WEBVTT - Lunchtable Talks: Smart Cities and Black Power w/ Jessica O. Matthews 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.720 Enjoying Black Tech Green Money. It would mean a lot 0:00:02.800 --> 0:00:05.200 if you rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts or 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:08.039 Google Play. The way the algorithm works, the more you 0:00:08.160 --> 0:00:10.799 rate and say nice things, they'll introduce Black Tech Green 0:00:10.800 --> 0:00:13.920 Money to more people and more of us need this content. 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:17.239 So thank you for rating this podcast five stars today. 0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:21.320 You know, essentially what we've done is developed a platform 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:26.920 technology that transforms your city into a smartphone, so that 0:00:27.280 --> 0:00:32.720 deploying and managing infrastructure solutions like ev charging, like smart 0:00:32.720 --> 0:00:35.360 water systems, like all the things that you would need 0:00:35.400 --> 0:00:37.479 to avoid a lot of the death that we saw 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:42.120 from the from this storm. So doing that is as 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:47.200 convenient as downloading and running an app on your phone. 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:52.280 I'm with Lucas and this is Black Tech Green Money. 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:53.720 I'm gonna ask you to you to some of the 0:00:53.720 --> 0:00:57.000 biggest names, some of the brightest minds and brilliant ideas. 0:00:57.400 --> 0:00:59.640 If you're black, in building or simply using tech to 0:00:59.680 --> 0:01:07.760 secure You're back this podcast this for you special edition 0:01:07.800 --> 0:01:10.600 to Black Tech Green Money. Some Unstable Conversation with my 0:01:10.640 --> 0:01:14.000 friend Jessica Old Matthews, founder and CEO of Uncharted Power 0:01:14.480 --> 0:01:18.080 and a War winning renewable power and sustainability company. This 0:01:18.200 --> 0:01:21.520 conversation was held during the Back to Black Innovators Digital Summit. 0:01:21.760 --> 0:01:23.759 We had afro chech through a bit ago and I'm 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:27.960 excited for you guys to hear this conversation. That's so, 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:32.480 I'm pleased to introduce my friend here, who I lovingly 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:36.120 called like the dopest scientist you're ever gonna meet. And um, 0:01:36.160 --> 0:01:39.120 I'm gonna give her a bio and then I'm gonna 0:01:39.160 --> 0:01:41.679 ask her, like, give her what her version of her 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:44.960 own bio is. So. Jessica Old Matthews is founder and 0:01:45.000 --> 0:01:48.120 CEO of Uncharted Power and a war winning renewable power 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:52.240 and sustainability company now on the bleeding of creating UH 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.240 smart cities around the world. And the company was founded 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:57.400 by Jessica when she was only twenty two years old. 0:01:57.680 --> 0:02:00.800 Big move, big queen, move right there. Dual citizen of 0:02:00.920 --> 0:02:04.000 Nigeria and the US still still do a citizen? Yeah, 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:06.240 still do a citizen? Mean I don't know about the 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:09.560 US part. For there was a time there was a 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:11.000 moment where if there was one of them, I was 0:02:11.040 --> 0:02:13.120 gonna give it up. It was that one. But you know, 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:15.520 we were looking good so far. Yeah, these are these 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:18.280 are facts. These are facts um. She has a degree 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:22.440 in psychology and economics from Harvard University, NBA from a 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.240 HBS as well UM and it's listed over on a 0:02:26.360 --> 0:02:30.440 hundred patents and patents pending just twelve twelve, twelve twelve. 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:34.200 I'll tend I'm sorry, I'm okay, it's ten. The one 0:02:34.240 --> 0:02:39.600 I had was ten. Be prolific and ethic, Yes, yes, 0:02:39.760 --> 0:02:41.880 or you on your way, because if anybody can do it, 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:46.720 it's Jessica Matthew so um, including her first invention with socket, 0:02:46.760 --> 0:02:49.600 which is an energy generating soccer ball. She did that 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:52.560 nineteen years old. I mean, what were you doing that nineteen? 0:02:52.600 --> 0:02:53.800 I know what I was doing, and it was not 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:58.799 inventing energy producing soccer generating soccer balls. But list of 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:03.000 accolades includes which is most Promising Women Entrepreneurs for Start 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:07.640 Getting thirty eight, Magazine thirty, The thirty and Harvard University 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:12.000 Scientists of the Year. Jessica Matthew, How do how do 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:20.840 you introduce yourself? Oh? Man, say hey, I'm jess uh gosh. 