Innovation & The Greater Good of Things

Lets throwback a little...

As a kid mom always said I had way too much imagination for my age. By age four I knew all the car logos and could easily identify them from a distance, this before even knowing how to write or read.

As kids, my sister and I used to jump on the craziest adventures, from inventing the car that could turn into a boat when it rained to go searching for mermaids in the pipes all of this happened in our modest little backyard.

I had to grow up...

Growing up I developed every artistic area I could; for those who know me they know I can sing, dance, act, write, paint, draw, and even play an instrument. Every strength I gain became part of my life and my way of being.

When graduating high school I thought that probably arts or design was going to be my major, but as the ambitious person that I am, that didn't happen. I gave my life a meaning by not doing what everybody expected me to do, and I enrolled myself in an engineering major. Years passed by and the harder it got the more I doubt myself I was capable of doing this.

Last year of college came around and something in me changed, I met a group of people with my same drive and spirit of helping people. So from just being an engineering student, I became a missionary. I traveled to places where light or drinking water was inaccessible. I saw extreme poverty, malnutrition, illness, but overall this I saw people with a strong faith in God.

A new mission in life...

Helping the ones in need became my personal motto. So I started little as I tell myself, for my thesis I developed an Emergency and Disaster Plan for my university. Something I knew it with will prevail and be a legacy to help others after I graduated.

But that was not enough for me I had to do something that would help even more people. After I won a scholarship to go to the USA for a semester my innovative mind started growing finding opportunities to innovate everywhere. From developing a business with a couple of friends that consisted of an app that could help elderly people with basic chores to one of the ideas I most proud of.

SunWater?

The social innovation I named SunWater.

It is still sinking in that I developed all of this on my own. You might ask yourselves what is this about. Well, SunWater is an innovative way of crop watering that uses an encapsulated water cycle which works best on the long periods of drought in my country and in communities in which their only food resource is agriculture. And recycling PET plastic bottles while doing this.

The first, second, and third time I presented this project I thought it didn't have potential. People didn't see the potential I saw this had and how this could help the communities in need. 

But the fourth time came and the reception was amazing people saw my dream, my creation as something big, something that just might work. That is when it hit me, I want to be a social entrepreneur because helping others is what makes me happy and what I love to do. I'm still working on trials for my project to work at its best because I want to make SunWater happen. I want my dreaming of helping people come true.

"The betterment of society is not a job to be left to a few. It’s a responsibility to be shared by all."   -David Packard

PS: If you want to work with me on this project just email me or find me on LinkedIn as María Teresa De Jesús Bernal Roper. Thanks for the support.

Yours truly,

Maria