So I grew up in Limpopo, on the border of Limpopo and Mpumalanga, a little town called Motetema. Water and electricity supply are as unpredictable as the weather, and growing up in these tough situations, at the age of 17, I was relaxing with a couple of friends of mine in winter, and we were sunbathing. The Limpopo sun gets really hot in winter. So as we were sunbathing, my best friend next to me says, "Man, why doesn't somebody invent something that you can just put on your skin and then you don't have to bathe?" And I sat, and I was like, "Man, I would buy that, eh?"
Dakle odrastao sam u Limpopou, na granici Limpopoa i Mpumalange, u gradiću koji se zove Motetema. Snabdevanje vodom i strujom je nepredvidivo kao vreme i odrastajući u ovim teškim okolnostima, u svojoj 17. odmarao sam se sa nekoliko svojih prijatelja zimi i sunčali smo se. Sunce u Limpopou zimi stvarno jako greje. Kako smo se sunčali, moj najbolji prijatelj pored mene reče: "Čoveče, zašto neko ne izmisli nešto što možeš samo da staviš na svoju kožu i onda ne moraš da se kupaš?" Seo sam i rekao: "Čoveče, ja bih to kupio, a?"
So I went home, and I did a little research, and I found some very shocking statistics. Over 2.5 billion people in the world today do not have proper access to water and sanitation. Four hundred and fifty million of them are in Africa, and five million of them are in South Africa. Various diseases thrive in this environment, the most drastic of which is called trachoma. Trachoma is an infection of the eye due to dirt getting into your eye. Multiple infections of trachoma can leave you permanently blind. The disease leaves eight million people permanently blind each and every year. The shocking part about it is that to avoid being infected with trachoma, all you have to do is wash your face: no medicine, no pills, no injections.
Otišao sam kući i malo istraživao i pronašao neke šokantne statistike. Više od 2,5 milijarde ljudi na svetu danas nema odgovarajući pristup vodi i higijeni. Od toga je četiri stotine i pedeset miliona u Africi i pet miliona u Južnoj Africi. Razne bolesti bujaju u ovom okruženju, najstrašnija od njih se zove trahoma. Trahoma je infekcija oka koja nastaje usled prljavštine koja dospeva u vaše oko. Višestruke infekcije trahome mogu vas trajno oslepiti. Bolest ostavlja 8 miliona ljudi trajno slepim svake godine. Šokanto u vezi sa ovim je da bi izbegli infekciju trahomom, sve što morate da uradite je da perete svoje lice: nema lekova, nema tableta, nema injekcija.
So after seeing these shocking statistics, I thought to myself, "Okay, even if I'm not just doing it for myself and the fact that I don't want to bathe, I at least need to do it to try to save the world." (Laughter) So with my trusty little steed, my Nokia 6234 cell phone -- I didn't have a laptop, I didn't have Internet much, except for the 20-rand-an-hour Internet cafe — I did research on Wikipedia, on Google, about lotions, creams, the compositions, the melting points, the toxicities -- I did high school science -- and I wrote down a little formula on a piece of paper, and it looked like the KFC special spice, you know?
Videvši ove šokantne statistike, pomislio sam: "Dobro, čak iako ne radim to samo zbog sebe i činjenice da ne želim da se kupam, barem treba da pokušam da spasim svet." (Smeh) I tako sam sa svojim vernim konjem, moj mobilni Nokia 6234 - nisam imao laptop, nisam imao internet, izuzev interneta u kafiću za 20 randa za sat - istraživao sam na Vikipediji, Guglu, o losionima, kremama, sastavima, tačkama topljenja, toksičnostima - sproveo sam srednjoškolsko istraživanje - i napisao sam malu formulu na parčetu papira. Izgledala je kao specijalni začin KFC-a, znate?
