Ludwick Marishane: A bath without water

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

Translator: andry ravololonjatovo Reviewer: Rijaniaina Randrianomanana

So I grew up in Limpopo, on the border of Limpopo

Tao Limpopo no nahalehibe ahy, sisin-tany manasaraka an'i Limpopo

and Mpumalanga, a little town called Motetema.

sy Mpumalanga, tanàna kely iray antsoina hoe Motetema.

Water and electricity supply are as unpredictable

Tsy dia azo antoka izay ihany ny famatsian-drano sy jiro,

as the weather, and growing up in these tough situations,

toy ny toetrandro tsy mena-mivadika, ary ny niaina tao anatin'izany toe-javatra sarotra izany,

at the age of 17, I was relaxing with a couple of friends

teo amin'ny faha-17 taona, niara-nanala azy tamina namana maromaro aho,

of mine in winter, and we were sunbathing.

ririnina ny andro tamin'izay, nitaninandro izahay.

The Limpopo sun gets really hot in winter.

Mahamay be ny masoandro any Limpopo rehefa ririnina.

So as we were sunbathing, my best friend next to me says,

Teo am-pitanihana andro dia niteny tamiko ilay namako teo akaikiko.

"Man, why doesn't somebody invent something that you can

"O lety e, tokony mba misy olona mamorona zavatra

just put on your skin and then you don't have to bathe?"

ahosotra amin'ny hoditra l'ty dia tsy mila mandro intsony a!"

And I sat, and I was like, "Man, I would buy that, eh?"

Nipetraka aho ary namaly hoe: "tonga dia vidiako be raha misy an'izany!"

So I went home, and I did a little research,

Nody aho rehefa avy eo, ary nanao fikarohana kely,

and I found some very shocking statistics.

ary nahita ireto antontan'isa nanaitra ireto.

Over 2.5 billion people in the world today

Ankehitriny dia maherin'ny 2,5 lavitrisa ny olona eto an-tany

do not have proper access to water and sanitation.

no tsy manana rano madio sy fidiovana manara-penitra.

Four hundred and fifty million of them are in Africa,

450 tapitrisa amin'ireo no any Afrika,

and five million of them are in South Africa.

ary 5 tapitrisa amin'izany ao Afrika Atsimo.

Various diseases thrive in this environment,

Betsaka ireo aretina miroborobo ao anatin'ny tontolo toa izany,

the most drastic of which is called trachoma.

ny tena mampivarahontsana amin'ireo dia ny "trachome".

Trachoma is an infection of the eye due to dirt

Aretin'ny maso vokatry ny loto

getting into your eye. Multiple infections of trachoma

mankany amin'ny maso izy io. Mety miteraka

can leave you permanently blind.

fahajambana tanteraka ny Trachome raha mihombo be loatra.

The disease leaves eight million people permanently blind

8 tapitrisa ny olona efa jamban'ny trachome

each and every year. The shocking part about it

isan-taona. Ny tena mampivarahontsana amin'ilay izy

is that to avoid being infected with trachoma,

dia zavatra tsotra kely toy ny

all you have to do is wash your face:

fanasàna tarehy no hany fisorohana ny "trachome":

no medicine, no pills, no injections.

tsy mila fanafody na tsindrona.

So after seeing these shocking statistics, I thought to myself,

Rehefa nahita ireo antontan'isa ireo aho, dia nieritreritra,

"Okay, even if I'm not just doing it for myself

"Na dia hoe tsy ho ahy aza,

and the fact that I don't want to bathe, I at least need

sy ny hoe izaho tsy tia mandro, farafaharatsiny mba tokony hanao zavatra aho

to do it to try to save the world." (Laughter)

hanavotana an'izao tontolo izao." (Hehy)

So with my trusty little steed, my Nokia 6234 cell phone --

Nampiasaiko ny Nokia 6234-ko--

I didn't have a laptop, I didn't have Internet much,

Tsy nanana solosaina portable aho, tsy dia mbola afaka nigalabona tamin'ny aterineto ihany koa,

except for the 20-rand-an-hour Internet cafe —

ankoatran'ilay cybercafé andoavana 20 rand isan'ora eo an-tanàna--

I did research on Wikipedia, on Google, about lotions,

nanao fikarohana tamin'ny Wikipedia, Google aho momba ireo fanafody ahosotra,

creams, the compositions, the melting points, the toxicities --

herotra fanosotra, ireo taharo, ny mari-pàna mampitsonika azy, ny heriny sy ny loza mety aterany--

I did high school science --

Nianatra siansa aho teny amin'ny Anjerimanontolo--

and I wrote down a little formula on a piece of paper,

ary namorona raikipohy (formule) kely, nataoko an-taratasy,

and it looked like the KFC special spice, you know?

ary toy ila sakay kely mampiavaka ny akoho nendasina KFC ilay izy, azonareo angamba ny tiako hambara.

So I was like, okay, so we've got the formula ready.

Vonona ity ny "formule".

Now we need to get this thing into practice.

Mila fampiharana sisa.

Fast forward four years later, after having written

Efatra taona taty aoriana, rehefa vita ny drafitra tetikasa

a 40-page business plan on the cell phone,

40 pejy natao tamin'ny finday,

having written my patent on the cell phone,

vita koa ny brevet,

I'm the youngest patent-holder in the country,

izaho no zandriny indrindra amin'ireo manana brevet d'invention ao amin'ny firenena,

and — ("No more bathing!") —

ary--("Tsy mila mandro intsony!")--

I can't say any more than that. (Laughter)

Izany ihany no azoko lazaina. (Hehy)

I had invented DryBath, the world's first

Namorona ny DryBath aho, fanosotra voalohany eto an-tany

bath-substituting lotion.

mahasolo ny fandroana amin'ny rano.

