon by prospective financiers, Joel raised his own finance by deciding to lease his father’s land — his mother didn’t like the idea.


Slowly, SkyDrop Enterprises has been gaining market share, in the lucrative drinking water market in Trans Nzoia. In 2012, the company sold over 33,000 bottles, after initially only being able to sell about 10 bottles of water a day, as a result of significant competition from already established drinking water bottlers.
In 2011, Joel won the Anzisha Prize for Youth Leadership, recognizing innovative solutions to solve problems facing their communities. After winning the prize that comes with a $30,000 cheque, it also enabled him to provide for his family, offer employment to a growing number of people in his community.

As he continues to get high praise for his work, MasterCard Foundation provided $2.5 million to support his project in 2012. He has invested the money into acquiring a piece of land on which boreholes will be drilled. Already, improved growth prospects are being forecast after completion of drilling a new borehole.
“The borehole will make it possible for us to produce 6,000 litres of water per hour. This will be an addition to our current plant that gives us 5,000 litres of water per hour.

“And since the water produced by the borehole may be more than what we intend to use, we have plans to pipe the surplus to the community at no cost, serving a population of 500,000,” he adds.

According to him, “I think there are many more youths who are sitting on their potential. But, the most important thing is that in order for Africa to realize its goals, the youths and everyone will need to embrace the true spirit of entrepreneurship because it’s only through true entrepreneurship that people are able to utilize their full potential.”

Source :

ventures Africa

Humans relationship with nature and a world in peace - PART: 1

For me, human relationship with nature and a world in peace are inextricably linked. I am not claiming to be an expert any more than anyone else is, just a young man trying to understand the world and our place within it. As an animal on this planet like any other, our relationship with the natural world is what makes us who we are and brings us closer to contentment and an understanding of the bigger picture.

 

 

 

In my life, I strive to have the biggest picture view of the world and life as I can. Building on this by (amongst other things) having new experiences, travelling to new places, learning about other cultures, having a thirst for knowledge, understanding the science of things and sharing thoughts with people. The better understanding we have of the world and the way it works, the more we can lead ourselves through life in the best way possible.

 This big picture view allows you to keep life in perspective, make rational decisions and help you not get caught up in the little stuff. Imagine the earth from out of space. That glowing ball of life, floating in the midst of an endless black abyss. Then think of yourself within that image and next time something is bothering you, ask yourself the question: 'on the big scale of things, does this really matter? Should I allow this to ruin my day and put a negative on my mood?' Once you are able to tap into this perspective it will help you live a happier and more fulfilled life.

‘The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitude' -William James

 

I have come to this thought mainly by my time spent in nature. Being in the natural elements of this world is humbling and inspiring. Seeing life in all shapes and sizes existing harmoniously with each other. Every day I think how lucky I am. For me to be here today, every living creature (my ancestors) from the beginning of life on this planet has survived long enough to have reproduced. They have made it possible for me to be brought into the world and experience the magic of life for myself. As have you... Our family is not only that of blood but every living creature in this world. We are all brothers and sisters in this miracle of life and it is important that we respect this relationship. Albert Einstein once said:

 

"A human being is a part of the whole, called by us the 'Universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.”

What I love about his words here is that the mere striving for such a perspective is in itself creating the foundation for being a happier person. Therefore we don’t need to put all the focus on ‘what can I do’ but on trying to be the best you can be and the rest will come. The happier you are, then the more happiness you will spread to others and environments around you will benefit. We can make a better world.

For Part 2 of this Blog entry please click here

 

 

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR :

 

 SAM BRANSON  is a Social Entrepreneur and Founder of SUNDOG Pictures, Documentary Film Maker and a person dedicated to making the world a better place. Love's life and people even more!!!   he blogs at SamsBlog follow him @SamBranson

 

 

 

Nelson Mandela : A Legacy for future Innovators

"It always seems impossible until its done"

"May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears"

"Difficulties break some men but make others. No axe is sharp enough to cut the soul of a sinner who keeps on trying, one armed with the hope that he will rise even in the end."

"When you let your light shine, you unconsciously give others permission to do the same"

"A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination"

"One cannot be prepared for something while secretly believing it will not happen"

"Lead from the back and make others believe they are in front"

"I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but triumph over it"

"I like friends who have independent minds because they tend to make you see problems from all angles."

"Real leaders must be ready to sacrifice all for the freedom of their people."

"Everyone can rise above their circumstances and achieve success if they are dedicated to and passionate about what they do."

"Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

WHY THE FUTURE OF THE OCEAN IS AT RISK

The bamboo coral, Isidella species novum, has a jointed skeleton of dense calcite, or bone, very similar to the human spine.

 Throughout human history the deep ocean has often inspired wonder and fear. It is the home of legendary leviathans of the deep which struck fear in the hearts of ancient mariners and the source of the so-called "primordial ooze", at one time believed to be the origin of life itself.

