>>Sam Conniff: Now, in the spirit of Zeitgeist
and why this has come together, it would be
all too simple to just have a panel of young
people. That might be inspirational and interesting.
But surely if Google and Zeitgeist is about
something more, it's about improving, enhancing
the success of these young people. And if
this project is successful, these young people
will leave today more successful than they
were when they arrived.
So whilst you all sat in here yesterday and
had some so-so presentations, I'm told, these
guys had a day of master classes from some
of the most senior people in the room, from
Geoffrey Canada who we heard from this morning,
and Jared, an amazing array of people giving
them some tools and tips to help take their
projects forward. And, hopefully, that's going
to happen. We're going to have some Q&A at
the end of this as well.
To represent that, there are three -- it's
unfair to call them old minds, so we're going
to call them Zeitgeist experienced minds who
are going to join us on stage and hopefully
challenge and push and shape their ideas even
further.
So Jon, Jon, and Martha, if you could come
up and join us, please.
[ Applause ]
>>Sam Conniff: Excellent. I would like to
begin with, I think, the biggest question,
which is the why. You know, we live -- all
these guys come from different territories
and countries where there's no shortage of
charity, of NGOs, there's billions put in
in aid, yet, actually, some of the most interesting
projects happening and emerging are by guys
under 24. Why is that in why is social innovation
your responsibility? Ludwick, start with you.
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: I think the biggest
issue, and I think it's actually perfect that
Hans Rosling was here just before, to prove
and show you all the statistics -- is that
we as the youth are becoming a larger and
larger proportion of the world, but we're
not included in the decision-making. It's
a bit of a displacement. We're supposed to
take over a world that we had no involvement
in changing. And when you think about the
social change that's supposed to happen, everybody's
debating, should it be government, is it the
possibility of business? But then I actually
believe it's the responsibility of the individual.
It's the individual who starts the business.
It's an individual who runs the government.
And it is how you mold those individuals to
become the future leaders who will cause the
type of social change that we need to see
in the world.
And it's highly interesting that -- I mean,
I wrote my business plan, I was able to do
the research, even formulate the formula for
DryBath. I have no chemistry background. But
having a resource like Google made it all
available, especially consideration how expensive
Internet in South Africa is. And if you think
about companies like Google, which are extremely
youthful, and I attach youth to innovation,
it's companies that are into innovation will
succeed, because they are looking at the young
people and thinking how can we involve these
young people, because they are going to be
making the decision tomorrow. Why is it that
your BHPs and all these other big industrial
companies are not involving youth in terms
of how we can change things, because the youth
has not been corrupted yet. We have not failed
too many times to stop giving up. We still
have the hope that's needed to cause the social
change.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>>Sam Conniff: So it's an early lunch, then.
Jon, as you were interviewing a while earlier
and getting his sense of his responsibility
and he was so modest about it and you got
massive international experience, you do think
this is a new trend or do you think young
people have always taken on this responsibility?
Do you think it should be on their shoulders?
>>Jon Snow: I think, as you've actually spelled
out, you've been empowered by the new world
that you've inherited, which is this world
of connectivity and connection and interaction.
And it seems to me that the next step is out
there waiting for you.
Now, a lot of people have suggested you go
and blag some of the richer people in the
room for some money. But I don't think that's
necessarily the answer. What you really want
is real, tangible support way beyond that,
intellectual support and active shoulders.
And this is where I think Twitter comes in.
I think if there's an easily accessible account,
as amazingly articulate as your own, preferably
on YouTube or in some form, that we can tweet,
there are people in this room, if we added
up everybody's Twitter accounts in this room,
that would be at least over a million in this
room, a million -- I'm probably underestimating
considerably -- but there are at least a million
Twitter accounts in this room that could re-Tweet
what you've done.
And I think the wonderfully reassuring thing
about Twitter is that you know that 10%, even
if that's only 5%, of the people who follow
you read what you tweet. And that's, I think,
where you should start. Education starts on
Twitter.
>>Sam Conniff: I shall tweet you right now.
Sadiq, how about you? Because you came into
this not being a young person out looking
to change the world, but something radically
transformed your outlook.
