Ludwick Marishane: A bath without water

Ludwick Marishane: A bath without water

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The speaker shares their background growing up in a town with unreliable water and electricity supply, leading to the invention of DryBath to address global water scarcity issues.

Invention Inspiration

  • The idea for DryBath originated from a conversation with a friend about creating a product that eliminates the need for bathing.
  • Shocking statistics revealed over 2.5 billion people lack proper access to water and sanitation, motivating the speaker to take action.

Development Process

  • Extensive research using limited resources led to formulating the DryBath lotion, aiming to combat diseases like trachoma caused by poor hygiene.
  • Despite challenges, including using a cell phone for planning and patenting, the speaker successfully invented DryBath as a bath-substituting lotion.

Market Implementation

The speaker discusses the journey of bringing DryBath to market and highlights key lessons learned during commercialization.

Product Commercialization

  • Transitioning from high school experimentation to university collaboration facilitated the development of a market-ready version of DryBath.
  • Understanding consumer behavior in poor communities led to packaging DryBath in affordable sachets for individual purchase rather than bulk buying.

Global Impact

  • Recognizing the broader impact on water conservation and time-saving benefits, DryBath was positioned as both a convenience for affluent individuals and a necessity for those facing water scarcity.
  • Exploring opportunities for multinational partnerships signifies potential expansion into retail markets, showcasing the scalability of DryBath's impact on hygiene practices worldwide.
Channel: TED
Video description

If you had to walk a mile for a jug of water every day, as millions of people do, it's unlikely you'd use that precious water to bathe. Young entrepreneur Ludwick Marishane tells the amazing, funny story of how he invented a cheap, clean and convenient solution: DryBath, the world's first bath-substituting lotion. TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes (or less). Look for talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more. Find closed captions and translated subtitles in many languages at http://www.ted.com/translate Follow TED news on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tednews Like TED on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TED Subscribe to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/TEDtalksDirector