Ludwick Marishane: A bath without water

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: James Yu 校对人员: Cat Qin

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

我在Limpopo长大，在Limpopo的边境，

and Mpumalanga, a little town called Motetema.

靠近Mpumalanga的地方，是一个叫做Motetema的小镇。

Water and electricity supply are as unpredictable

这里的水电供应很天气一样很不稳定，

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

我就是在这种艰苦的条件下长大的。

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

17岁那年的冬天，我和几个朋友

of mine in winter, and we were sunbathing.

正轻松地晒着太阳，做日光浴。

The Limpopo sun gets really hot in winter.

Limpopo的冬天阳光宜人。

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

我们正晒着太阳的时候，我身旁最好的朋友对我说，

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

”伙计，为什么没有人发明一种东西，

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

能直接涂在身上，这样就不用洗澡了？“

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

我坐在那儿，好像说，”伙计，要有我第一个买，是吧？”

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

于是，我回了家，做了一点小小的研究，

and I found some very shocking statistics.

我发现了一些令人震惊的数据。

Over 2.5 billion people in the world today

当今世界有超过25亿人

do not have proper access to water and sanitation.

没有真正意义上的饮水和卫生条件。

Four hundred and fifty million of them are in Africa,

其中4.5亿人在非洲，

and five million of them are in South Africa.

这当中又有500万人在南非。

Various diseases thrive in this environment,

这种环境会滋生各种疾病，

the most drastic of which is called trachoma.

其中最严重的疾病叫做颗粒性结膜炎（砂眼）。

Trachoma is an infection of the eye due to dirt

砂眼是灰尘进入眼睛

getting into your eye. Multiple infections of trachoma

造成的一种感染。 多次感染砂眼

can leave you permanently blind.

会导致永久性失明。

The disease leaves eight million people permanently blind

这种疾病每年都使800万人终生失明。

each and every year. The shocking part about it

而最令人吃惊的是，

is that to avoid being infected with trachoma,

要想不感染砂眼，

all you have to do is wash your face:

需要做的仅仅是洗脸，

no medicine, no pills, no injections.

不用治疗，不用吃药，也不用打针。

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

看过这些令人震惊的数据之后，我心里说，

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

“好，即使不是为了自己，

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

不是因为我不爱洗澡，我也要做点

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

什么来挽救世界。”（笑声）

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

于是我利用我的神器——诺基亚6234手机开始研究。

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

我没有手提电脑，也不容易上网，

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

除非去一个一小时20兰特的网吧。

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

我在维基百科和谷歌上研究，研究乳液、乳霜，

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

研究它们的成分、熔点和毒性，

I did high school science --

我运用高中学的科学

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

在一张纸上写下了一个小小的配方，

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

看起来很像肯德基的辣酱配方。

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

我当时觉得，好吧，我们已经有配方了，

Now we need to get this thing into practice.

现在要做的就是把它变成现实。

Fast forward four years later, after having written

很快，四年过去了，

a 40-page business plan on the cell phone,

我在手机上写了40页的商业计划书，

having written my patent on the cell phone,

在手机上申请了专利，

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

我成为了全国最年轻的专利持有人，

and — ("No more bathing!") —

我的专利就是⋯⋯（“再也不用洗澡了！”）

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

这事儿不能说得太细。（笑声）

I had invented DryBath, the world's first

我发明了DryBath，世界上首款

bath-substituting lotion.

洗澡替代乳液。

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

你只需要把乳液涂到皮肤上，就不用洗澡了。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So after having tried to make it work in high school

我在高中利用有限的资源努力研究配方，

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

之后我进了大学，

met a few people, got it into practice,

遇见了一些人，终于把它变成了现实。

and we have a fully functioning product that's ready

我们推出了一种全功能产品，

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

可以投放市场，现在市场上其实也能买到。

So we learned a few lessons in commercializing

我们在将DryBath商业化、投放市场方面

and making DryBath available.

也有一些教训。

One of the things we learned was that poor communities

其中之一就是我们了解到贫穷社区的人

don't buy products in bulk.

不会大量购买商品，

They buy products on demand. A person in Alex

而是用多少买多少。Alex的人

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

从来不买整盒香烟，都是一天买一根，

each day, even though it's more expensive.

尽管这样其实更贵。

So we packaged DryBath in these innovative little sachets.

于是我们把DryBath装在这种新型小袋中。

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

只要撕开，把乳液挤出来就可以使用。

And the cool part is, one sachet substitutes one bath

最酷的是，一小袋乳液就能使人

for five rand.

免洗一次5兰特的澡。

After creating that model, we also learned a lot

在创建这种模式之后，

in terms of implementing the product.

我们在产品应用方面也学到了很多。

We realized that even rich kids from the suburbs

我们发现即使是郊区富裕家庭的小孩

really want DryBath. (Laughter)

也很想要DryBath，（笑声）

At least once a week.

至少每周一次。

Anyway, we realized that we could save 80 million liters

不管怎样，我们发现如果他们少洗一次澡，

of water on average each time they skipped a bath,

平均能省下8000万升水，

and also we would save two hours a day for kids

农村的孩子们每天还能省下两小时，

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

把这两小时用来上学，

two hours more for homework,

用来做功课，

two hours more to just be a kid.

或者就用来做小孩该做的事情。

After seeing that global impact, we narrowed it down

看到这一产品对全球的影响之后，我们进一步

to our key value proposition,

明确了我们的主要价值主张，

which was cleanliness and convenience.

那就是清洁与方便。

DryBath is a rich man's convenience

DryBat对富人来说意味着方便，

and a poor man's lifesaver.

对穷人来说却是救命稻草。

Having put the product into practice, we are actually now

目前这种产品已经投产，

on the verge of selling the product

现在马上就能出售给跨国公司，

onto a multinational to take it to the retail market,

由这家公司投放到零售市场。

and one question I have for the audience today is,

我要问在座各位一个问题：

on the gravel roads of Limpopo,

在Limpopo的石子路上，

with an allowance of 50 rand a week,

靠着每礼拜50兰特的零花钱，

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

我都能想出让世界不用洗澡的办法。

What's stopping you? (Applause)

人类还能阻止你么？（掌声）

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

还没说完，没说完！

And another key thing that I learned a lot

我在整个过程中

throughout this whole process,

还有另外一大收获。

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

去年谷歌把我评为世界上最聪明的年轻人之一，

I'm also currently the best student entrepreneur

我现在也是全世界最优秀的学生企业家，

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

是第一个获得这项荣誉的非洲人。

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

但最雷人的是，这一切居然

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

都是因为我不爱洗澡。谢谢。

(Applause.)