>>Sadiq Miah: Indeed. I entered the social
world through a (inaudible) scheme run by
the government. And it was actually that that
when I was out there in Latin America and
came back to the U.K., I've seen -- well not
(inaudible) ways, just the ways I could help
in the developing world a lot better. And
it's that direct support from the government
that changed my mindset, that helped me enter
the world of development and creating my own
organization. I mean, we have -- as young
people, we have to step up and use our social
entrepreneurship skills to create our own
organizations. But I felt the government in
the sense when it did open my eyes to the
developing world through (inaudible) scheme,
it did assist me now with what I want to make
my career.
>>Sam Conniff: And, Martha, you've got experience
trying to influence governments and people
taking responsibility. >>Martha Lane Fox:
Yeah, I think that it's really interesting
hearing these guys, because I remember when
we started, I was 25, and I thought that people
of my age, 38, were certainly not worth listening
to. And now I'm referred to as a dot-com dinosaur.
That's kind of really round home far too often.
But the thing that I think I was struck by
when I was watching your incredible videos
is, firstly, you take connectivity completely
for granted. It's not even at the core of
what you do. It's just kind of embedded throughout
it. And it sounds kind of trite and obvious
to say it.
But the thing that's been vexing me recently
is that in the U.K. alone, there are ten million
people who don't use the Internet, and there
are at least a million young people who don't.
A million. That's a huge, huge number. If
you put that on a global scale -- and I was
lucky enough to meet Tim Berners-Lee recently.
He said to me, "Why are you worrying about
these people in England? There are two billion
people out there in the world who've never
yet." Put me in my place firmly.
So I'm interested to ask you, I guess, two
things. Firstly, do you see a difference between
the online and the offline in what you do
or is it just threaded through it? And then
do you feel any kind of responsibility to
help those people who aren't connected? And
how would you approach that problem if you
were me?
>>Sam Conniff: Great. I'd like to hear all
of you.
Sadiq.
>>Sadiq Miah: Well, my project feature wasn't
international. It's a grass roots level organization.
We work in developing countries. So I've been
based in Latin America. And we actually do
it in our flying sense initially. So we're
actually teaching young people things like
media literacy, starting to use a computer,
teach them word processing, teaching them
creative writing, we teach them how to make
films, (inaudible) to share the social issues
with the world. And then once they have created
this content, they have the skill sets to
enter higher education or employment using
these skills.
But also it gives them -- when we bring the
Internet into the equation, it gives them
a platform to share their social issues with
the world, thus educating the global community
on their lifestyles, their living in underprivileged
communities.
>>Sam Conniff: Orly, you have got direct experience
of this as well, haven't you?
>>Orly Keit Setton: Well, I find that in South
Africa -- I was also living in Sweden for
a bit and I felt the difference, even personally.
Even in my university, I have to pay for Internet
access, which I think is ridiculous and every
year we lobby against it.
I am a graphic designer graduate, and I feel
that you definitely need Internet if you are
going to be in the design world.
And then for my kids that we work with, high
school learners, every year we struggle to
get hold of them. Some of them have Internet
accounts, mainly Facebook accounts. But they
are inactive. They visit a computer. Most
of them don't even have a phone. They just
buy a SIM card and they rotate a phone around
a family which is frustrating even if you
want to phone them.
So I think the disparity is so large and sometimes
the European market or the American market
pitches ideas it to the African market without
truly understanding that things aren't put
in place or it's just a different understanding
of the Internet, and it's taken for granted
almost.
>>Sam Conniff: Ludwick, do you see any difference
between the -- I mean, the man who wrote an
8,000 business plan, (indiscernible) business
plan is (indiscernible)?
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: Well, when I
look at it is people seem to underestimate
the amount of power that the mobile phone
has had, especially in terms of Africa. Africa
alone. I mean, I would rather equip high school
kids with smartphones and teach them how to
use them rather than computers which they
are going to stick at home.
And the amazing thing is once Africans understand
how to use the technology, they, I think,
are one of the most innovative in terms of
capitalizing, especially in terms of commerce
on that technology.
In my high school we have a situation where
you have got kids who have the coolest, latest
phones which have all these different abilities,
but then because they don't know how to use
them, like let alone just how to capitalize
on the Internet for a research project and
make sure you get an "A," it's mostly for
I.M. services. MXit is the biggest service
in our country. And although they use it for
communication, especially in terms of helping
each other with homework, which has been extremely
impactful, like I'm just imagining what would
happen if we introduced into the curriculum
a system where kids were taught exactly how
to use phones. Just your cell phone, in terms
of how to teach yourself accessing the Web.
