Achenyo Idachaba: How I turned a deadly plant into a thriving business | TED
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- Опубліковано 10 лют 2016
- The water hyacinth may look like a harmless, even beautiful flowering plant - but it's actually an invasive aquatic weed that clogs waterways, stopping trade, interrupting schooling and disrupting everyday life. In this scourge, green entrepreneur Achenyo Idachaba saw opportunity. Follow her journey as she turns weeds into woven wonders.
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I'd say this talk is actually more important than most on TED, because this shows how you can accomplish something big without having any skills, knowledge, or funding. Everything about this is a success. She has:
* Helped reduce an adubndant pestilent plant by converting it into a valuable resource.
* Increased a new job market without requiring any skills or expensive resources, which in turn helped the local economy.
* Protected the wildlife, and in turn, helped the local people's potential food problem.
Most importantly, she actually listened to the community's problems and tried to come up with a solution. She didn't assume that they had a problem and jumped in with a "solution" to a problem they never had.
+Peter Schmidt YES YES YES!
Agreed, and it is such an elegant solution as it has "sustainability" all over it:
1. The water hyacinth reproduce so fast that they double in volume within about 10 days depending on environmental conditions, so it is unlikely that the raw materials will dry up in the near future.
2. The harvesting and processing technologies are artisanal, with a low capital requirement for members of the local communities to participate.
3. The weaved products are responding to the needs of local buyers and therefore find a steady demand, limited only by the creativity of the designers and users.
4. There is nothing in the whole process that can be said to introduce a ny discrimination against women, youth, elderly or disabled persons from choosing to participate in the supply chain.
5. By controlling the spread of the invasive water hyacinth, they are also enabling indigenous aquatic species of both Flora and Fauna to re-generate, thereby restoring the catching and processing capabilities of the fishing communities.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
from computer scientist to I inventor, she did an incredible and selfless thing. Simply amazing.
Now this is a *_woman_*. Beautiful, intelligent and caring. Turns something deadly into something useful. Quite poetic.
Some of us men could learn from Achenyo. Just another example of the flowers that blossom when you remove the patriarchal weeds.
Kind Regards,
Wyatt Nite
+Wyatt Nite
Just some men could learn? Why not some women too? Or humans?
+Wyatt Nite I'm a woman. I learnt from this.
Not sure how much this is a gender issue, more an environmental and sustainability one...
A guy could and probably has done such work as this too.
Its about community and working together.
+Wyatt Nite if she wasn't beautiful she would be less of a woman? or if she was less intelligent? or caring? beautiful is relative, and intelligent and caring make her a great and good woman. Patriarchy is imposing roles and qualities to genders and sexes, removing those weeds is acknowledging that a person is not less of a man or a woman for their qualities, being them good or bad.
*+Wyatt Nite* Down to an art, just brilliant!
+Wyatt Nite LOL!
the best way to fight an enemy really is to befriend your enemy instead of destroying them, isn't it? It's more economical, environmentally friendly and it even makes the people love you.
When she said "We have changed the story" I had goosebumps all over my body. Freakin cool!
We do very similar things in the Bahamas! Very intelligent idea where you not only help the environment but provide the community with new jobs, skills and even inspire them to do something great as well.
Wow those baskets are gorgeous. What a smart lady.
South-East Asia needs this desperately, this plant is weaving havoc here instead of baskets too!
I really liked this! :) Especially the connection with stories and culture, as well as how she is providing real employment opportunities! :D
In Hong Kong, this weed is mainly used in pig feeding and tourism -- city people love those beautiful purple flowers and come a long way just to take IG photos. And have seen it in the flower shop too. So I am very surprised to see these craft products! Perhaps one day I will see this in IKEA stores, sustainable products are starting to get into our sight. Since these craft only take the stems into usage, perhaps she can try to sell those flowers to the florists or pig owners, with the remaining made into compost and sell it to the farms. That's new sources of income as well.
You inspire me,thanks lady ! You are great !!
Her voice is so soothing.I could listen to her all day.
Great story and a great project. However, I suspect that even a couple hundred of woven baskets will only clear a relative small patch of water hyacinth. This has to be done on a large scale to have any impact on the invasive species, which would result in overflowing your market and significantly dropping prices on your products.
These people should *also* get into the production of worm castings. Harvest the plants in large volumes, let them partially compost, then feed it to the worms and eventually sell the castings. Its the best soil fertilizer you can think of and a huge growing market.
TheBushdoctor68
She is doing it on a large scale. I'm seeing this stuff in North America.
Worms AND castings are a great idea. Red wrigglers would prolly do quite well with this stuff. They are quick digesters of the stuff. The waste could also be used as a simple mulch, also. Very important in a climate that dessicates plant material quickly. The red wrigglers are also great for bait...
What are worm castings
such an appropriate solution! kudos
Never knew that flower could be so destructive, we have plenty of them here in Indonesia.
