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SOLAR SOUND SUPPORT
When Howard Weinstein went to Botswana in 2001, his goal was to build a company that could produce affordable hearing aids for Africans. Talk about chutzpah.
"I didn't know a decibel from Tinkerbell," jokes Weinstein 57. But he knew his life needed a new direction.
In the 1990s, Weinstein was one of those king-of-the-hill business execs in Montreal. He had sold his plumbing manufacturing business to a multinational firm, which retained him as president. He had a fancy home in the city, and a gorgeous lakefront retreat in the country.
But tragedy struck in 1995 when his 10-year-old daughter Sarah died of a brain aneurysm in her sleep. Her death devastated Weinstein.
"I went back to work after my daughter's death but they fired me," he says. "I took a year off for therapy, which was great, and did a lot of reading on Buddhism, which calmed me down and helped me. I started a business and didn't enjoy it. I realized it was time to, you know, do it."
So he took a volunteer position offered by the World University Service of Canada, and wound up in Otse, a dusty town of 3,500 near the Kalahari desert.
Although Weinstein knew little about audiology, he had decades of hard-nosed experience in the business world. Most of all, he knew how to get things done.
A significant problem with hearing aids in Africa is how to keep them in working order. Batteries wear out quickly, and cost about $1 each to replace. That's too expensive for most people in countries where the average wage is about $1 a day.
"You have these great organizations like the Rotary and Kiwanis and World Vision, and they give out tens of thousands of hearing aids each year," he says. "And after a week, the hearing aid is put in a drawer because the battery dies. That's the weakest link.
"We started with the battery and worked backward. The common factor in most developing countries is sun. So let's use that energy to make something."
What he had in mind was a cheap hearing aid powered by rechargeable solar batteries.
Weinstein got on the phone. He talked to executives in the electronics industry, and contacted hearing aid manufacturers and parts suppliers. He received a small grant from the African Development Foundation, and approached financiers. He also partnered with Sound Design Technologies, a forward looking $40-million-a-year company in Toronto that produces microprocessors used in leading hearing aid brands.
There are a couple of things you should know about Weinstein. First, he's a great kidder. Talk to him for 10 minutes and you're laughing half the time. The other thing is, he never quits.
When he is told No, it "just means not now," he says.
With a lot of help, he came up with the SolarAid - a hearing aid that costs less than $100. By comparison, the least expensive retail model sells for about $500.
The SolarAid looks like other hearing aids: It's crescent-shaped and fits behind the ear. But it runs on rechargeable batteries that cost $1 apiece and last for two to three years. He also developed a small recharger that uses a built-in solar panel and can also be plugged into a wall outlet.
The bare office where he began SolarAid is now a robust business operation called Godisa Technologies Trust, a non-profit enterprise with an independent board of directors. In the Setswana language, Godisa means "doing something that is helping others to grow."
Some 20,000 people in 30 countries now use SolarAid brand hearing aids, batteries and chargers. The potential for growth is enormous. The World Health Organization estimates there are about 250 million hearing impaired people globally, with about two-thirds of them living in developing countries, yet only six million hearing aids are manufactured each year.
Weinstein is particularly proud of the 10 deaf employees he hired to run Godisa. "We had three come to Canada and take an aviation soldering course in Montreal, given in sign language. Then they went to work in industry as part of the course. And industry wanted to keep them, they are so good. Yet they decided to go back to Botswana and train other deaf people."
Weinstein is now involved with a Godisa-style project in Sao Paulo, Brazil, working on a second-generation digital hearing aid. Within weeks, three workers from the Botswana project will be going to Sao Paulo to teach the deaf how to assemble a digital rechargeable hearing aid and solar charger.
"I lived in Botswana for five years, so the community members become part of your family So to have three of my family members come train the deaf in Brazil is so exciting from so many aspects.