>>Sam Conniff: Jon, you have direct experience
here.
>>Jon Gosier: You are actually talking about
something that I am very passionate about,
which is taking the mobile device, the mobile
form factor, and moving it from a product
of consumption to one of production and seeing
how that changes the story participation in
many emerging countries.
So I think that's something we are starting
to see unfold with as the prices fall with
OS's like Android and some of the cheaper
devices that are coming onto the market.
So I think you are absolutely right. This
is something that we'll talk about in detail
afterwards.
>>Sam Conniff: And it's much broader. One
of the other Young Minds, Anna, is campaigning
actively in the U.K. to change the curriculum,
transform the curriculum -- add to the curriculum,
something that's missing that we are completely
missing the opportunity to educate young people
correctly in I.T.
So it's something that runs across all of
the different Young Minds.
Martha, what of your experience as digital
inclusion champion could you share with these
guys facing the same challenges?
>>Martha Lane Fox: I think it's really interesting
to see what the boundary between what government
could do and should do and what young, people,
old people, people of all age should do around
any kind of inclusion, whether it is digital,
educational or any other kind of skill. Listening
to you talk, one thing I feel very strongly
about here in the U.K. is it's the lowest
cost way for the government to help itself
is by making sure everybody is connected,
and that's the link I feel frustrated. I am
not making the arguments clearly enough. It's
beginning to happen in government that by
making everybody able to use the Internet,
helping everybody be able to use the Internet,
certain things start to happen much more effectively.
Government can communicate more easily. I
believe businesses become created. All of
you set -- you are a brilliant example of
that.
So I think that the pressure should be put
on governments to make sure they are looking
after their kind of final bits of all of these
pieces to make sure that the final third,
tenth, whatever it is are able to use technologies,
even if it's just making sure the infrastructure
is there. And then you guys can layer the
things on top.
Would you say that was true in your own experiences
as well? Where do you think government kind
of begins and ends in what you are doing?
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: Well, the thing
is government is there. I think the role that
business and government should play in any
society is just enabling. That is all we require
you to do.
I am here. I have got the world to do something.
Can you please enable me. When I need the
Internet, can you please enable me. Can you
please make sure I have access to it so that
I can teach myself. Therefore you don't have
to pay ten different teachers' salaries when
I sit at home and teach myself science. I
taught myself the formulation for a lotion
that helps you not to (indiscernible). I taught
it all to myself, no scientific history behind
that, all from the Internet.
>>Jon Snow: Something struck me while you
were speaking just before that is whether
I see the dawning of a new fundamental human
right, which is that to free Internet connection,
Wi-Fi, right across the world.
It seems an easily pursued goal and one I'm
sure Tim Berners Lee would absolutely sign
up to.
Uganda, which is the country I used to live
in, has better mobile phone coverage than
Britain. More absolute and total. There's
almost nowhere, absolutely nowhere in Uganda
where you can't make a mobile phone call.
It's been extremely well tooled up by some
old white honky South African company that
decided to go off up to Africa and start putting
these things in, which is absolutely amazing.
And it seems to me free wi-fi connection worldwide
is a realizable goal. It will do a few people
out of some cash, but that's no bad thing.
>>Sam Conniff: Across the Young Minds, I'm
sure they'd agree. We are representing Zambia,
Namibia, and Nigeria, and access has been
an issue across the board.
>>Jon Snow: Africa has the largest growing
middle class in the world. It is the most
rapidly expanding middle class in the world.
It takes a different view of what middle class
is. It's $8 a day to $24 day, but it's expanding
massively. And that's from a base of $2 a
day.
>>Martha Lane Fox: I think it is -- I'm sorry.
>>Orly Keit Setton: I want to say, for me,
and I am not such a digital -- although I
know how to use the Internet and I was privileged
from going to a privileged high school, I
think it really needs to be partnered with
programs that help the kids to do it. Because
I think all of us are proactive individuals
due to our backgrounds. That's why we entered
the competition. But even in my university,
my lectures are like, wow, you have really
-- you have made it.
But actually, it's just because, like, everyone
else is not proactive.
I find in America or in Europe, things are
more competitive. The students are more competitive.
