By Sheikh Sadaf Tasin
Photos: Ashraf Uddin Apu
“The starting point of all achievement is desire” – Napolen Hill
Ideas are a dime a dozen – even the great ones. But it only matters when you can churn that idea into something substantial and make it flourish. Breaking conventions is always difficult, sometimes even considered a taboo, although true success lies when you can tough it out and come out victorious. This month we bring to you men who dared to do it differently and we bring to you their riveting tales of success. Read on as they discuss their achievements and passions.
What if an average man was made to spend an entire day in the slums of Dhaka city? The first thing he would notice is the eerie darkness. The slums are built in a way which allows little or no light to enter into the homes. The residents of slums had found a temporary fix by borrowing electricity from neighbouring electrical poles. But the procedure itself is inconvenient and against the law since it leads to misuse of non-renewable energy. Sajid Iqbal, founder of CHANGE, talks about his project Botol Bati, a noble initiative to curb electricity inconveniences in the slums.
Sajid Iqbal completed his Bachelor degree in Environmental Science and Management, from North South University. He was also actively involved in the sport of fencing and participated in several tournaments for the Bangladesh National Fencing team. He is currently running a research and consultancy firm called CHANGE, which is the global partner of Liter of Light that is active in eleven countries. Sajid Iqbal and his team are installing solar light bulbs made from plastic bottles in slum areas which provide proper environmental friendly lighting to these households.
Iqbal founded the consultancy firm, CHANGE in October 2013. The firm seeks to provide renewable energy using eco-friendly solutions like bottle lights, reduced carbon emission and proper lighting to households in the slums. They are also the global partners with Liter of Light. In addition, Iqbal has gathered a group of hard working volunteers, from different universities, who are associated with this firm. Several workshops are also organised by CHANGE to get the youth involved in environment friendly activities. Amongst all their projects, Botol Bati has gained recognition.
The idea for Botol Bati which means bottle light was conceived back in 2012, when Sajid was half way through his bachelor’s degree. A friend of his, shared a YouTube video showcasing the activities of an organisation called the Liter of Light in Philippines, where solar light bulbs made up of bottles were installed in slums. This struck Sajid as a brilliant idea and he thought this could be implemented in Bangladesh as well. Since 95% of the slum households in the country use illegal electricity, a project like this would reduce the misuse of electricity and also benefit the environment. He used this idea as a research paper for university. “We convinced about four to five families from the slum areas of the Muslim camp to adopt this new technique. Initially, we faced a lot of challenges. One common problem was rainwater leaking from the roof tops. Moreover, we also had to face issues like social acceptance. Despite all obstacles, finally we got a positive response from a lady who wove saris for a living. She had to get her job done even if it was under minimal lighting. Considering her conditions, this bottle light was a godsend. It was inspiring to see that this project was actually helping people and that encouraged me to pursue this more seriously,” the twenty-six year old environmentalist informs.
Sajid entered a social business competition organised by South Asian Youth Leaders’ Summit. Later that year, he presented the idea of bottle lights at the Summit with its environmental benefits and came out as the first runner up.
With the attention from the local media, Sajid Iqbal’s efforts finally caught the eye of the Liter of Light organisation situated in the Philippines. “We signed a contract with Liter of Light to be their partner in Bangladesh in September 2012. They provided a strong global network and allowed the sharing of information. After that, we got in touch with the German and Swiss embassies about expanding this project. The German corporation called GIZ handed us an eight month long project in March 2013. The project entailed installing bottle lights in a new slum called Baoniabadh. We installed two hundred and fifty light bulbs and in the end ,we found that we reduced the electricity misuse to 8.3 megawatts per month. Furthermore, three hundred and twenty kilograms of carbon emission were also reduced. Twenty eight more lights were installed in a school at the Geneva camp of Mohammadpur.” To overcome the social challenges, Iqbal came up with a plan to campaign about the environmental benefits by giving out leaflets to make people aware that bottle lights shouldn’t have anything to do with their social status. In September 2014, CHANGE distributed Botol Bati, amongst school children of Khasia community in a remote area called Double Chhara in Sylhet. After researching and slogging at a workshop for more than six months, Sajid Iqbal and Asaduzzaman Noor, the technician working for Change was able to develop the design and the first unit of Solar Bati.
CHANGE provided thirty-two lights at Double Chhara to the best four students from each class of the school at the end of a seminar titled “Solar Light Distribution Project”. At the seminar, Iqbal showed the students how to use the solar lights.
About his future plans, Iqbal said that with assistance from the government and private organisations, CHANGE plans to expand. In addition to this, he is involved in extensive research to use bottle light technology for industrial purposes. Iqbal hopes to get the youth more involved in environmental based activities in Bangladesh.