But WOW, what a great story! And beautiful ending! Very inspirational, thank you Ms. Anchennyo Idachaba
I love this so much!
Best TED talk so far
Beautiful one. Keep up the good work. Very inspiring.
I love the simplicity of the idea and the complexity of the problem. The plan was how to turn the plant into something likable.A solution that had a viable commercial function which helps everyone involved.Simplicity ruled the solution: how to turn a deadly plant into a business? Make the plant (which was on the planet probably first) usable to humans who needed a way to recognize its true (commercial) value besides its possible ecological value.
intelligent idea... good jobs for the people... nice with the environment... smart woman...
wow, so inspiring
Very good job, I wish more solutions like that were found to solve other problems too! Thanks
where do u purchase the products? thanks to the people who put the TED talks together. I've watched many of them. they are mind expanding
Amazing story!
I love this.
putting words into works , great story
What a great story !
Brilliant!
Excellent...
Awesome❤
Am touch, from a destroyer (de plant ☘️) to a life giver (table mat, pen, basket etc).
Tank u madam
amazing!
amazing
That's one of my favorite plants! Yay!
+Kirsten ßas Are you suggesting this is not common? The plant FLOATS! Sooo cool!
+Kirsten ßas lol you don't?
In Vietnam, we also have this plant and they utilize their fibers and other uses from this plant :D
I'd be interested to know if this has become a viable business that justifies the amount of time that the villagers give to it.
Great Post. Change the story.
I wish you could come to New Orleans. We could use you here.
Good for her, it's amazing how by choosing to leave her corporate job she probably has much more freedom and will have more wealth in the long run.
Wow, no racist comments? Good for you, youtube...Good for you...
***** You're literally the only person here talking about racism. We're all talking about business, morality, and innovation. If you're just gonna sit here and be a racist then you should go read a book instead and get smarter
WeActOnImpulse Official I didn't say anything racist. In fact I said it's a good thing that there are no racist comments. Provide a quot I made that shows that I am a racist. Are you an idiot or just looking for someone to argue with online?
***** no I'm saying why are you thinking about racism in such a powerful and uplifting video?? Clearly you are racist.
WeActOnImpulse Official I don't think you even know what the word means. Also, the reason is because this is a public forum. And usually when people who aren't white make videos, there is usually a troll or two, itching to make racist comments. Perhaps if you don't understand the context, you shouldn't make assumptions. It's a clear sigh of stupidity.
***** I very rarely see racist comments. so do you just go into videos and dig through the comment section until you find a racist remark? You're sick.
That is pretty amazing, but one thing I don't get, she said it is dangerous and poisonous, wouldn't it still be deadly after being dehydrated?
Sweet :3
Aquatic weed? whoa man. sounds dank.
this plant is called terror of Bengal in India. really nice talk
i like it
communities, ccommunities communities....
Now make a Healing plant into a lively business.
6:05 I'll be damned!
great idea need to do more then basket
maybe nets in fish farming.
instead of using nylon cages/nets
instead of cleaning ,
replace and compost
Uses of water hyacinth
wow, she has barely any accents, that's amazing
She is American
+Fraser John Does she have a goldenrod to match her charcoal grey? I had a red accents... but then Rolling stones...
lemons -> lemonade
i love you lady
drinking game: drink a shot every time she says communities :)
just as i saw your comment i heard her say communities haha
Do you have community? Around you ? Its more than money. Or just shot,dont hurt yourselves. Go out n creat your community u find love . Shot no good.
I think every deadly plant in our USA is outlawed along with true free enterprise.
I am lucky to have a rich friend in Nigeria. She has millions for me so the email says.
May as well be the story of oil.
👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
3:35
I was kinda hoping her idea was to farm/eat manatees.
I wonder if manatee tastes more like pork or beef.
+sferrari81 They are VERY wild and hard to control. They kill a LOT of people. There's only ever been ONE domesticated, and she was raised by people from when she was very little.
+sina chiniforoush Ohhhh Yeahhh, they are especially dangerous to boats. Aproximately 500 boats are killed by manatea fins every year in Florida. They're almost as vicious as baby seeels.
like with eroin...
third
Firrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
all subtitles but not english
+Rgroose You couldn't understand her?
not everything, because im not english
Neither is she, I'm from New Zealand. Where are you from?
"Neither is she?" lol even when she understands what she says, doesnt mean she can understand everything. I'm from slovakia
+Rgroose yeah neither is she because she's not English?? lol he said that because she's from Nigeria not Britain so she's not English she can't be a language and no wonder you couldn't understand her, it seems to me English isn't even your first language due to where you are from she spoke perfect English with her accent
By deadly plant you mean marijuana right?
go get a few hippo, they love to eat these and will make your water very fertile with fishes. let the nature do its job.
Get rid of ppl who aren't native to your country!
Wow. So came up with an idea ow making ropes out of plants? And this is her "business idea"?
In some parts of the world people were doing it since the Neolithic age but I guess you need a computer science degree to figure that out in Africa.