Forget that fancy word ‘smart city’. A country or community must have uninterrupted electricity 24 hours a day, clean water, knowledge of agricultural pattern to grow crops through the year and no wastage of water. Securing these few resources (water and energy in the form of food and electricity) are essential for sustainable living.
It’s when a community does not have these resources that migration to regions occur triggering a domino effect of over population, and a high pressured race to grab resource now under supplied.
However, there will be countries like Zimbabwe which, “find it difficult to find solutions to its national problems because of a lack of resources throughout the entire country,” says Nehaal Mayur, resource specialist at UN Association to Zimbabwe.
Nehaal helps negotiate with NGOs, development agencies like the European Union and UK Aid and other government agencies for technological solutions the country he is assigned to (in this case Zimbabwe) might require. For instance, when there was a drought in Zimbabwe in 2016, Nehaal was the UN negotiator who negotiated for the terms, patents and permits required to get a patented technology solution which collected early morning dew into cleaning drinking, into Zimbabwe suffering from a drought.
From his experience working with under developed nations, Nehaal feels that while all countries need to secure sustainable forms of living, not all countries will have the means to do so on their own.
“Last year in India, 7 states and 33 districts were declared as under drought. But it wasn’t a fatal crisis, since there were other parts of India with enough resources who could come to the aid of these states. We have enough funding and technological advancements to help ourselves,” he said.
Not so in Zimbabwe, the country of 11 million people is surrounded by land on all sides and its geo location means it will have weather patterns unfavourable for agriculture. Add to that the government infrastructure for water and electricity leaves much to be desired.
Thus the concept of sharing what you have at a corporate level (technology, expertise, etc.), across countries, becomes important.
“Business and Industries aren’t just about making money but also about contributing to social development by sharing knowledge, ideas and technology,” Nehaal says.
And that’s exactly what Indian businesses are doing. They are sharing their technology with countries like Zimbabwe. On 15th June this year Nehaal will also be introducing in Zimbabwe the ‘MittiCool’ refrigerator, patented technology from Gujarat business Mitticool Clay Innovations founded by Mansukhbhai Prajapati, a traditional clay craftsmen.
Another traditional Indian technology to purify water by filtering out mud too will be introduced in Zimbabwe. Once again, this technology will be shared by Mitticool Clay Innovations and another Chennai based businessman whom Nehaal met during rehabilitation efforts after great Chennai floods. “The best part is this businessman from Chennai, has agreed to help for free of charge,” Nehaal said.
The Samarpan Foundation begun in Delhi has helped Nehaal and a team of humanitarian aides rebuild schools in Nepal post the earthquake. “Samarpan has a technology they came up with to use plastic bottles and fishnets to construct walls of a building. They have made access to this technology free and available to everyone. The Foundation helped us rebuild some of the schools in Nepal, and these walls are proven to absorb the shock of an earthquake even as great as 9.3 Richter. And to further aid the society we live in we have decided to purchase the plastic waste and fishnets required from Rohingya refugees living in Delhi NCR and West Bengal, respectively,” he says.
BW Reporters
Regina is a reporter for BW Businessworld. In her previous assignments, she has worked with Independent television Network as a news anchor and reporter in Sri Lanka