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:24.440 I mean, I do like to tell people that I'm 0:03:24.520 --> 0:03:28.040 trying to be like the love child of Beyonce and 0:03:28.040 --> 0:03:30.560 Bill n the science guy. I do like to say 0:03:30.600 --> 0:03:33.720 that because I feel like it's still whole, like if 0:03:33.720 --> 0:03:35.400 you just kind of pulled together. When I was younger, 0:03:35.400 --> 0:03:37.920 I was way more bill n I like Beyonce takes Beyonce. 0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:41.120 It is the hard party, the hard work, that's the 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:44.480 hard part. Um. But yeah, kind of that vibe of 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.960 how I moved through and I approached things. So that's 0:03:47.960 --> 0:03:50.600 proba be the quick one. I love I love that 0:03:50.680 --> 0:03:52.600 love that. So when I met you, it was just 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:57.240 uncharted play. Um, and now it's uncharted power and you've 0:03:57.280 --> 0:04:02.640 gone from harnessing energy to creating power. So and nonsustainability. Um, 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:06.920 what what drove like the expansion of your skulle? That's 0:04:06.920 --> 0:04:10.720 a good question. Um. I like to tell people that 0:04:10.800 --> 0:04:14.840 the first step in innovation is the articulation of the problem. 0:04:14.880 --> 0:04:18.159 The way that you've you articulate that problem will then 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:21.560 drive what you determined to be the solution. And so 0:04:21.680 --> 0:04:24.520 when I was nineteen years old, you know, when I'm 0:04:24.560 --> 0:04:27.640 over here just knowing that stuff doesn't make sense. You know, 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:31.039 I don't understand how my own family, cousins and Nigeria 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.479 who are engineers themselves, they can't imagine a better world 0:04:34.520 --> 0:04:36.160 than the world that we're living. In where we're losing 0:04:36.200 --> 0:04:39.200 power several times a day. Um, you know, and there 0:04:39.200 --> 0:04:44.200 are quite a few other infrastructural problems. Uh. And yet 0:04:44.360 --> 0:04:46.279 you know, kind of the flip side is they always 0:04:46.279 --> 0:04:47.840 had a better cell phone than I did. Right, So 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:52.320 clearly it's an issue that masqueraded as social economic but 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:55.560 was really infrastructural. For me, I thought the issue was inspiration. 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.560 I was like, they need to believe that they can 0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:00.880 change the world that they're in. They need to believe 0:05:00.880 --> 0:05:03.640 that they have agency. And so how do I design 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:07.839 a solution that inspires them to try to play the game, 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:10.000 to get in the game, literally inspire them to get 0:05:10.000 --> 0:05:13.600 in the game. And so that's where the first products 0:05:13.600 --> 0:05:16.479 came from. Energy generating play products like taking the most 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:19.080 popular sport in the world, soccer, and saying, all right, 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.800 I'm gonna bridge the gap between this passionate excitement that 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:23.839 I know my cousins, I know a lot of people 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.520 in the world are gonna have and bring them across 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:30.719 that bridge over to engaging in energy and infrastructure. And 0:05:30.760 --> 0:05:33.080 my assumption was that if I inspire them, they'll do 0:05:33.120 --> 0:05:36.240 the work, because you know, oh, I'm sure they're smart enough, 0:05:36.320 --> 0:05:38.680 and there are better people in the world, who are 0:05:38.720 --> 0:05:42.719 better suited to be building infrastructure solutions. So let me 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:45.680 just inspire get to the point where we're you know, 0:05:45.760 --> 0:05:49.920 producing tens of thousands of these, partnering with different UM companies, 0:05:49.960 --> 0:05:53.320 you know, governments to distribute them more on an education side. 0:05:53.839 --> 0:05:56.320 Started to even work with different Fortune one hundreds on 0:05:56.440 --> 0:06:01.640 their energy generating UM strategy is right, like energy generating strollers, 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:03.360 all that stuff. That's when we met. I think, remember 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:05.679 afro Tech. I'm like, okay, remb to do the stroller 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:12.719 suitcase UM. And it was two things happened. First, you know, 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:14.240 I started to realize that it was still gonna take 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:16.000 a couple of years. It takes two years to make 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:18.719 any product for that's gonna a baby is gonna be in. 0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:21.159 You can't just come up with some stuff like it 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:23.880 takes years to go through that partner in R and D. 