Bright idea set to shine

It all started with the idea of illuminating the darkest communities in the Philippines using a staple commodity.

In 2011, during an immersion trip with a local tribe in the northern province of Kalinga, Aisa Mijeno came up with the idea for the Sustainable Alternative Lighting, or SALt, lamp.

"I learned that people don't have access to electricity and use kerosene lanterns as their main source of lighting," she said, adding that the local people had to go down the mountains every other day to buy kerosene for their lamps.

"This inspired me to come up with the SALt lamp, since salt is pretty much abundant and a staple item in every household in the Philippines," she recalled. More than four years later, during the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Manila in November 2015, Mijeno shared the stage with United States President Barack Obama and Chinese business magnate Jack Ma to discuss the project.

"I was really nervous. I knew that I was there to represent the local startup community and later realized that it was not just the local startup community but the Philippines as a whole so I thought I should be really careful with all my answers," she said.

She added the invitation to join Obama and Ma-the founder and chief executive officer of Alibaba - came as a surprise. Mijeno, her brother and SALt co-founder Raphael Mijeno, and the rest of their team were supposed to join the APEC summit for small- and medium-sized enterprises.

While on their way, she said she received a call from someone from the White House inviting her to be part of a panel discussion that would be moderated by Obama.

"The first emotion I felt, to be quite honest, during the whole conversation was fear - because I was not sure if we were ready for the kind of exposure this will bring us. It will surely put heavy pressure on our shoulders, but it was a once-in-a- lifetime event, so my brother pushed me to accept the proposal," said Mijeno.

During the discussion, she explained the concept of SALt, which uses saline solution to power LED lamps and a USB port that can charge smartphones.

She said to the audience, "the huge impact we'll be able to contribute when we dive into developing large-scale for the technology.

"Just imagine if we are able to power a whole island using ocean water."

Obama, who led the panel discussion after his speech at the APEC CEO summit, was impressed with the presentation of the young engineer, entrepreneur, and part-time faculty member at the De La Salle University in Lipa, Batangas, the Philippines.

"I think Aisa is a perfect example of what we're seeing in a lot of countries: Young entrepreneurs coming up with leap-frog technology," said the US president.

The author is a journalist at The Philippine Star.

(China Daily 06/25/2016 page10)