The Wello Water Wheel Story : Cynthia Koenig at TEDxGateway

About Cynthia:
Cynthia is an entrepreneur and an anthropologist; an empathetic, thoughtful do-er.
She has spent the last decade living and working throughout Central America, Southern Africa, South and Southeast Asia, during which she became familiar with the challenges and opportunities present in communities at the base of the economic pyramid associated with the lack of access to clean water.
Cynthia launched Wello with a bold vision -- to create products and services that enable individuals to reliably access safe water and introduce opportunities for families to break free from the cycle of poverty.
For more about Wello, please visit www.wellowater.org.
Cynthia holds dual MBA/MS degrees from the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business and School of Natural Resources and Environment and a BA in anthropology from Trinity College.
About her talk:
Cynthia talks about the often underestimated problem of water weight and how this problem is preventing millions of women from educating and empowering themselves. She points about the fact that 'water is heavy' using real life examples in Rajasnthan, India. Not only is water heavy but also time consuming and limiting women of important opportunities. She talks about her invention "wello" where she & her team have reinvented the wheel. She brings the water wheel on stage, explaining the design and features in this product, allowing the audience to see this easy to use, yet immensely life changing water wheel.
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[@austinivers8635]

great job Cynthia, its good to see someone caring about the less fortunate people of the world. As an anthropologist myself, im keenly aware of the difficulties in other countries. Could your design be modified to leave a message in the sand, a Tibetan prayer or advertisement?

[@karmachophel9870]

Fabulous and innovative creation Cynthia. Those whose thumps down, they have no idea what humanity, love and kindness is so, forget those jerks. Infinite thumps up from my side. Keep up the good work.

[@JanetArcher0713]

Wow! This is incredible--keep up the wonderful wellness journey concerning water!

[@deepaksharma2000]

This is great thing, Congratulations to Wello team for helping millions of village ladies everywhere in the world. They will bless the team with whole heart

[@OluseyiLala]

This is what making a difference is all about!!! God bless you Cynthia!!!

[@jothisj4787]

That is great.. oh I had to carry water daily when I was too young.. sorry we missed the use of this water wheels... hope it is available in the rural Bengal too...Jothi SJ

[@philiq18]

Brilliant!! Seeing inventions like this is the reason I love social entrepreneurship. The difference this is going to make in the lives of women and their families is going to be phenomenal. Kudos!

[@srimansrini]

One of the greatest street-smart idea ever created is this "Water Wheel" Thanks to Cynthia Koenig and other technical team who designed this need-of-the-hour machine that will immensely benefit the millions of women in India and all over the world. Exceptionally brilliant and incredibly fantastic...

[@Vaibik]

+Open School Yes, apparently the "greatest street-smart" idea was already created in 1991 in South Africa by the name Hippo Roller.

[@cristic767]

+Open School , ""Petzer and Jonker were recognized for their work on the Hippo Roller in 1997 with the "Design for Development Award" by the South African Bureau of Standards and its Design Institute.""

[@girishgopalakrishnan2776]

Such a good one!

[@girliethoh8404]

An inspiration! Thank you from women all over the world!

[@aswaninaresh]

superb! I really wonder as to why no one thought about it. Salute to Cynthia who not only thought about but invented a very-2 useful & convenient thing.Superb Invention !

[@ritvikdiv]

Thanks, tworide1 - for showing the link. It is inappropriate to NOT acknowledge the originator of the idea. Thanks for the link. Do the original engineers have a patent on the idea. If Yes, then can sue in US or Canada, and use the income to promote the original idea! !

[@RushReviewsbyAmi]

fantastic!

[@maartenvandijk]

Fabulous! A real livesaver

[@divyarangamani3999]

Hats Off. Thank you. I would like to learn more on buying from you and take this to down south in India

[@Charlesebrown40]

BRAVO! Today I will share the concept with ECHO inc. (Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization.) with the idea that their appropriate technology department can devise a method whereby local people can produce a similar device.

[@jwstevens87]

i dont always live in a great place, for quite a while i hiked our water in a 5 gallon bucket with straps. the water wheel is such an amazing invention. this would make life a LOT easier. i could hike with a full pack and the water wheel. great job! :)

[@tknprasad]

Great Idea, that can ease the life of thousands of women/girls struggling daily to carry water from distant places in Rajasthan. Hope CM of Rajasthan will do her best to implement this technology as early as possible.

[@GilBarOn]

Great job! :-) Cynthia, you've done such a wonderful and important thing! I'm sure that with this you'll improve the lives of millions! and most importantly the fact that you Care.... Lots of Love & Good Luck!! Gil from Israel :-)

[@christy1544]

This is amazing. What a way to change the world! I would love to know how much so we can raise money to buy them for women who need them.

[@DarioPaini]

super genial!

[@cristic767]

A good guestion I read on other website: "Can't they get trolleys? Also called hand trucks. Then they can use their existing containers and just strap them to the trolley and also use them to move bricks and other stuff."

[@dek2000utube]

Genius is SIMPLICITY!

[@adityaaggarwal1910]

Well done Wello 😇❣️

[@donwill575420]

well.. It is great to address this idea and I applaud what they are doing, both to highlight this issue and to spread. However, Im not sure they can claim to have invented this. Water carriers like this have been around for decades! I used one just like this when I was younger when I went camping. At least you should mention this instead of claiming it is an original idea.