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:27.240 And I was like, all right, this is kind of 0:06:27.240 --> 0:06:30.320 coming off a little kitchy, Like it's fun, it's cool, 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:34.119 but I don't necessarily see people being inspired and fixing 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:37.760 the infrastructural problems. I just kind of see them, you know, 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.720 getting excited, but then sitting there. And then the second 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:43.280 thing that happened was that Donald Trump won the election. 0:06:44.680 --> 0:06:47.960 Dead ass. The most inspirational thing that ever happened to 0:06:47.960 --> 0:06:51.320 me was Donald Trump winning the election, because prior to that, 0:06:52.040 --> 0:06:55.200 you know, people would say, oh, um, well, you know, 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:57.760 were you inspired When Barack Obama was president? I was like, 0:06:57.800 --> 0:07:01.200 Barack Obama was a constitutional scholar, He's supposed to be president. 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:03.440 Just because his black ass is president does not mean 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:06.719 that I should be president. No. But when Trump won, 0:07:06.839 --> 0:07:08.880 I was like, Okay, so now anybody can do it. 0:07:08.960 --> 0:07:12.480 And that was the first moment when I realized I 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:14.640 first of all, yes I could be president. If this 0:07:14.720 --> 0:07:17.040 is what we're working with right now, I believe i'd 0:07:17.040 --> 0:07:19.960 be a good president. Let's go. And then I turned 0:07:19.960 --> 0:07:21.600 to my team and I said, why are we waiting 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:24.120 for other people to build infrastructure when fools like this 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:27.480 are building infrastructure or running for president. Uh. And so 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:30.360 at the end of IS when we said, all right, 0:07:30.560 --> 0:07:33.160 what if we take this investment and instead of putting 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:35.960 two to three years into kind of consumer products, we 0:07:36.000 --> 0:07:39.680 start looking at infrastructure. And in seventeen is Only formally 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.800 changed their name from Uncharted Play to Uncharted Power based 0:07:42.800 --> 0:07:45.600 on the success we had in building UM an energy 0:07:45.680 --> 0:07:50.760 generating speed bump. What then happened again would not have expected. Um. 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:53.559 We kept on working and built something that was pretty 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:58.800 dope UM compared and ran analyzes. You know, we were 0:07:58.840 --> 0:08:03.520 beating out numbers of you know, major uh kinetic academics 0:08:03.640 --> 0:08:06.520 and Virginia Tech beating out the numbers of competing companies. 0:08:06.560 --> 0:08:11.120 And Boston, Singapore brought our solution. We can actually you 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:13.200 degenerate a kill a lot of power when you when 0:08:13.200 --> 0:08:15.240 you drove over the speed bump. It was a precursor 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:18.760 to energy generating. Roads started to bring our solutions to 0:08:18.800 --> 0:08:22.960 different governments and the governments were excited about it, but 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:25.720 they didn't really know how to scale it. At best, 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:27.800 they were interested in maybe like a one off pilot 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:32.360 here or there. And that's when we realized that the 0:08:32.920 --> 0:08:36.560 issue was much broader than just a new way to 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:41.719 have decentralized energy generation for infrastructure. The issue was the 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:45.760 lack of a platform to actually to actually deploy and 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.840 manage this infrastructure. So the cities were like, this is cool, 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:51.600 but how do I make this work in this silo? 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:53.600 When I got to work with the grid in this way, 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:56.200 I gotta work a solar here and there, was nobody 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:57.880 who was saying, how do you bring it together? It 0:08:57.920 --> 0:09:01.400 was it was almost like it was almost like we 0:09:01.400 --> 0:09:04.320 were all trying to be chefs making a meal at 0:09:04.320 --> 0:09:07.600 a buffet. But then when someone comes and says, yeah, 0:09:07.600 --> 0:09:09.320 this is dope. Okay, Yeah, I want to eat it. 