Competitions are much harder to get into because,
I don't know, the education system or the
family structure or there's just a sense of
you can go and get it, where in South Africa,
it's still very much I'm waiting for aid,
I'm waiting for help, I'm stuck.
>>Sam Conniff: Sadiq, on the point of access,
some of your projects have been pretty far-flung,
but you have seen real success as well, haven't
you?
>>Sadiq Miah: Indeed. There's two parts of
the question. Bringing the infrastructure
of the Internet to the widest community is
very important, but the other part of it is
actually giving people the skill set to utilize
the Internet to its full potential.
But I have been working in very remote communities
in Latin America where there has been Internet
connection. So I have been partnering with
Internet cafés, and then getting young people
into these Internet cafés and teaching them
the media skills they require to get online
and utilize it for a positive goal.
Two students of the small project I ran there
entered higher education directly from the
skills they learned in contacting local schools
and higher education authorities.
Another girl of the project, she actually
didn't have access to school because her parents
didn't allow her to go because they thought
they needed her assistance on the market stool.
She was working 16 hours a day on this market
stool.
>>Sam Conniff: How old was she?
>>Sadiq Miah: 16, and she actually spent 14
house a day on the market stool.
And I felt for this girl, so I asked her parents
if she could join the six-week program I ran,
and they agreed, reluctantly but they did.
And throughout the program she learned all
the media skills, and also she created the
short film just expressing a day in her life.
And I invited her parents to the public screening
of this in the local community. And once the
parents seen her life through her eyes, they
were very emotionally moved. And from that
day on, now the consequences of that short
film her parents seen with their eyes is now
she is going to school.
So it shows a direct link that media literacy
and sharing a story can --
>>Sam Conniff: And across the Young Minds,
there are these kind of solutions going on.
Michael, one of the goals in Namibia where
access has been a real challenge, has managed
to negotiate the U.S. Embassy and their teleconference
systems, and what he is looking for, Zeitgeist,
are success stories. People who are willing
to come and video conference in talk to some
young villagers in Namibia and share their
stories of success and external experiences.
So these guys are coming up with remarkable
solutions to access.
On that point, we have been talking about
responsibility, and I am interested in what
you think about business. You have all talked
about profit. You all talked about sustainable
plans. The whole lot of you are really entrepreneurial.
Do you think business has a greater role to
play?
>>Orly Keit Setton: Ludwick?
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: The reason why
I think everyone is a bit edgy is because
we have had huge debates about this one. My
stance is that business is there to make a
profit. That's why it's there. You have accountability
to your shareholders, and everybody says no,
but you just can't be accountable to your
shareholders. Don't forget your grandmom owns
a pension which is a shareholder in that business.
So I don't like how society tends to treat
business like it's a bad thing. Business is
good for society. Just the mere fact that
business is providing a good to society, I
am doing a good to society and they are rewarding
me with profits. It's just how it's happening.
And when you talk about businesses going further,
I think it's more saying businesses should
have a long-term view in terms of how they
develop society, and in terms of having that
long-term view, you, as an individual, have
to go to the business and say, okay, there's
this certain issue, youth development or whatever,
and this is how I would like you to help me.
But at the same time you have to show them
the value that is in it for them. They can't
just do it out of the good of their heart
because business doesn't have a business.
(Indiscernible) person.
>>Jon Gosier: And the two don't have to be
mutually exclusive.
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: Exactly. All
you have to do is show the value to them in
terms of how they can benefit you and how
you will benefit them. Even it's in the long
term or the short term. But let's not just
say business is bad and they just need to
do more.
>>Sam Conniff: Sadiq, Orly, you do believe
that business can go a bit further in terms
of its social responsibility, particularly
to young people.
>>Sadiq Miah: In the (indiscernible) and in
the developing world, I feel businesses can
further invest. That's opening up the emerging
markets. Especially things like the multimedia
and Internet infrastructure, because by giving
people access to this, it's just opening up
huge markets.
>>Sam Conniff: Yep.
>>Sadiq Miah: So in turn, you are using the
social sector to open these up. But it will
turn out to be a huge market to gain profits
for us via a business model.
>>Jon Snow: I'd like to just comment on your
business, because I think Ludwick's business
really kind of describes the whole problem.
Here he has --
Get that sachet out. Where is it?
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: Where is the
sachet? Oh, yeah.
