Image: Jack Belvin
“You would have loved her. She was an amazing kid… running around the village, with the most beautiful smile. A smile that was hiding her pain.”
Those were the words of Ganesh Muren when he was accepting the Laureate ‘Here for Good’ award in 2016. He spoke about a girl he’d met during a volunteering trip to a village not too far from Klang Valley. On the outside, she and her friends were just like any other kids, jumping around and playing all day. Behind those joyful faces, however, was the insurmountable pain of constant diarrhoea. The girl, her friends, and their families, have been living with contaminated water all their lives.
The meeting drove Ganesh, then a 2nd year engineering student, to work on changing the situation at the village. The fact that a village just an hour away from the city centre has no access to clean water was bewildering to him. He became obsessed with solving the issue, and began working on his engineering project towards this goal. Six months later, he returned to the village with the solution: a portable solar powered water purifier. He rushed his way back with the bulky prototype in tow.
“The girl I met earlier was the first person I wanted to show the device to, but I could only see her mother. She told me that she was trying to reach out to me,” he recalled.
“She had passed away due to excessive diarrhea. And that is when I knew that I was too late.”
Image: Saora Industries
Her memory lives on
The tragic passing provided an impetus for Ganesh to move forward with his aspiration. He became increasingly adamant to bring on change and provide access to clean water for the villagers. Like an unlikely catalyst, the little girl’s passing led to the founding of Saora Industries, a social enterprise that aims to “uplift lives through green technology and sustainable community development”.
‘Saora’ means ‘the Sun’ in Sanskrit. Ganesh cites the name as “symbolic” of the light that he wishes to bring to every home. After only three years in operation, Saora have reached out to over 4,000 lives in rural villages around the country with a host of international awards to their name. Within the startup space, Saora is known as one of the fastest growing social enterprises in the region.
Ganesh owes the entrepreneurial spirit within him to his humble upbringing. His mother used to take up janitorial jobs at learning institutions so that she would be able to continuously secure the best education for him. Inspired by her selflessness, Ganesh took no time paying it forward by joining volunteer missions to underserved villages, which paved the way to the founding of Saora.
The rapid, overwhelming success must have been a huge morale booster for Ganesh and his team. In his response to my initial e-mail for an interview, however, Ganesh exuded humility and courteousness in accommodating to my request despite his busy travelling schedule. We agreed to an e-mail interview.
Image: Saora Industries
Partnering for sustenance
One question that intrigued me when I first heard of Saora was their operating model. Their cause is unquestionably noble. But the costs of producing their system, and venturing deep into the rural areas to deliver and install the equipment do not come cheap. I asked Ganesh about their funding strategy in order to reach their target of 10,000 households by 2018 and beyond.
“Our corporate partners provide the funding to carry out the activities and sometime involve their staff as additional manpower,” he said.
“If neither Saora nor our main partner is able to fulfil a need in our beneficiary village, we reach out to other organisations and establish new partnerships -- partners who can work with us to fulfil a specific need in the village. Everyone wins,” he added.
The beneficiaries of their operation seem to be on top of Ganesh’s mind in driving the company forward. He mentions them numerous times in answering my questions. I was particularly interested in the way that Saora balance their business and social commitments as a startup.
“Sustaining a social enterprise that focuses on beneficiaries who are at the bottom of the pyramid is not easy,” he expressed.
“We have to expand and move into serving the needs of other industries. The profit obtained from the commercial services are used to subsidise the social projects we carry out with our partners,” he added.
To date, Saora have successfully garnered the support of Yayasan Siti Sapura, Hong Leong Foundation, and Yayasan Kemajuan Insan Sarawak.
Image: Saora Industries
Overcoming hurdles
Despite his recent achievements, things have not always been easy for Ganesh and team. Even from the beginning, the original water filter that he had built for the villagers only received a C grade as an engineering project. The professors were not too impressed, but that did very little in deterring his spirit. Ganesh went ahead and established Saora, then a relatively small player in an industry dominated by giants.
“The biggest challenge was getting the first deal signed and sealed. I was very confident with our products, but we were just a startup competing with more established and bigger organisations. We didn’t have a track record to boast about. No reputation, no advertisements, and no promotions,” he recalled.
But being a new entity has its advantages. Saora had little bureaucracy in their decision-making structure which allowed them to be more adaptable to market changes. Ganesh attributed to Saora’s startup organisation as the factor that had allowed them to adopt new technologies, practices, and strategies faster although at a smaller scale.
Despite their David vs. Goliath beginnings, Saora won their first contract of carrying out a CSR project for a conglomerate.
In the wake of public and private firms jumping on to the startup bandwagon, I asked Ganesh how the support has actually been for social enterprises like Saora. The surge of parties taking interest in the social impact sector has been apparent in the media, but I was keen to know more about the reality in terms of level of support that the intended beneficiaries are receiving.
“It is now easier to get information on grants, sponsorships, and mentorship opportunities. There are more platforms created for knowledge transfer and sharing. Even the media is highlighting more and more startups without discriminating them against the more established organisations,” he said.
“But there is still much to be done,” he added, “The support and assistance available to us in towns must be made more accessible to rural communities, especially if we want to develop areas such as agriculture, ecotourism, and informal education, among others. They need the soft skills, the connections, and leverage that we in the cities have. We can do much more when we collaborate.”
Image: Saora Industries
Transformative leadership
My first encounter with Saora is actually from a YouTube video on the Transformasi Nasional 2050 (TN50) channel. TN50 is an initiative to plan for Malaysia between 2020 and 2050, and Ganesh was appointed as one of its ambassadors. Other ambassadors of the programme include former rhythmic gymnast Dr. Farrah-Hani Imran, marine scientist Dr. Louisa Shohbini Ponnampalam, and disability rights activist Dr. Aizan Sofia Amin. A definitive list of astounding Malaysians.
“I am humbled by the opportunity to work for the people of Malaysia. Being a TN50 ambassador is a big responsibility and I will try my best. I am in a position to listen to the real practical needs at the grassroots, gather ideas from think-tanks, and get input from the general public as well as decision makers. I believe being a part of TN50 will only improve my approach in making safe drinking water and basic home lighting accessible to more people.”
The story of Ganesh Muren and Saora Industries reflects the power of selflessness and collaboration in creating change. The intent of saving one life grew to a movement towards saving thousands, and maybe one day, millions. Saora embody the intersection of technology and humanity which transcends borders, backgrounds, and upbringing -- all from the eyes of a boy from Klang.
As Ganesh himself said in his Laureate speech, “I wanted to make a billion dollars when I was young. Today, I want to save a billion lives.”
He might as well.
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