 Gawna wa zia, minister, cabinet secretary for ICT, Jo Misha wa zia, many others. My innovation happens to be in what you call the recycling or energy, e-power. E-power is like eco, meaning it has to do with green energy and stuff. So, which has attracted a lot of attention from various quotas. So, in the selection, you could see there were so many innovators who had good ideas, but mine happened to feature among the top 30 because of its uniqueness. You see, like we shall be discussing in a short while. We are recycling what would otherwise have been thrown into the trash and making very, very useful products that can be used even to help the common man and grow the economy and even in the long run, create jobs. So, having managed the top 10 is a great deal for me because it has actually validated that indeed this is a project that is going places. Okay. So, we wait for the events to see whether you'll be in top 10 and we wish you the best of course. So, we want you to tell us about this innovation, the eco power itself. How does it work? Thank you so much. Eco power is a very broad name. It has got two names, eco and power. Eco meaning green and power meaning energy. So, on that side you can see some two cells. Let me guess, these two cells are salvaged from a lap of batteries. They are usually salvaged. So, when a lap of battery dies in quotes, like it's not charging, it's not working, just all of a sudden it's not storing charges. So, you find that the most people end up discarding them. They end up in collectors or viewers, etc. So, from my research, my background is in physics. We realize that in most cases it's not the cells inside that develop the fault. It's actually the charging system because most people don't even know how to charge, properly charging the device. You find them, they leave the device charging overnight, the lap of charging overnight, they are doing it while they are gaming at the same time. So, they end up over burdening the charging system. So, in some instances, one of the cells can be damaged. But remember there are five more which are still good. So, we have a machine that can test the health of this cell, can tell us actually how long it can last, because it has go through what is called psychosis. It's what is called the charging and discharge psychosis. So, we are able to certainty establish which cells are working. Then we are able to package them now in again recycled containers, like what you see here. It's just a plastic container you can just get from anything. Then we are able to arrange this. There's a whole science behind this. There's a way in engineering, we have, you know, I don't know whether the terminology would be too much for this show. We have what's called 3S, 2P, 16S, depending on the usage. Like this can go as far as even powering a vehicle. So, depending on what usage you want, we arrange those cells. For example, this one is just meant to power a normal bulb. 12 volts. I have a bigger one here, the back. This one can even power a TV or a computer. So, there are various what I would call voltage levels. So, we package them such that we can have each and every person catered for. You have in Kenya, we talk about the mamambogas. So, the roadside vendors, they just want a portable life, they just hang it by the roadside and then they can do their business. There are those people who want serious backup in their homes, like let's assume the lights go off, right? Then, you want to continue watching your TV or you want to continue using your computer. This one can do the job. So, we have, that is the big one, the big device. So, now I would ask, do you only use it as a backup or can you use it as the main source of power? So, this can work both the ways, thank you for that question because this can be charged using two sources of power. So, we have the mains electricity, that's what we get, right? And then we have renewable sources like solar. So, in the event that somebody is off grid, they can just plug this, hook this up to maybe a solar panel, then it will be charging on the go. Actually, we have a project, we want to start manufacturing bikes that can charge on the go because we have so much solar on this side of Africa. So, almost, I don't know how many days per year. So, that is free energy that is being untapped. So, you want to venture into that. So, now, let me get you. You've said you used recycled batteries from laptops. And on the containers, they're also recycled. So, basically, everything is eco-friendly over here. Yes. All right. So, how did you come up with this? What strikes you to just go for eco and go for backup? So, for me, intrinsically, I'm always inclined to technology, to power, to lighting, to stuff, how stuff works. So, while I live in 2020, I think 2019-2020, there have been so many power outages. There will be so many of them. And then, remember, I'm a teacher. I need sometimes to go through some reading and stuff. Now, imagine you don't have power for a whole day, the following day you need to go to class. Or, like for example, in my case, I'm a physicist. How can a physics teacher be in dark when everybody else is in dark? It's like, you're not helping us. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense. So, I sat down, I made a Facebook post. I need to get good batteries. I used to use some traditional batteries. We call them lead acid. They wouldn't store as much chargers. I later came to find out this do. So, during that corona period, remember for we teachers, we had a whole almost more than six months. Yeah. Yes, we worked for, we never knew when it was Monday, Sunday, whatever day. Everybody was indoors. Now, you have a physics teacher with so many ideas in an enclosed place. So, you can imagine how it would come out of that. So, this is just part of what I did. We actually ended up doing so many things I don't know whether I can mention. Yes, you can mention. Yeah, I, together with a friend of mine called Anton Mubongo and the Engineering Barrier, we made a very good prototype of a ventilator. Yes, we are among the first ones. Before the KU guys had done it, we even presented before the ministry of industrialization and cabs. We were there. I also happen to make an automatic hand washing station. Just place your hands, you know, eject soap for you. And the screen tells you what exactly you need to do at hot time and then releases water automatic. Then just switches off automatic. So, I had so much time to do explore many areas. But then I settled for this because I saw so much potential in this particular innovation. This particular innovation. So, that's how I ended up with, I started with, I started small. I actually didn't start with the big one. I just needed lighting at first. So, I started packaging in these small containers. But then, I thought, why can't I also start powering my TV? Then I did my calculations, what I needed and then I assembled. And here we go. And here we go. All right. So, there's also another aspect to it that, you know, something about automatic. It goes automatic the lights on and off. Tell us about that. Oh, thank you so much. I also didn't mention that I'm also a part time teacher of robotics and the internet of things. So, what that means with robotics, we have sensors. There's so many sensors that we can integrate in any device. So, like for example, this light, I needed it to be smart. So, this happens in two ways. If I plug this bulb on the right hand side, using a remote controller, I can just switch it on and off using a remote controller. Just from wherever you are, just switch on and off. You just reach it. Wow. All right. And then, on this other side, if you want to, like right now, it is off because it can sense that there is light. But in the event there is darkness, it will automatically go on. So, this can apply pretty much to anybody who is, like for example, you see in some cases, leaves break into homes because of darkness. So, maybe in the morning for God too, in the evening for God to switch online. Then, when they left and came back maybe later in the night, they found that leaves had already broken into their home. But this one will never fail because as long as there is darkness, it automatically switches on. Yeah, automatically switches itself on. And then I made an advancement to that. There is another one back here. This one even I introduced another sensor. We call microwave sensor. It can sense motion. So, in case somebody is within the vicinity, it will just automatically switch on the lighter. And then, if it doesn't sense motion, it will just go off. So, if for example, if you remain still in this studio for like 30 seconds, it will just go off. And then if somebody tries to pick up in or to wake up or to whatever, it will again activate. So, what does it aim to achieve with that? So, again, all these are meant to... This lighting, just like I said, are smart. Like it can provide normal lighting but also security because in Kenya we talk about mulikamuizi. So, this can be a mulikamuizi in essence. If you want to store it in a place, maybe you have an enterprise, a business and then you don't have to... It will help eventually in the conservation of power because it will only light when it has sensed motion. So, all the other time it will be off. So, you can see it can run for a very, very long time without wasting energy and power. Number two, it can just be used for teaching and fun. Nowadays, I also happen to engage learners in STEM. That is science, technology, engineering and mathematics. So, you see such projects when you take them for the engineering fairs. They are quite nice. Yeah, true, very true. Alright, is that any other thing that your innovation does apart from the ones that you've mentioned? So, basically, if you have a look behind here, like you can see here, this is known as an inverter. It's meant to... So, this kind of power that we are getting off the battery itself is called DC in scientific term. But some devices and some gadgets require what you call AC. AC is like what we get off the socket. So, I just bought this and anybody can buy this. Very, very affordable. Once you switch off like this, let me switch off fast so that... Once you switch on, it's able to convert this power into AC. Then this AC power now can be hooked up to an extension which now can power even bigger devices. Like I was mentioning a TV or a computer. Like I tested this last time close to more than 7 hours. It never went off my TV. More than actually 32 inch. And my TV and my computer, the other day I tested, went for more than 1 hour. So, you can see. And the indicator here shows that the power is full to 40 volts. So, for example, I don't know whether the light will be too much for the camera. If I try to switch off this, switch on this, you can see it's quite bright. Again, you can also use this to charge your phone. So, there's so much you can do that limitless possibilities. Possibilities. And how would you say this is different from the... Apart from its eco-friendliness, how is it different from the UPS, the uninterruptible power supply? That's a pretty good question because I've also worked with UPS. I also work with UPS. It's what I do. For the UPS, when it gets damaged, in most cases it's the battery. And we call those batteries lead acid. That lead acid, if the viewer can bear me witness, doesn't go for more than 15 minutes. New one, a new one. Just make those funny sounds and then I will just die a natural death after the 15th minute. But then this I'm telling you, it went for an hour plus and it never went off. Guaranteed. So, this one I can say is almost how many times? More than four times better than the best. Yes. Okay, okay, all right. So, it's eco-friendliness nature and you're also trying to get it to operate on electric bikes. You've mentioned that. So, why have you chosen to go eco and why do you think it's important for other innovators to go this route? Oh, what an amazing question. Right now there's a campaign globally on reversing global warming. That is a very, very, very big thing going on right now because of