>>Jon Snow: Yeah. That's enough to wash your
hands, right?
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: Yeah.
>>Jon Snow: And we're talking about communities
in which people live often two kilometers
from water. That takes children, largely,
and women to go and get. That is economically
completely unproductive. It's just to sustain
life.
He's talking about a product which could liberate
these women and these children from a large
proportion of the water carrying. You could
never completely --
Of course once or twice a week you need a
full proper bath, but in the meantime you
could wash with this DryBath product. It's
a perfectly viable product, and many of us
use a kind of DryBath just actually to cleanse
our hands if we're worried about bacteria,
et cetera, et cetera.
So here he has this product. The problem is
that in the small scale in which he can afford
somehow to get it produced, you're talking
about something which costs -- how much?
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: About 50 cents.
>>Jon Snow: For a body wash?
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: Yeah. 50 cents.
50 U.S. cents.
>>Jon Snow: 50 cents.
Well, 50 cents is out of the question for
a family that depends on $2 a day. Out of
the question. But if he can produce 10 million
of these and there's a fantastic requirement
for 10 million, then he could get it down
to 10 cents, 5 cents, and you're suddenly
making a major contribution economically to
a vast number of people.
So where does business kick in on that, where
does education kick in on that, in terms of
generating enough interest to lift this product
from nothing to everything?
Now, as you say, there's an application on
airlines and the rest of it, clearly, but,
I mean I personally, just having heard about
it today, I think it's an -- and having lived
in Africa, I think it is an absolutely amazing
product and one which will have huge ramifications.
But I can't see, at the moment, how you go
from where you are to where you want to be,
and someone in this room has got a bright
idea about how to do it and I'd like to hear
it.
>>Sam Conniff: Absolutely. Well, we're going
to go into some questions in a second.
I'd like to hear from you two. Profit is something
that all of these guys talk about and are
quite clear about. All of the Young Minds
want sustainable operations, and you two as
entrepreneurs, what advice would you impart
in terms of the balance of financial and social
profits?
>>Jon Gosier: Well, yeah. So I don't think
the two have to necessarily be separate. You
can have for-profits that sort of do good
and you can have nonprofits that are generating
revenue, the company I work with, Ushahidi,
being a great example of a company that actually
generates a great deal of revenue but is,
in fact, a nonprofit technology company.
So I think that exploring that middle ground
is something that sort of becomes sort of
like this new, you know, social entrepreneurship
buzzword, but it's actually viable and I think
the path for many companies moving forward,
and entrepreneurs like yourselves, so...
>>Martha Lane Fox: I would just say that,
you know, I think all of you have exhibited
so it feels like preaching to the converted.
We were learning more from you.
But being kind of optimistic with an element
of realism is how I always kind of describe
the journey that I hope I've been on.
And I think you guys have exhibited extraordinary
optimism and need to keep doing that, believing
that stuff will happen.
You know, I said to you, "What will make your
DryBath successful?"
And you said to me, "It's going to be successful."
So that kind of belief is fantastic!
[Laughter]
>>Martha Lane Fox: But there's a room full
here of people who are extraordinarily talented
and have a lot of money so you need to get
it out of them and that kind of optimistic
realism, I think, is a good idea.
And also just hearing Jon talk, it strikes
me -- and we had an extraordinary session
about Arab revolution and yet you guys are
sitting finding it hard to get money out of
big businesses and venture capitalists. And
something doesn't add up. It's as though the
weapon has disrupted kind of social change
for protesting's sake but it hasn't yet quite
managed to break down matching up the micro
entrepreneur with the macro corporation and
that's just an interesting thing, isn't it.
>>Orly Keit Setton: You know what? Sorry.
Can I just say --
What we've found is that as a startup, and
even like a startup business, people are struggling
to see what you're doing. And the fact we
don't have a product to sell, we are selling
a service to a community or -- and we work
with 30-odd kids each year, not a big demographic,
we don't have statistics, we don't have -- and
so I think that's, for us, hard.
Even writing a proposal, even asking for funding,
we're not sure where to go and big business
doesn't really take an interest in us.
They look at our proposal; they don't look
at our faces. They say, "Oh, this is badly
written, this is -- this is not -- they're
not registered as a nonprofit. They're not
audited. They're not" --
I mean, we've been going through so much process
and auditing like kind of a few bills we have,
which is like almost unnecessary at our stage.
