The Kijani Project

Showcase projects
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I’ve been slowly percolating the idea that I believe that renewable energy can be placed in every single home on the planet. The story started back in 2001 when I traveled to Africa. There is something about Africa that I can’t shake. I need to get back there.

I’ve been tying together my desire to get back to Africa with my need to use my skill as a designer to create something bigger than myself. Something that isn’t another widget. A colleague introduced me to the book “Reverse Innovation”. It introduced me to the concept that to develop something that has the true purpose of being able to tap into something globally, you need to develop away from Western-world excess.

The last piece of the puzzle that started Kijani rolling, is a friend of mine going back to Purdue. He’s an industrial designer and artist that introduced me to the notion of solar technology and putting some spins on it that we believe are capable of changing lives. Our first project is the creation of a solar powered refrigeration system that will be able to do two things:

  1. Refrigerate medication in remote regions of the planet that doesn’t have electricity. We’re starting with tackling refrigeration because it is the toughest of our goals. And with that one task we tackle a wider swath of patentable technology.

  2. We can use the refrigeration technology to freeze a sheet of ice. I want to teach children in Ghana how to skate, and curl.

We have another 5 pieces of patentable technology that applies to electricity, water purification, and thermal transfer.

So what?

I am looking for financial backing. I am currently working on a script for crowdfunding. But I’d rather find someone that has the desire and financial wherewithal to back a project that is socially grounded but fiscally sound.

If you know of anyone that it would make sense for me to talk to, please get in touch with me.

Kijani Techology: http://www.kijanitechnology.com

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I’ve been tying together my desire to get back to Africa with my need to use my skill as a designer to create something bigger than myself. Something that isn’t another widget.

So ya see Jon … old Victor touched you more than you may want to admit. One of his favorite harping points was decentralization; samll, individual scale vs. industrial. Which is exactly what you want to with your global refrigeration project.

And you’re right, he was a pompous ass at times, but he meant well, and he really did want to help people. And if you guys can pull off the Kijani project, I think Papanek will have succeeded in the sense that he inspired you to help others. It’s what teachers do.