what we call the GHCs, the greenhouse gases and carbon. Imagine, can you have all those vehicles on the road and they're all releasing the nitrogen, the gas and the carbon dioxide and all those gases are ending up in the atmosphere. Now, what has been happening over the years, you've seen there has been drastic change in weather patterns. Like, I don't know if you have seen this. It all to have been raining a few months ago for quite some time. But then you find that it just rains for two weeks and that's it. So, those are the adverse effects of global warming. So, there's a campaign and it's being pioneered by very big tech conglomerates. One is Tesla, so by Elon Musk, he's an American originator from South Africa. He's doing electric vehicles, Tesla. And the reason why we want to go green, green meaning we are using recycled and renewable sources of energy. Of course, number one, we want to conserve we want to conserve the environment. That's a very, very big campaign going on right now. Number two, these kinds of cells have got what we call high charge density. That means it can be small but so much more power as compared to what we used to have. Number three, if you happen to dispose of these cells, let's say in the garbage and they end up in the trash and they are incinerated, this contains inside of it as it is it is completely harmless. It's harmless. But the moment you burn it or you leave it in water streams and then the liquid seepin and then they seep out, you will end up releasing chemicals and gases. And some of the gases are dangerous because we are talking about lithium, it's a chemical among the heavy metals. So by going green, by trying to recycle, we are actually in the long run not only helping conserve the environment but also creating jobs. We can only talk about positive things about e power. And how can the government create an enabling environment for innovators to adopt this move? And that has been a big challenge when innovators come up so they are not able to progress after a certain period because of financial constraints. Like if you need to make this completely self-running, we need to set up a small production or a factory somewhere that ensures that maybe some of these things we can locally make using even other materials. So if you get seed money, seed money, that's number one, to just help you spruz up the process to accelerate the process of the production so that every time I want to improvise, I don't have to dig deep into my pocket. Like for me to have come up with this without making any sale, I had to dig deep because remember it's like research like you're doing, I can equate this to a PhD research. You're doing a PhD and you're doing it all on your own means. So if the government can just pinpoint some of these clever innovations that in the long run will let's take this for example if you had to convert all the border borders from what we were using to electricity like Rwanda is trying to do right now kigali. How many jobs shall we create? Plenty. Plenty of jobs. All those batteries lying I know. All those people will get cash out of that. So we shall create jobs so much if the government views these innovations from that perspective. I believe as a country we shall closing on a vision 2030 earlier than we originally thought. Back to your innovation here. So are you already selling? Yes, we have just started selling pre-order because we are in the final stages of prototyping. So right now we are doing pre-order. We actually have finalized on the design. We are in the process of printing out the final designs and all that but they have already gone through the first processes of approval and all that. So they are good for the public consumption. So we are using the required materials. There's nothing here that would pose any harm to the user. So we are selling them. That's why I was even able to showcase in blood daylight even in jikwata and other places. All right. So let's take a short break and then we'll be back shortly to continue with this conversation as we get into the next one. See you on the other side. We are on Sport and Tech. This is why in the morning thank you for staying with us. We are looking at an innovation called the Eco Power invented by Paul Wawiru over here. Paul Kailu again. Sell us. Now we've told us that you already selling. So now do you have a warranty for someone who's buying? Yes. And this is the amount I do when I give a warranty. Tesla currently is giving a warranty of eight years. Sorry. So just repeat your question on whether I'm doing the warranty. I just want to take you back to what I mentioned about Tesla vehicles. So they give a warranty of eight years and they say that their cars can go up to 15 years without replacing their batteries. Remember they use the same technology the same sales. Actually I know the manufacturer. They go for sales from Sony like this one is made by Samsung you can see. So I can guarantee anybody who will be buying this that they will not come back to me with any fault for the next two years. Guaranteed. Because I've said this nowadays we don't use the kind of charging that laptop abuse. We use what we call BMSs. Very intelligent battery management systems. So I can guarantee them two years. Two years guarantee. Yes. Okay and how is the reception so far from the public? It's absolutely overwhelming. Like I've said we are doing pre-orders. I'm actually sometimes because of the nature of my full time job and the fact that we are just starting I'm unable to meet some of this fully because of the time factor time constraint. So there is a time I'm now bringing in I'm trying to work with universities currently Zitec. So which of course happened to be incubated as the Izet. I was among the pioneers incubators there. So we recruit some of those engineering students. We train them how to do this because they are also very interested if you see my charts. Oh I saw you I want to be part of this. I saw you in Kiyambu Innovation Week. I want to be part of this. Then we bring them on board. That's actually