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Appreciating enterprise
FEW have heard about the Rolex Awards for enterprise, a prestigious award given to outstanding individuals for their efforts in development. These awards were created to provide visionary men and women world-wide with the financial support and recognition needed to carry out innovative projects. Aimed at fostering a spirit of enterprise around the world, the Rolex Awards recognize pioneering concepts and innovative thought by giving individuals the means to carry out a major undertaking.
The Rolex Awards for Enterprise support outstanding initiatives in the following areas of human endeavour:
— science and medicine;
— technology and innovation;
— exploration and discovery;
— the environment;
— cultural heritage.
Since their foundation in 1976, these awards receive between 1500 and 2500 applications each cycle. Out of these applications, five laureates and five associate laureates are selected. To date, fifty laureates have been awarded this prestigious award.
Pakistan needs to encourage simple innovative ideas, and promote their use throughout the country. It is ingenious ideas such as these that add up to make a difference. Throughout the nation, one sees or hears about ideas, only to have them go to waste because they weren’t acted upon on a timely basis. India has setup two organizations working solely to ensure that their innovations see the light of day.
The following are three examples of Rolex award winners whose simple ideas hold tremendous potential if applied here in Pakistan.
Mohammed Bah Abba (Laureate): This school teacher from Nigeria came up with a solution to maintain and preserve foods for longer periods in the semi-desert areas of Nigeria. Using an innovative pot-in-pot system, with wet sand in between the jars, food can be kept for days. The outside heat causes the water in the sand to evaporate, thus causing cooling in the inner jar. Bah Abba, a 36-year-old native of Nigeria says he wanted to help the development of the rural poor in a cost-effective, participatory and sustainable way.
The innovative cooling system that Bah Abba developed in 1995 has shown promising results. Perishable foods that had to be thrown away could now be stored in areas with no refrigeration. Eggplants that stayed for three days now lasted 27. Similarly, tomatoes, peppers and spinach showed excellent results. Bah Abba manufactures and supplies these pot-in-pot earthenware cooling systems at 30 cents each, and distributes them at his own cost. He hopes that he will see his idea in use throughout his country, as well as other countries with similar hot, dry climates. Pakistan can benefit greatly from Bah Abba’s simple invention. Furthermore, setting up a small industry which makes these simple earthenware pots will provide jobs for our people.
Makato Murase (associate Laureate): A civil servant, with a PhD in Pharmaceutical Science, Makoto Murase has pioneered the techniques for recycling of urban rainwater, and is one of the biggest promoters of the idea of using rainwater to solve urban water shortages, conserve resources and provide a safe, sustainable supply of household water
While many before him have devised rainwater-recycling systems, Murase is the first to develop practical ways to use rain on such a scale in urban environments.
Working alongside architects and engineers, Murase rose to fame when he convinced the city of Tokyo to build a rainwater recycling system into a new arena being built. The water from this system is collected in a 1000 cubic-meter tank, and used for flushing toilets and as an emergency reservoir. He has since then inspired many architects and engineers to re-evaluate rain.
One of his many projects is the creation of “mini-dams” – above-ground catch basins that already dot Tokyo neighbourhoods. Currently, they are used mainly as sources for gardening and other non-drinking applications.
Rainwater, he says, is ideal for drinking, and that should be its primary use, especially in places where ground water is contaminated. While using rainwater for drinking is complicated, as it can need treating and purification, these problems can be overcome. .At the same time, untreated rainwater is perfectly suited for many other household uses, such as “watering our plants, flushing our sewage and washing our clothes.”
Treating rainwater to make it suitable for drinking is proving to be successful in pilot projects. Dr. Murase , working with a local non-profit organization in Bangladesh, has devised a system to bottle rainwater in self-sterilizing packages for use in areas where arsenic has seeped into wells. He has also been a consultant for a project in Taiwan using rainwater to flush toilets and clean cages at Taipei Zoo.
“Skywater” – Murase‘s term for rain – can have many household uses for millions of city-dwellers worldwide. “What we need now is to make people more aware of the potential, and train a new generation of application engineers who understand the how and why of recycling urban rainwater.” At the moment, society is “simply throwing this incredibly valuable resource away”. It is a luxury the world can no longer afford.
Hans Hendrikse (associate Laureate): This 50-year-old architect from South Africa set out to produce a low-cost rollable water container for developing countries. Hans Hendrikse has designed with his brother the Q-drum, an energy-saving, hygienically sealed, tough but easy-to-use rolling water-drum that can be pulled without strain by one adult or two children.
The Hendrikses set out to design an easy-to-move container that could be manufactured economically. It needed to be “as simple, repairable and replaceable as possible” so that it could be used in rural areas, and should not have to be lifted at all.
Combining their architectural and engineering skills, they came up with a drum with a lengthwise doughnut hole which allows the drum to be pulled using a rope that runs through the hole. “The principle of a durable cylindrical container rolled along the ground and pulled by a person walking as normally as possible appealed to us,” explains Hendrikse. The drum can also be turned on its end and stacked. The bung hole has been made large enough for an adult to be able to reach inside and draw water with a mug.
The Q-drum comes in both 50 and 70 litre sizes, so that women as well as children can use it. It is aimed at reducing the time spent in fetching water, as well as to increase the ease with which water can be transported over large distances. It is estimated that in parts of South Africa, women walk up to 30 kilometers a day to collect water for their family. Though the distances might be less here in Pakistan, it is common for women and children in our country to be lugging jerry cans or earthen ‘matkas’ full of water for their use.
An important factor here would be the cost. Currently priced at around US $30, this price would have to be further reduced for this idea to gain widespread popularity in our country.
So far Pakistanis are lagging behind in the field of innovation. So far, no one from our country has been a laureate, though a Pakistani gentleman by the name of Wasey Omar received the Rolex honorable mention award in 1993 for inventing a baulkless double-lift dobby. However, my intention for writing this article is to encourage people with ideas and motivate them to bring their ideas to life. After all, you could be the next winner of the Rolex award.
The writer is a technical officer at Comstech’s new Centre for Innovative Technologies in Islamabad
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