"We know that seamounts support large pools of undiscovered species, but we cannot yet predict what is on the unstudied ones. The tragedy is that we may never know how many species become extinct before they are even identified"- Dr. Frederick Grassle, Rutgers University 

PHOTO courtesy of
the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition

The most destructive method of deep-sea fishing is 'bottom trawling' which drags heavy steel plates, cables and nets across the ocean floor destroying cold water corals, sponges, sea-pens, xenophyophores and many other species that form the basic structure of deep-sea ecosystems. The scale of the threat to the marine biodiversity of the deep-sea as result of bottom trawling as well as other methods of deep-sea fishing is yet unknown, but potentially comparable to the threat to terrestrial biodiversity associated with the loss of tropical rainforest's. Many thousands of species may be at risk, most of which are still unknown to science. source - DSCC





Not only are deep-sea fisheries for the most part unsustainable, but the economics of deep-sea fisheries are questionable given the low productivity of deep-sea fish stocks. According to a report published in 2009 by the UN FAO, some 285 vessels flagged to 27 countries were estimated to be engaged in high seas bottom fisheries in 2006 (many only fishing part-time on the high seas). Of this number, 80% were flagged to ten counties: Spain, Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Russian Federation, Australia, Japan, France, Portugal, Belize and Estonia. Over one-third were flagged to European Union countries and the EU fleet took half or more of the high seas bottom catch. The majority of the vessels engage in high seas bottom trawling

A black scabbard, lying on the deck of the EU bottom trawler, Ivan Nores, 17 October, 2004.

 Take 5 minutes, and view this, friend.

When You Kill Ten Million Africans You Aren’t Called ‘Hitler’

King Leopold II of Belgium.

Take a look at this picture. Do you know who it is?

Most people haven’t heard of him.

But you should have. When you see his face or hear his name you should get as sick in your stomach as when you read about Mussolini or Hitler or see one of their pictures. You see, he killed over 10 million people in the Congo.

His name is King Leopold II of Belgium.

He “owned” the Congo during his reign as the constitutional monarch of Belgium. After several failed colonial attempts in Asia and Africa, he settled on the Congo. He “bought” it and enslaved its people, turning the entire country into his own personal slave plantation. He disguised his business transactions as “philanthropic” and “scientific” efforts under the banner of the International African Society. He used their enslaved labor to extract Congolese resources and services. His reign was enforced through work camps, body mutilations, torture, executions, and his own private army.

Most of us aren’t taught about him in school. We don’t hear about him in the media. He’s not part of the widely-repeated narrative of oppression (which includes things like the Holocaust during World War II). He’s part of a long history of colonialism, imperialism, slavery, and genocide in Africa that would clash with the social construction of a white supremacist narrative in our schools. It doesn’t fit neatly into school curriculums in a capitalist society. Making overtly racist remarks is (sometimes) frowned upon in ‘polite’ society; but it’s quite fine not to talk about genocide in Africa perpetrated by European capitalist monarchs.¹

Mark Twain wrote a satire about Leopold called “King Leopold’s Soliloquy; A Defense of His Congo Rule”, where he mocked the King’s defense of his reign of terror, largely through Leopold’s own words. It’s an easy read at 49 pages and Mark Twain is a popular author in American public schools. But like most political authors, we will often read some of their least political writings or read them without learning why the author wrote them in the first place. Orwell’s Animal Farm, for example, serves to reinforce American anti-socialist propaganda about how egalitarian societies are doomed to turn into their dystopian opposites. But Orwell was an anti-capitalist revolutionary of a different kind—a supporter of working class democracy from below—and that is never pointed out. We can read about Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, but “King Leopold’s Soliloquy” isn’t on the reading list. This isn’t by accident. Reading lists are created by boards of education in order to prepare students to follow orders and endure boredom. From the point of view of the Department of Education, Africans have no history.

When we learn about Africa, we learn about a caricatured Egypt, about the HIV epidemic (but never its causes), about the surface level effects of the slave trade, and maybe about South African Apartheid (the effects of which, we are taught, are now long, long over). We also see lots of pictures of starving children on Christian Ministry commercials, we see safaris on animal shows, and we see pictures of deserts in films and movies. But we don’t learn about the Great African War or Leopold’s Reign of Terror during the Congolese Genocide. Nor do we learn about what the United States has done in Iraq and Afghanistan, killing millions of people through bombs, sanctions, disease, and starvation. Body counts are important. And the United States Government doesn’t count Afghan, Iraqi, or Congolese people.

Though the Congolese Genocide isn’t included on Wikipedia’s “Genocides in History” page, it does mention the Congo. What’s now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo is listed in reference to the Second Congo War (also called Africa’s World War and the Great War of Africa), where both sides of the regional conflict hunted down Bambenga people—a regional ethnic group—and enslaved and cannibalized them. Cannibalism and slavery are horrendous evils which must be entered into history for sure, but I couldn’t help thinking whose interests were served when the only mention of the Congo on the page was in reference to regional incidents where a tiny minority of people in Africa were eating each other (completely devoid of the conditions which created the conflict, and the people and institutions who are responsible for those conditions). Stories which support the white supremacist narrative about the subhumanness of people in Africa are allowed to enter the records of history. The white guy who turned the Congo into his own personal part-plantation, part-concentration camp, part-Christian ministry—and killed 10 to 15 million Congolese people in the process—doesn’t make the cut.²

You see, when you kill ten million Africans, you aren’t called ‘Hitler’. That is, your name doesn’t come to symbolize the living incarnation of evil. Your name and your picture don’t produce fear, hatred, and sorrow. Your victims aren’t talked about and your name isn’t remembered.

Leopold was just one of thousands of things that helped construct white supremacy as both an ideological narrative and material reality. I don’t pretend that he was the source of all evil in the Congo. He had generals, and foot soldiers, and managers who did his bidding and enforced his laws. He was at the head of a system. But that doesn’t negate the need to talk about the individuals who are symbolic of the system. But we don’t even get that. And since it isn’t talked about, what capitalism did to Africa, all the privileges that rich white people gained from the Congolese genocide, remain hidden. The victims of imperialism are made, like they usually are, invisible.