Vision Lent 2020

As we said before, this works really well on a
small scale. I am not sure how this would work
upscaled, I have no idea. If we are working in 26
different countries, I don’t know how possible it
would be to work directly with the plumbers. But
on a small scale, it’s a really good interactive
model’.
[question asked by audience member during
talk]: Is there something to be said for being a
small start-up organisation rather that a largescale
NGO in terms of working closely and effectively
with communities, establishing relationship
of trust and open communication?
Yeah I really do. I feel really strongly about this. A
lot of people I work with feel very patronised by
big NGOs – not to discredit the incredible work
many of them do, but more to state that there is a
difference between aid work and collaborative
working. The difference between Tom and I, as
two engineers from Cambridge, and two engineers
from Uganda, is that where we are from
differs in economic terms. There is no difference
in our knowledge or skills.
SO WORKING ON A SMALL COMMUNITY
SCALE SEEMS TO BE A MODEL THAT IS MUCH
MORE EMPOWERING … COLLABORATING,
SHARING IDEAS, SELLING TECHNOLOGY,
ADAPTING TO AND LEARNING NEW WAYS OF
USING THE TECHNOLOGY.
[question asked by audience member during
talk]: Any advice for students who have an
idea and want to be an entrepreneur?
The best way to be an entrepreneur is just to do
it. The best thing about it is that you can just do it
tomorrow… You can just wake up with an idea,
make a website, and go. One thing that deters
people is the risk. It’s always going to feel terrifying
because you are running away from this security.
That’s why being a student is prime time to
become an entrepreneur and at least trying it out,
because there’s less risk. If it doesn’t work out,
you tried, and you’ve still got the security of higher
education. And if it does work… it’s a win-win
scenario.
Could you explain a little bit more about who
the main target audience of BlueTap is?
WHO THE AUDIENCE IS ENTIRELY
DICTATED BY THE TECHNOLOGY
Its kind of dictated by the fact that the original
problem came from working in Mexico City, with
Mexico being an emerging market, so its not at all
the poorest billion living in rural areas. So the way
that the technology works is that it kind of has to
work alongside a rainwater harvesting system or
flowing water. And to have flowing water, you’re
probably not in the poorest 700million people. I
think the right kind of solutions for the poorest
people is, in lots of ways, government or aid provided
water or large particle filtration rather than
chlorination. So, I guess the reason we are focused
on the ‘middle market’ is because that is
right for the technology. Ideally, if we could sell in
loads of different markets, we could grow our revenue.
And because we are a social enterprise, we
could put that money back into projects. We
could then start developing new technologies that
are right for the poorest billion. But yes, it is really
just dictated by the parameters of how the technology
works.
Finally, in relation to what you mentioned
about access to flowing water… what challenges
do you foresee in the future in regard
to climate-related threats and the increased
severity of droughts? How do you see this impacting
water security and safety? And what
do you feel may be possible solutions?
For me it is super interesting, because the whole
inequality of climate change is most represented
by sub-Saharan Africa. You know, it is interesting,
because I started my PhD – which is in climate
change and water security – in 2016. And when I
start it, there was a lull in interest in climate
change especially in the UK, because Brexit was
happening, Trump was happening… people kind
of got distracted by sort-term political events. And
once those calmed down, in the last three years,
compounded by the fact that we have seen a series
of extreme events in more notable countries
that have more press coverage (like the forest
and bush fires in the US and Australia), people