[@vikontessas]

how this invention solves water quality problem or the need to travel by feet several kilometers to the well?

[@tworide1]

This is NOT a new idea! See www.hipporoller.org. Credit where credit is due. Seems that it's already been done The barrel, originally called "Aqua Roller", was the brainchild of two engineers, Pettie Petzer and Johan Jonker Petzer and Jonker were recognized for their work on the Hippo Roller in 1997 with the "Design for Development Award" by the South African Bureau of Standards and its Design Institute.

[@queeniegainer7561]

I remember these; they are not made out of the tougher plastic these new ones are. Also, the barrels were longer and carry more water; too heavy for one woman to push on her own, as opposed to the smaller orb/wheel. Why even bother bringing up something as obnoxious as this, considering you are sitting behind your computer in your carpet filled house and have probably not contributed to human progression in the slightest. Don't be a dick unless it's called for ffs.

[@GrantKruger]

Queenie Gainer This is a wonderful idea, but +tworide1 is right. He's pointing out an injustice, not being mean. Presenting something as one's own idea when it is not is dishonest. This idea dates back to the early 90s and they should have said up front in this talk. What they have is merely a variant on an existing product and not a new idea at all. The Hippo Roller still exists and is in use and you are wrong about it being too heavy for one woman as you can find photos of young girls pushing them, never mind women. It was designed for one woman to use, as this one is. You are also wrong about the Hippo Roller not being being made out of tougher plastic as nothing else would have worked in African conditions. It was designed for and is still in use in African conditions and it is apparently very hardy. My understanding is it failed to spread quickly because the it's bulk makes it hard to export and while they received lots of media attention and awards, they had a product aimed at the poorest of people and what they needed was funding and they got too little of it. So even if this one is better it does not change the fact that presenting this as a new idea and product is deeply dishonest and disrespectful to those who invented it.

[@GrantKruger]

Grant Kruger In fact many of the points in her talk can be found in the almost 6 year old Wikipedia article about the Hippo Roller: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippo_water_roller

[@ritvikdiv]

Thanks, tworide1 - for showing the link. It is inappropriate to NOT acknowledge the originator of the idea. Thanks for the link. Do the original engineers have a patent on the idea. If Yes, then can sue in US or Canada, and use the income to promote the original idea! !

[@lsamoa]

Grant Kruger Actually, they've sold more than 45'000 units across 21 African countries, and have been benefiting more than 300'00 people to date. Shame on Koenig for stealing their invention and taking all the credits for it.

[@juank9684]

Alguien que teadusca a español?

[@keenenaltic230]

And they will pay for it by taking out a loan from a de-regulated banking system?

[@Dgfrmxon]

If the activity of carrying water is so inefficient, then why did this practice start to begin with? Surely they were not doing this as their way as hunter gathers. It's baffling that so many people are wasting so much resources on doing something so ridiculously inefficient. Frankly, it's an easy problem to fix, but whatever is so wrong with these places that caused this practice to begin won't be fixed by treating the symptom.

[@detagrupxe]

This is a good video, but the title and "About" section do it no justice. I would like to share this video, but I think a lot of people would look at it and say "what's this rubbish?"

[@lsamoa]

Three words: Hippo Roller, 1991. Did you have fun copying this award-winning South African innovation while you were doing your fellowship at their company in 2007-09, Cynthia? "We've just invented it and you're among the first ones to see it!". This woman is such a liar.

[@junkyarddreams9959]

+lsamoa No, she is not Bro .She said ,"we've reinvented the wheel". Not invented. You'd have known if you have listened it carefully.

[@lsamoa]

It's a figure of speech mate. She literally claims that this product is her design in every single promotional material she made for it. You're burying your head in the sand.

[@ramdilsrinivasa8285]

It just copy of hippo roller which was invented in south aftrica 5 years prior to her Why should we laud people who are the copiers and make it look like they are changing the world?? She doesn't deserve that

[@lsamoa]

@@ramdilsrinivasa8285 Exactly.

[@aneshasikic6020]

Why don't they just put a water tank in their village

[@mariahelenawylliel.rodrigu5715]

Sorry to spoil the "invention", but this method of transporting water is not new. Decades ago (at least 6/7 decades) poor people in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, used wooden barrels to do exactly what is being announced as a revolutionary method. But, fortunately, , this something of the past.

[@thekingoftheboxleton]

someone derped

[@jacobneoconstantinou5392]

BIgggggggg juicy

[@rpgarimella]

hI Cynthia, its marvelous and could you please respond our email immediately.

[@MaxTperson]

If that is new inventon then what is this: ht tp://koti.mbnet.fi/maxt/selkistuff/water.html (also storage, grain transfer, etc.) If we now credit one person with inventing this... what of all the others who invented same thing ? teach them a lesson that it matters not who invents or does what good... the credit and fame will go to wealthy person with best publicity ? What if we would... just declare it freeware, free for anyone to make, perfect, sell, brand, etc.

[@MrRehan001]

1st

[@naimrahman1304]

left out neighboring countries like bangladesh, pakistan, sri lanka, nepal.

[@getmeatgmail]

It would be really good, instead making money from this idea she could asked audience for donors and make this wheel cheap to poor people.

[@JLuisGonzalez2014]

Fantastic product. Such a poor presentation.