"Most technical training is north-south, rarely south-south, and never, say, deaf-to-deaf. So it will be such a great thing for the deaf Botswana people in terms of their self-esteem, and in giving hope to the deaf in Brazil. 'Hey, look what we're able to do'. "
Weinstein doesn't downplay the difficulties involved in starting an innovative business in a developing country. "My brother likes to describe it as running a Ginger Rogers' business. That means you have to dance as smooth as Fred Astaire, except on high heels and going backwards. That's sort of what it's like running projects in developing countries - always obstacles."
As for his role, Weinstein insists it's no big deal.
"Any social entrepreneur will tell you, you have to be stubborn and stupid. It's just as simple as that."
Jokes aside, he believes perseverance pays off when intellect alone can't get the job done.
He also believes the WHO should get more business people involved in health issues.
"I read something recently about a big HIV-AIDS conference in Thailand and one of the biggest problems they had was distribution of HIV-AIDS drugs. I'm saying, if you get someone from Home Depot, Coca-Cola and Fed-Ex together in the room, you'll solve the distribution problem.
"They know how to do that. Yet the WHO doesn't get those people involved. The WHO has been talking about low-cost hearing aids for years. But within a year, Godisa and myself, we developed this new technology, hired the people, trained the people, got the money and did it."
Weinstein is fired up about a new nonprofit project in Jordan, which is operated through the Canada International Scientific Exchange Program, an NGO, and MEHA, a Mideast counterpart.
"The Jordanian program is particularly exciting, as their workforce will include young Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli deaf adults working together."
The projects are designed to help meet demand, not only in the country of assembly, but also in the wider trading area. For example, Jordan will service all the Mideast, and Brazil, all of Latin America, he explains.
"I'm helping other NGOs set up competitive programs around the world and mentor them from a distance - write the business plan, visit the facilities, make sure they have all they need. And then eventually co-ordinate all the programs."
No matter how successful SolarAid becomes, the Botswana project will always have a special place in his heart.
"I initially went to give meaning to my daughter's death but actually it wound up giving meaning to my life."
When Howard Weinstein went to Botswana in 2001, his goal was to build a company that could produce affordable hearing aids for Africans. Talk about chutzpah.
"I didn't know a decibel from Tinkerbell," jokes Weinstein 57. But he knew his life needed a new direction.
In the 1990s, Weinstein was one of those king-of-the-hill business execs in Montreal. He had sold his plumbing manufacturing business to a multinational firm, which retained him as president. He had a fancy home in the city, and a gorgeous lakefront retreat in the country.
But tragedy struck in 1995 when his 10-year-old daughter Sarah died of a brain aneurysm in her sleep. Her death devastated Weinstein.
"I went back to work after my daughter's death but they fired me," he says. "I took a year off for therapy, which was great, and did a lot of reading on Buddhism, which calmed me down and helped me. I started a business and didn't enjoy it. I realized it was time to, you know, do it."
So he took a volunteer position offered by the World University Service of Canada, and wound up in Otse, a dusty town of 3,500 near the Kalahari desert.
Although Weinstein knew little about audiology, he had decades of hard-nosed experience in the business world. Most of all, he knew how to get things done.
A significant problem with hearing aids in Africa is how to keep them in working order. Batteries wear out quickly, and cost about $1 each to replace. That's too expensive for most people in countries where the average wage is about $1 a day.
"You have these great organizations like the Rotary and Kiwanis and World Vision, and they give out tens of thousands of hearing aids each year," he says. "And after a week, the hearing aid is put in a drawer because the battery dies. That's the weakest link.
"We started with the battery and worked backward. The common factor in most developing countries is sun. So let's use that energy to make something."
What he had in mind was a cheap hearing aid powered by rechargeable solar batteries.
Weinstein got on the phone. He talked to executives in the electronics industry, and contacted hearing aid manufacturers and parts suppliers. He received a small grant from the African Development Foundation, and approached financiers. He also partnered with Sound Design Technologies, a forward looking $40-million-a-year company in Toronto that produces microprocessors used in leading hearing aid brands.