>>Jon Snow: You shouldn't be looking for funding,
you should be looking for investment --
>>Orly Keit Setton: No. I agree.
>>Jon Snow: -- because they're investing in
tomorrows leaders and --
>>Orly Keit Setton: Yeah.
>>Jon Snow: -- if they actually capture one
and follow them, they can use them. I mean,
to their own benefit.
>>Orly Keit Setton: No. I totally agree with
that.
>>Jon Snow: So I mean, and the battle we're
having is breaking out of a dependency of
going to (indiscernible) or going to big funding
charities here, in the United States, or wherever
and actually saying, "No, no, that's not the
route."
They can empower us by providing us the funds
at least for startup staff or whatever, but
after that, we've got to go for investment,
for an interactive relationship with people
who want to make money. You can make money
out of DryBath.
>>Orly Keit Setton: Yeah.
>>Martha Lane Fox: I think that's a really
important point, that you don't have to have
the cash.
You know, we're running a campaign now that
we're just using partner pledges. Either that's
people or it might be office space or it might
be using their marketing materials or it might
be anything they have as an asset.
So maybe not going in straight with the cash,
but going in with the thing you can piggyback
on.
>>Jon Gosier: I think one of the struggles
you're recognizing is in sort of translating
the value that your organization actually
has for the community and the people that
you work with and making that make sense to
people who may be completely business minded.
And sort of finding that is -- can be a struggle.
I've watched many of my friends and colleagues
make that same -- cross that same barrier.
But it's not impossible and it's something
that you'll learn as you keep working on this.
>>Orly Keit Setton: Yeah.
>>Sam Conniff: And now I'm going to try and
be a good moderator and listen to my panel.
You've all advised that we should open this
up to the room, so that's what I'd like to
do. But I'd like the Q&As to go two ways.
I've spoken to all the Young Minds about what
they would ask of you, and it's absolutely
concurrent with what you guys have said. It's
about advice. It's about resource. It's about
tapping into the intelligence in the room.
And several of the young minds said they want
to give, actually. That's the most important
thing they want to do is give some of their
insights to you.
I've already agreed to work experience, for
one, and I'll probably agree to a few more
by the end of it, but I'd like to let you
guys start with your questions.
Here we are. To the assembled room, what would
your question be?
Sadiq, let's start with you.
>>Sadiq Miah: I mean, it would be obvious
to ask for small micro-funding, but I would
actually like a project partner to help get
the work that my participants create further
exposure, further exposing the social issues
and inequalities they're facing in the developing
world.
>>Sam Conniff: Fantastic. Orly, what would
you ask?
>>Orly Keit Setton: Something similar to what
we just talked about in terms of we do this
project for two years on a passion basis,
on a part-time basis. Even though we're six
of us, we still struggle to get it going,
and next year we want to take it full-time
and understand the business mind, understand
just generally --
>>Sam Conniff: Mentor. Mentoring, support
--
>>Orly Keit Setton: Mentorship, yeah. Partnership.
>>Sam Conniff: And you were talking as well
about the exchange that you're willing to
give back.
>>Orly Keit Setton: Yeah. Definitely. I think
there's a two-way exchange that can happen.
>>Sam Conniff: And Ludwick, do you have a
request?
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: Luckily, mine
is a business with a society impact.
What I'm mainly looking for is marketing mentorship
according to how Jon Snow pointed it out.
It's a social product, it can really make
an impact, but if I really want to be serious,
I'm treating it like a business.
I mean, I remember the first year I created
it, I thought, "I'm just going to send it
to a charity and they'll give donations and
work it out," and that didn't really work
out.
I've got a full business plan that has won
multiple awards. I'm actually the best student
entrepreneur in my country right now.
And what I'm asking from you guys is this:
I already spoke to Rory Sutherland, so him
and I still have to talk about how the marketing
around this could work --
[Laughter]
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: -- but then if
anybody in the crowd could give me $100,000
--
[Laughter]
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: I'm not done
yet. I'm not done yet.
[Applause]
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: I need $100,000.
I've got a huge charity which is willing to
give me an $8 million contract for their sanitation,
but then we have to run a successful pilot
project inside Africa to a similar community
to the ones that we're trying to impact.