So I was like, okay, so we've got the formula ready. Now we need to get this thing into practice. Fast forward four years later, after having written a 40-page business plan on the cell phone, having written my patent on the cell phone, I'm the youngest patent-holder in the country, and — ("No more bathing!") — I can't say any more than that. (Laughter) I had invented DryBath, the world's first bath-substituting lotion. You literally put it on your skin, and you don't have to bathe. (Laughter)
I imali smo gotovu formulu. Trebalo je pretočiti ovu stvar u praksu. Četiri godine kasnije, nakon napisanog biznis plana na 40 strana na mobilnom telefonu, napisanim patentom na mobilnom telefonu, ja sam najmlađi u državi koji ima svoj patent, i - ("Nema više kupanja!") - ne mogu vam reći više od toga. (Smeh) Izumeo sam Suvu kupku, prvi losion na svetu koji zamenjuje kupanje. Bukvalno stavite to na vašu kožu i ne morate da se kupate. (Smeh)
So after having tried to make it work in high school with the limited resources I had, I went to university, met a few people, got it into practice, and we have a fully functioning product that's ready to go to the market. It's actually available on the market. So we learned a few lessons in commercializing and making DryBath available. One of the things we learned was that poor communities don't buy products in bulk. They buy products on demand. A person in Alex doesn't buy a box of cigarettes. They buy one cigarette each day, even though it's more expensive. So we packaged DryBath in these innovative little sachets. You just snap them in half, and you squeeze it out. And the cool part is, one sachet substitutes one bath for five rand. After creating that model, we also learned a lot in terms of implementing the product. We realized that even rich kids from the suburbs really want DryBath. (Laughter) At least once a week. Anyway, we realized that we could save 80 million liters of water on average each time they skipped a bath, and also we would save two hours a day for kids who are in rural areas, two hours more for school, two hours more for homework, two hours more to just be a kid.
Nakon što sam pokušao da ga napravim u srednjoj školi sa ograničenim resursima koje sam imao, otišao sam na univerzitet, upoznao nekoliko ljudi, pretočio u praksu i imamo potpuno funkcionalan proizvod, spreman da izađe na tržište. Zapravo je dostupan na tržištu. Naučili smo nekoliko lekcija iz komercijalizacije i kako Suvu kupku učiniti dostupnom. Jedna od stvari koju smo naučili je da siromašne zajednice ne kupuju proizvode u velikoj količini. Oni kupuju proizvode po potrebi. Osoba u Aleksu ne kupuje kutiju cigara. Ona kupuje jednu cigaretu svaki dan, čak iako je mnogo skuplje. Upakovali smo Suvu kupku u ove inovativne male kesice. Samo je prelomite na pola i istisnete. Kul strana je, da jedna kesica zamenjuje jedno kupanje za pet randa. Nakon kreiranja tog modela, takođe smo naučili mnogo po pitanjima implementiranja proizvoda. Shvatili smo da čak i bogata deca iz predgrađa zaista žele Suvu kupku. (Smeh) Barem jednom nedeljno. U svakom slučaju, shvatili smo da možemo uštedeti 80 miliona litara vode prosečno svaki put kad bi oni preskočili kupanje i možemo uštedeti dva sata dnevno deci koja žive u ruralnim područjima, dva sata više za školu, dva sata više za domaći zadatak, dva sata više da jednostavno budu deca.
After seeing that global impact, we narrowed it down to our key value proposition, which was cleanliness and convenience. DryBath is a rich man's convenience and a poor man's lifesaver.
Uvidevši taj globalni uticaj, suzili smo ga na ključnu vrednost našeg posla, a to je čistoća i praktičnost. Suva kupka je pogodna bogatim ljudima i spasilac života siromašnima.
Having put the product into practice, we are actually now on the verge of selling the product onto a multinational to take it to the retail market, and one question I have for the audience today is, on the gravel roads of Limpopo, with an allowance of 50 rand a week, I came up with a way for the world not to bathe. What's stopping you? (Applause) I'm not done yet. I'm not done yet. And another key thing that I learned a lot throughout this whole process, last year Google named me as one of the brightest young minds in the world. I'm also currently the best student entrepreneur in the world, the first African to get that accolade, and one thing that really puzzles me is, I did all of this just because I didn't want to bathe. Thank you. (Applause.)
Primenivši proizvod u praksi, sad smo zapravo na rubu prodavanja proizvoda na multinacionalnom nivou i stavljanja u maloprodaju. Moje današnje pitanje za publiku je, na šljunkovitim putevima Limpopoa, sa prihodom od 50 randa nedeljno, izmislio sam način da se svet ne kupa. Šta vas sprečava? (Aplauz) Nisam još završio. Nisam još završio. Još jedna ključna stvar koju sam dobro naučio kroz ceo ovaj proces, prošle godine Gugl me je svrstao među najblistavije mlade umove na svetu. Trenutno sam i najbolji student preduzetnik na svetu, prvi Afrikanac koji je dobio to priznanje i stvar koja me zaista intrigira je, sve ovo sam uradio jer nisam hteo da se kupam. Hvala vam. (Aplauz)