You literally put it on your skin, and you don't have to bathe.

Ahosotra amin'y hoditra izy io, dia tsy mila mandro intsony avy eo.

(Laughter)

(Hehy)

So after having tried to make it work in high school

Rehefa nezahana izay nampety azy teny amin'ny Anjerimanontolo,

with the limited resources I had, I went to university,

niaraka tamin'ny enti-manana kely nananana, dia niakatra fianarana ambony aho,

met a few people, got it into practice,

nahafantatra olona vitsivitsy, nampihatra azy,

and we have a fully functioning product that's ready

ary niafarany dia nahavita ity vokatra mahomby

to go to the market. It's actually available on the market.

izay vonona ny hamidy eny an-tsena. Efa azo vidiana eny amin'ny tsena io izao.

So we learned a few lessons in commercializing

Betsaka ireo lesona azo tamin'ny fivarotana

and making DryBath available.

sy famatsiana ny DryBath.

One of the things we learned was that poor communities

Ny iray tamin'ireo dia ny olona avy amin'ny fiaraha-monina sahirana

don't buy products in bulk.

dia tsy mividy vokatra ambongadiny.

They buy products on demand. A person in Alex

Mividy an-tsinjarany no ataony. Ny olona any Alex dia tsy mividy sigara

doesn't buy a box of cigarettes. They buy one cigarette

amin'ny fonosany. Sigara iray no vidiany

each day, even though it's more expensive.

isan'andro, na dia lafolafo kokoa ary izany.

So we packaged DryBath in these innovative little sachets.

Noho izany dia natao tamin'ny fonosany madinika ny DryBath.

You just snap them in half, and you squeeze it out.

Tatahana ilay fonosany dia potserina hivoaka ny ao anatiny.

And the cool part is, one sachet substitutes one bath

ary ny milay aminilay izy, dia ny iray fonosana dia mahasolo fandroana iray

for five rand.

ary andoavana 5 rand.

After creating that model, we also learned a lot

Rehefa vita io modely io, dia betsaka koa ireo lesona azo

in terms of implementing the product.

momba ny famatsina ilay vokatra.

We realized that even rich kids from the suburbs

Hitanay fa na ireo zanaky ny mpanana avy any amin'ny sisin-tanàna aza

really want DryBath. (Laughter)

dia nila ny DryBath. (Hehy)

At least once a week.

Na dia hoe indray mandeha isan-kerinandro fotsiny aza.

Anyway, we realized that we could save 80 million liters

Na dia izany aza, tsapanay fa afaka mitsitsy rano 80 tapitrisa litatra izahay

of water on average each time they skipped a bath,

isaky ny tsy mampiasa rano handroana ny olona

and also we would save two hours a day for kids

ary ora roa isan'andro ihany koa no tombony azon'ny ankizy

who are in rural areas, two hours more for school,

any amin'ireo faritra mbanivolo, mitombo adiny roa izany ny ora any an-tsekoly,

two hours more for homework,

adiny roa fanampiny hanaovana enti-mody,

two hours more to just be a kid.

ary adiny roa tsotra izao hilalaovany amin'ny maha-zaza azy.

After seeing that global impact, we narrowed it down

Rehefa hita ireo vokany isan-karazany ireo dia natao

to our key value proposition,

izay hifantohany amin'ny hevi-dehibe ijoroany,

which was cleanliness and convenience.

dia ny fahadiovana sy ny fanamorana ny fiainana.

DryBath is a rich man's convenience

Manamora ny fiainan'ny mpanana ny DryBath

and a poor man's lifesaver.

ary mamonjy ny sahirana ihany koa.

Having put the product into practice, we are actually now

Rehefa vita ny fampiharana rehetra,

on the verge of selling the product

dia eo an-dàlana hivarota azy

onto a multinational to take it to the retail market,

amina orinsa lehibe maneran-tany iray izahay hivarotra azy amin'ny mpaninjara,

and one question I have for the audience today is,

ary fanontaniako aminareo androany dia ny hoe,

on the gravel roads of Limpopo,

Avy amin'ireo làlana vatovato any Limpopo,

with an allowance of 50 rand a week,

50r and isan-kerinandro no vatsy,

I came up with a way for the world not to bathe.

Into aho ankehitriny nahita fomba iray hialàna amin'ny fandroana.

What's stopping you? (Applause)

Inona no manakana anareo? (Tehaka)

I'm not done yet. I'm not done yet.

Mbola tsy vita.Mbola tsy vita.

And another key thing that I learned a lot

Ary ny lesona lehibe iray ihany koa

throughout this whole process,

nadritra io tantara rehetra io,

last year Google named me as one of the brightest young minds in the world.

dia voahosotry Google ho anisan'ireo saina mahiratra indrindra eto an-tany aho.

I'm also currently the best student entrepreneur

Izaho ihany koa no mpianatra sady mpandraharaha mahay indrindra

in the world, the first African to get that accolade,

eto an-tany, Afrikanina voalohany nahazo izay fankasitrahana izay

and one thing that really puzzles me is, I did all of this

ary ny zavatra tena mba nahagaga ahy

just because I didn't want to bathe. Thank you.

dia ny tsy fitiavako mandro no nahavitako an'izany rehetra izany. Misaotra tompoko.

(Applause.)

(Tehaka.)