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When we found out that our two sons had asthma, as an engineer and businessman, I did what any father would and started to ask myself, ‘How we can make the air cleaner?’ I wanted to find the answer. I wasn’t yet aware that I’d soon be part of a sanitation solution that improves the lives of entire villages and cities, as CEO of Biomass Controls.
We can save lives. We can make the world a better place for our children. One statistic that has always stood out to me is that each day, nearly 1,000 children die due to preventable water and sanitation-related diseases. To provide future generations with clean water and clean air, we need a change. We need a way to transform human and food waste into resources without contaminating the air, water and land.
For now, our eyes are on India, where Prime Minister Modi started a campaign to eradicate open defecation. This means tens of millions of toilets are being installed. We want to be the solution to treat and refine these resources into valuable products like clean water, nutrients and electricity.
For many years I commuted to the Silicone Valley, working in technology. My value was, ‘If we can measure it, we can manage it.’ That has carried over to my work with Biomass Controls, in the form of our phone app, Kelvin. It can be used to measure our biorefinery system performances’ both out in the field and remotely.
The best part of being a part of the Toilet Board Coalition cohort is the people. I have really enjoyed meeting other businesses that are bringing their sanitation solutions to communities in India. We learn from each other, support each other, and continue to encourage each other. We’ve been working with Pascale Guiffant, Venugopal Gupta and other members of the Coalition, such as USAID’s WASH-FIN program to refine our business model. The Toilet Accelerator Program has enabled us to scale in the most effective manner possible, and we are looking forward to the possibilities the future will bring, not only for Biomass Controls, but for new solutions to improve world health.
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– Jeff Hallowell, Founder & CEO of Biomass Controls
