Startup Story
An Idea Turned into a Startup
The southern coastal regions of Bangladesh have always suffered from numerous natural disasters. People living there are always in a battle for survival. But the most important resource of survival, safe drinking water, is nowhere to be found there. The little natural supply they have access to, is completely saline! The water is so salty, you wouldn't even be able to taste it without starting to puke! But they have no choice but to survive on that.
That's when I, with 3 other like-minded friends, decided to do something about it. We came up with the idea of a product that can desalinate water using just solar energy. The design turned into a prototype, the pyramid shaped Solar Still. And our idea turned into a startup, TETRA.
Soon, we started working, our startup started to grow, and we decided to make sure our story reaches the ears of people beyond our borders. On March 2018, we managed to showcase our idea in international stage, in the form of Hult Prize regional summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Our words reached outside, but soon we realized we needed support back home in order to turn our startup into a sustainable business.
This is a sample of water from the southern coastal region of Bangladesh. People have access to no other safe water supply. As a result they suffer from long term heath defects.
This was the first iteration of the design I made for the product. The saline water is poured in thin layer in the middle. The sunlight vaporizes the water, which is cooled in the inner surface of the transparent pyramid. The desalinated water is collected from the outer part of the device.
Three of the brightest minds I met during my undergrad studies. We were from different backgrounds, with a common vision and goals. We filled our weaknesses with each others' strengths. That's why we could push our idea to new heights.
This is a sample of water from the southern coastal region of Bangladesh. People have access to no other safe water supply. As a result they suffer from long term heath defects.
Getting the Support We Needed
On May 2018, in Dhaka, Unilever Bangladesh and UNDP Bangladesh hosted the Safe Water Challenge, a pitch event where they were looking for ideas that would solve the salinity problem. We came out the winner, after pitching in the final round among 10 incredible teams of great ideas. By winning the event, we secured our first funding worth 5000 €.
Soon our success story was in the local newspapers, and a lot of organizations and people wanted to reach us. We received an order for a Pilot Implementation by another NGO. Later we were invited to showcase our progress in the National Dialogue on UN SDG 6, among national leaders in the industry and well-established startups.
But our real work soon began after that. And I found myself in the daunting task of turning our idea into an actual product.
By winning the Safe Water Challenge, we received our seed funding. The check was handed to us by the acting country director of UNDP Bangladesh, on my left.
Various local newspapers interviewed us immediately after winning the event. We could never predict we would receive this much attention. But this helped us secure the support we needed.
At the National Dialogue on UN's SDG 6, hosted by UNDP and Unilever. Our presentation there was a huge success. The CEO of Unilever Bangladesh talked to us after, about the achievements (and flaws) of our business strategy.
By winning the Safe Water Challenge, we received our seed funding. The check was handed to us by the acting country director of UNDP Bangladesh, on my left.
The Work: On and Off the Desk
In late 2018, we started working on installing our devices in the affected regions. After the pilot implementation, I needed to bring some changes to the design, do some further RnD, and then go into production. At the same time, we had do paperworks, allocate budgets, take part in meetings, present KPIs and business model canvas to investors. I outsourced some of our workloads and we also hired a few people part time. This expanded my job as well, as I learned valuable people skills, as I delegated tasks and funds and received and analyzed reports of the work done by others.
But not all work is done at the desk, as we learned during transportation. The 'target marketplace' was located so remote, there were no roads. We shipped the products in boats, then carried by hands, and finally assembled in people's houses. Life was hard in those regions, but at least we could put smiles in some of their faces. And that made those perilous journey all worth it.
Back in the city, the work continued, but we found some moments in between work to make each other laugh. It was an awesome journey, but all good things had to end, at least for me. It was a bittersweet moment, in mid 2019, when I had to leave to pursue other endeavours.
Making sure our presentation is ready for the next investor meeting.
Shipping our products for installation with my colleague.
After the formal meeting was out of the way, my colleagues and investors were having a laugh at my bad jokes!
Making sure our presentation is ready for the next investor meeting.