e What? ePap.
You find stories of innovation in the most unlikely of places.
A few years ago I was
doing some consulting work for an educational institute. It looked after 60
primary schools in northern rural parts of South Africa. Travelling to several
schools, I was struck by how healthy the children looked in spite of the
poverty that surrounded them. My wife and I travel yearly to South Africa with
the Simunye Project, a not-for-profit we founded. We take groups of young
volunteers to work in underprivileged communities where children in particular
are malnourished. Seeing healthier looking children in spite of the poverty
surrounding them was fascinating. I was told that the children were being fed
‘e’Pap; a fortified nutrient rich food. I was sold. I contacted the makers of
‘e’Pap and had them send dozens of bags to those communities the Simunye
Project supported.
A year later, when working in these
communities, I was struck again by the benefits of ‘e’Pap. I heard stories of
how children with HIV/Aids and TB were able to fight off opportunistic
infections and absorb strong medications. Carers told me stories of young
children becoming healthy literally after only a couple of months on the ‘e’Pap diet.
At a child care centre in a rural region I
needed to ensure that the carers were using the food to its full benefits.
Basil Kransdorff, the inventor of ‘e’Pap was happy to take the call. With the
carers sitting next to me (and the African sun showing us no mercy) we worked
out a clear plan to ensure maximum benefits to the children. I was inspired by
his passion, his sense of purpose, and his ‘unfettered conviction’. No question
was too dumb and he was intent on ensuring we knew precisely how to administer
the food.
This ‘unfettered conviction’ I would argue
is a mental trait that has enabled Kransdorff to have the enormous impact on
the health of thousands of people across 15 countries. It allows him to
continue challenging the existing conventional wisdom around nutrition and
changing the realm of food production and nutrient-replete food supplements.
Let’s throw Steve Jobs and Elon Musk into
the picture. They both had the ability, like Kransdorff, to imagine a better or alternative future. They
were able to form a picture of possibilities, break it down, reshuffle and then
imagine an alternative. Then came the intentional act of making that dream a
reality. The more challenging the problem or unlikely the possibility, the
greater the level of determination is required. Chris Anderson of TED says,
“Conviction comes about when the possible future that you see aligns with a
deeply held view of how the world should be. The greater clarity you
have of a possible future and the more passionate your view is of the
desirability of that future, the greater your conviction will be.”(2)
The products these leaders have imagined have often at times been too daunting for others. However, their laser-like clarity of
vision and purpose and determination to succeed meant that despite the
obstacles and failed attempts, they continued.
What fuels the desire to keep going? Their
core beliefs of what a better future looks like and the ability to do something
they loved. Jobs saw a chance to inspire a generation of outside the box
thinkers and to prove the beauty of technology. Musk is ‘certain that humanity
must move to sustainable energy and that it must find a path to expand beyond
Earth.’ He saw a path to get there and was willing to gamble everything on his
conviction. Kransdorff says, “If there is anything I have learned to hate
with a passion it is poverty and human suffering….It is a crime against
humanity.” He believes he can address the critical problem of
malnutrition through nutrient rich diets and a new way of seeing food
production. And he is, globally!
Conviction doesn’t mean certainty but it
does breed resilience or grit. Musk thought his ventures into space would most
likely result in failure (but he held to his worldview that becoming a multi-planetary
species is crucial to our survival and that Tesla provides a pathway to a
sustainable future). Kransdorff continues to face the challenges of cultural
norms, big agri-business, international pharmaceutical companies and governments
who are at the whim of industrial giants who place politics and business above
the well being of their people.
Jobs was fired, had engineers constantly pushing back at him, record
companies after his blood, and launched product failures.
The qualities these men share are similar
in many ways and we have much to learn from them if we are to make a big
impact:
1. Conviction (vision, purpose and
determination) is a key mindset of an innovator.
2. Conviction breeds resilience.
3. Work for an idea that is bigger
than you.
4. Don’t limit yourself by what
has gone before.
5. Play with radical ideas.
6. Find something huge that you
really believe in and that you love.
7. What you do must be aligned
with your life’s mission and purpose.
And, in terms of our schools, we owe it to
the children to have an unwavering commitment to ensure their education is
relevant to today’s world and that we have the courage to push the limits of
the status quo.
By Peter Dry, 2016
A thought provoking article as always, Peter, and a good reminder as I embark on my new role.
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