That's going to cost about $100,000.
We are also looking in terms of selling the
product on the market at retail. Kids under
15 love it. They love it. Kids under the age
of 15 love it and -- yeah.
>>Sam Conniff: I'm going to stop you there
because --
[Laughter]
>>Sam Conniff: -- because the asks keep coming.
>>Jon Snow: One sentence and that is about
bed nets, the most successful assault on malaria
of all time.
And one of the reasons why bed nets work is
because they've put a monetary value on them.
People actually have to pay for a bed net,
for a family bed net, which will recycle itself
for seven years, a long life on the rest of
it.
And they may even only ask for 10 or 15 or
20 or 30 cents for what is actually a $2 thing,
but they've made a monetary transaction which
they treasure and which they will repeat.
And in fact, they'll be in a much better economic
situation, not having covered water, not having
had malaria, and they'll be able to work more
economically and produce more. It's a fantastic
win/win situation.
>>Sam Conniff: Ludwick, you have a Jon Snow
endorsement. That's pretty good.
So if there are any questions from the room
for these young people, don't feel pressured
to answer those requests right now. There
is going to be an opportunity, if anyone would
like -- Nelson Mattos, after being approached
by some of the Young Minds last night, arranged
a lunch and there will be a couple of spaces
at that table. So if you would like to join
us and have a more intimate conversation,
you're most welcome.
But right now, whilst I've still got a bit
of amber light left, would anyone like to
ask any of these bright young things a question?
[Laughter]
>>> I have a question.
So I get goosebumps by this discussion. It's
very, very inspiring. And being an entrepreneur
myself, I start to think, "Oh, Jesus, five
of these are going to fail." I mean, there's
a lot of shit going to go down because doing
business is difficult, even though you're
young and even though it's a big, big, big
market.
And I've never been to Africa or part of Africa,
and are there incubator businesses there?
I'm Swedish, and in Sweden it's a very popular
word, "incubating." You go there and they
supply (indiscernible) services, business
plans, funding.
Does that exist in --
>>Ludwick Phofane Marishane: There's actually
a lot of that in South Africa. We've got your
innovation hub in Johannesburg. That's probably
the biggest one. Cape Town has a lot of them,
especially for tech companies.
So there is a lot of infrastructure in terms
of helping entrepreneurs.
The only problem is, if you have a product
like this, as we said, we have a situation
where the people making the decisions are
quite old and when you -- and I come to you
and I say, "I've got this thing that you don't
need to bathe," it's like, what the hell are
you talking about? It's not going to happen.
It's not going to fly.
I'm actually impressed that Jon Snow can see
the vision behind the product.
And that's the thing --
>>Jon Snow: And I'm old.
[Laughter]
>>Sam Conniff: Jon, you've got experience
with this as well.
>>Jon Gosier: Yeah. There's certainly a growing
movement of supporting businesses, for that
reason, because there wasn't this sort of
community of venture capitalists and investors
in Africa.
>>Sam Conniff: Yeah.
>>Jon Gosier: My colleague, Erik Hersman,
just walked in. He runs a group called the
iHub. There's a number -- there's a number
in South Africa. Google just opened one.
So that network is starting to form. It's
just a very nascent sector.
And I think as that middle class -- African
middle class grows, you'll start to see more
of that, because we need more of that.
>>Sam Conniff: Yeah. And does that translate
back to the U.K. in terms of you as a social
entrepreneur?
>>Sadiq Miah: Yes. I mean, there is networks
out there. It's just that when we start working
at such a grass-roots level, in Latin America,
setting up our own schools, it's just difficult
to approach their very high-level organizations
saying that we're doing this work, and it's
just -- it's that partnership. We need to
partner with more private organizations that
can help out in both partnership with getting
the work out there.
>>Sam Conniff: Partnering with private organizations
is a brilliant note on which to leave this,
I think.
If there's a point that comes through from
all of this, all of this opportunity, speaking
to all of these Young Minds, someone at some
point opened a door for them, whether that
was a door of opportunity or it was a physical
door into an organization, and that's what
led to them having the doors opened in here
and how important, how brilliant, it is that
they are actually here.
So hopefully there are a few more doors of
opportunity, of resource, that can be opened
to them after this.
So without further ado, I would very much
like to thank all of the Google Zeitgeist
Young Minds.
[Applause]