what another friend of mine did. Antonimo Vongu. So we are heading that direction. So we are able to deliver. That's a good thing that you're doing there. Bring up other innovators. And what does it take? Maybe someone would ask to be creative, to be an innovator. Do you have to have a background in physics like you have or something? What do you need? What does it take? Not exactly. Being an innovator is innate, it's inborn because God gives everybody talent. So you find that not everybody can innovate. That's for a fact. Somebody else can sing, somebody else can play a music instrument, somebody else can cook, bla bla bla. So if, for example, you see your kid is damaging electronic gadgets, disassembling them, trying to see who is this person speaking. There's something there. Yeah, don't be too harsh on them. Probably they're the next being big Elon Musk or Paul Waverung for that matter. So if, for example, somebody has this talent, you just see it because it cannot be covered. Just somebody maybe in a class, when it's a physics practical, they're the first one to arrive, they're so interested, tech and stuff. So if you see those green flags, we'll talk about red flags. We have green flags too. So you just know that this kid is going places with innovation. So others you just buy a new toy today and the following day they have disassembled. You just wonder what is going on here. That is an innovator, an upcoming innovator. All right. Yeah, sure. Okay, so now in 10 years ago, did you see yourself here? So honestly speaking, even though I knew I wanted to do this, but I never thought I would do it this fast. I just came through networking, through connection. Some of these things are through networking. It just happened to encounter what you have been looking for for years. For all that time, I never knew that I could get these things in large quantities. Now I come, somebody tells me you can get this. In town then the whole world opens up. I never thought for a fact. All right. And what do you see yourself in the next five years between the world of innovation? So let me tell you that this in the next 10 years, it will be to the next big thing. Because imagine 10 years ago, I think 15 years ago you were analog. Now we are digital. Right now, most of the vehicles are using fuels. We call them fuels. The diesel, the petrol and the likes. 10 years from now, pretty much everybody will be using electric vehicles. Right now, myself, I use an electric bike of which I have converted one of the batteries. So I'm imagining 10 years from now, I'll be having so many customers in this line that I'll have now to partner with other people, invest us so that we can open probably one of the biggest factories in Kenya. Wow. Looking forward to that. Yes, sure. Definitely. And continue representing us, Kenya to the world. All right, so tell us your final word, maybe a word of encouragement for innovators coming up as you give your shout out and tell us where we can find you on the social platforms. Thank you, thank you much for this opportunity. For the upcoming innovators, I know the innovation journey sometimes it's hard. Let nobody light you that things are going to be rosy. Sometimes you can try one thing, one time it fails, another thing it fails. Like the guy who, invented the bulb, the simple electric bulb, tried 999 times before he could master that. So, as long as you have the passion, the zeal and the determination, I believe just keep pursuing your dreams. Pursuing your dreams and success will follow you. I want to shout out to a few people. First of all, I want to shout out to my colleagues. They have been really supportive. Juggling between this and teaching sometimes... Can be something. Can be quite something. I want to shout out to them. Also, I want to shout out to universities, KU, because again, I was chosen there, I was selected to be under CBIIC. That is Chandari Business and Incubation Center, right at the gate. Because of my other innovation, the smart automatic hand washing station, I also want to give a special thanks to Zitec University because like I've said, through the networking, like some of these things, I get the networking through universities. They tell you how you can do this, how you can modify this. Then you get the networks. So, Zitec University, again, IZ. I want to thank you so much even for the opportunity. They have really given us a chance to explore the innovation world. Even giving us a space. Imagine we're given a space to do innovation in a university where space is quite limited. Wow. Yeah. So, and everybody else who is watching, I have quite a number of people watching right now and friends who will watch later. So you can find me on Facebook, Paul Hoveru. I'm not so much on Twitter. You know, with tech, sometimes we are not so much into... But the tech giant, Elon, he's big on Twitter. He's trying to buy Twitter, yes, because he's seeing it as an investment. But mostly you find that you want to be hands-on on stuff. Like one time we maybe have a chance to talk about great innovators like Elon Musk. So, I'm not on Twitter, but I have a handle, but I am not quite active there at Paul Hoveru. Not very active, but on YouTube, can find some of these innovations. MSS Television. I have a YouTube channel by the name MSS Television. MSS Television. All right. Yes. Thank you very much for coming on board and check with us your knowledge on this and your innovation basically. I'm honored. All right. So that has been Paul Hoveru with the innovator of EcoPower talking to us about this particular innovation. So, we are going to take a short break but we'll come back with music and lifestyle. So, we want to listen to some of the great music that are there, the fresh music that are there in the industry from the musicians and also have a small talk with them. Don't go too far. The question we're asking on social media that is on Y254 channel is muna kumbuka zilem chunguanoza primary nidgani ilikua favorite. Talk to us. The hashtag to use is ThaizDeVibes. See you on the other side.