There are a couple of things you should know about Weinstein. First, he's a great kidder. Talk to him for 10 minutes and you're laughing half the time. The other thing is, he never quits.
When he is told No, it "just means not now," he says.
With a lot of help, he came up with the SolarAid - a hearing aid that costs less than $100. By comparison, the least expensive retail model sells for about $500.
The SolarAid looks like other hearing aids: It's crescent-shaped and fits behind the ear. But it runs on rechargeable batteries that cost $1 apiece and last for two to three years. He also developed a small recharger that uses a built-in solar panel and can also be plugged into a wall outlet.
The bare office where he began SolarAid is now a robust business operation called Godisa Technologies Trust, a non-profit enterprise with an independent board of directors. In the Setswana language, Godisa means "doing something that is helping others to grow."
Some 20,000 people in 30 countries now use SolarAid brand hearing aids, batteries and chargers. The potential for growth is enormous. The World Health Organization estimates there are about 250 million hearing impaired people globally, with about two-thirds of them living in developing countries, yet only six million hearing aids are manufactured each year.
Weinstein is particularly proud of the 10 deaf employees he hired to run Godisa. "We had three come to Canada and take an aviation soldering course in Montreal, given in sign language. Then they went to work in industry as part of the course. And industry wanted to keep them, they are so good. Yet they decided to go back to Botswana and train other deaf people."
Weinstein is now involved with a Godisa-style project in Sao Paulo, Brazil, working on a second-generation digital hearing aid. Within weeks, three workers from the Botswana project will be going to Sao Paulo to teach the deaf how to assemble a digital rechargeable hearing aid and solar charger.
"I lived in Botswana for five years, so the community members become part of your family So to have three of my family members come train the deaf in Brazil is so exciting from so many aspects.
"Most technical training is north-south, rarely south-south, and never, say, deaf-to-deaf. So it will be such a great thing for the deaf Botswana people in terms of their self-esteem, and in giving hope to the deaf in Brazil. 'Hey, look what we're able to do'. "
Weinstein doesn't downplay the difficulties involved in starting an innovative business in a developing country. "My brother likes to describe it as running a Ginger Rogers' business. That means you have to dance as smooth as Fred Astaire, except on high heels and going backwards. That's sort of what it's like running projects in developing countries - always obstacles."
As for his role, Weinstein insists it's no big deal.
"Any social entrepreneur will tell you, you have to be stubborn and stupid. It's just as simple as that."
Jokes aside, he believes perseverance pays off when intellect alone can't get the job done.
He also believes the WHO should get more business people involved in health issues.
"I read something recently about a big HIV-AIDS conference in Thailand and one of the biggest problems they had was distribution of HIV-AIDS drugs. I'm saying, if you get someone from Home Depot, Coca-Cola and Fed-Ex together in the room, you'll solve the distribution problem.
"They know how to do that. Yet the WHO doesn't get those people involved. The WHO has been talking about low-cost hearing aids for years. But within a year, Godisa and myself, we developed this new technology, hired the people, trained the people, got the money and did it."
Weinstein is fired up about a new nonprofit project in Jordan, which is operated through the Canada International Scientific Exchange Program, an NGO, and MEHA, a Mideast counterpart.
"The Jordanian program is particularly exciting, as their workforce will include young Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli deaf adults working together."
The projects are designed to help meet demand, not only in the country of assembly, but also in the wider trading area. For example, Jordan will service all the Mideast, and Brazil, all of Latin America, he explains.
"I'm helping other NGOs set up competitive programs around the world and mentor them from a distance - write the business plan, visit the facilities, make sure they have all they need. And then eventually co-ordinate all the programs."
No matter how successful SolarAid becomes, the Botswana project will always have a special place in his heart.
"I initially went to give meaning to my daughter's death but actually it wound up giving meaning to my life."