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.400 Where's the tray? Oh we don't have those here. Where's 0:09:12.440 --> 0:09:14.240 the play Oh we don't have those here? All right, 0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:16.839 so how do you want me to sustainably gather all 0:09:16.840 --> 0:09:19.280 these things together and bring it back to my table 0:09:19.360 --> 0:09:22.200 to eat it? That's not my problem? Or do it 0:09:22.200 --> 0:09:24.840 in a really expensive way. And so we realized that 0:09:24.880 --> 0:09:28.040 that's that's how we were being viewed. So we really said, okay, 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.959 kind of like how Stacy Abram's all right, voting doesn't 0:09:30.960 --> 0:09:33.360 work in Georgia for me, I'm aa fix the voting 0:09:33.360 --> 0:09:35.719 system so I can run for governor. That's basically how 0:09:35.840 --> 0:09:37.760 that's that's a classic black women vibe. I was like, 0:09:37.800 --> 0:09:42.320 all right, I want to get my application out, so 0:09:42.360 --> 0:09:44.880 I'm gonna go ahead and fix the way that all 0:09:44.920 --> 0:09:49.079 applications get deployed and managed sustainably like and then that 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:50.920 way I can deploy my stuff. And so that's what 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:54.880 brought us to building these sustainable smart city platforms where 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.800 we're consistently dry looking at how do we drive down 0:09:57.800 --> 0:10:00.760 the cost the upfront costs reduced of time to deploy. 0:10:01.040 --> 0:10:04.000 We choose the time to repair and take away all 0:10:04.040 --> 0:10:08.520 the stress that the city has and deploying and managing 0:10:08.640 --> 0:10:11.800 things like our energy generating speed bumps. But by g 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:17.280 AI smart lighting, lighting everything, and so into a smart 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:23.800 take a city like infrastructure solutions like even for us, 0:10:23.840 --> 0:10:26.559 like smart water systems, like all the things that you 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:28.480 would need to avoid a lot of the death that 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:33.200 we saw from the from this storm. So doing that 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:36.800 is as convenient as downloading and running an app on 0:10:36.840 --> 0:10:40.440 your phone. Um So, now when we think about the 0:10:40.440 --> 0:10:44.800 past apps we've made, we're excited because once this platform 0:10:44.920 --> 0:10:47.600 is out there and people have the smartphone, which which 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:49.560 we're going to be putting out this year, um in 0:10:49.600 --> 0:10:53.160 a couple of our Betat cities, then we get Now 0:10:53.320 --> 0:10:58.120 you get that kind of unprecedented, unpredictable thing that happened 0:10:58.160 --> 0:11:01.480 with smartphones, right no one, no one knew the value 0:11:02.400 --> 0:11:04.600 years ago, but now we can't live without it. We're 0:11:04.600 --> 0:11:06.480 excited for people to start playing around with that. So 0:11:06.559 --> 0:11:10.080 that's that's the arc. That's how I got from soccer 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:14.040 balls to part any platforms. Now. I love it and 0:11:14.120 --> 0:11:16.480 I want to spend some time in a few minutes 0:11:16.520 --> 0:11:18.760 talking about more than mentality. It takes to do the 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:22.240 scale of things that you're doing. But I'm gonna start here. Um, 0:11:23.440 --> 0:11:25.440 there was a quote I found from you that said, 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:28.200 after nearly a decade of work, we realize that the 0:11:28.240 --> 0:11:32.679 problem isn't just a lack of smart power infrastructure, and 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.440 so I kind of see like, Um, what you're doing 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:40.200 now is like it's not micro pivots, but it's like 0:11:40.240 --> 0:11:44.280 the problem reveals itself right when you get started. Can 0:11:44.280 --> 0:11:47.319 you talk about how you you just gave us the arc, 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:49.920 but how when you get started on the road as 0:11:49.920 --> 0:11:52.400 an innovator, you may think the problem is X, but 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:56.000 it's actually why. Well, you're becoming my favorite person to 0:11:56.040 --> 0:12:01.400 talk to because that's thank you for these questions. Um, 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.920 I will say this one thing that hasn't changed has 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:07.280 been my true north from the jump. The mission has 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:10.160 always been, how do we get to a world where 0:12:10.200 --> 0:12:14.000 there's universal access to smart, sustainable infrastructure? Right? How do 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.160 we get to a world where the things that some 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.120 people take for granted and other people are dying literally 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:23.480 without UM. It just doesn't make sense, right. And I 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:28.640 think for me the year after the wedding that a 0:12:28.640 --> 0:12:30.480 lot of people kind of know about, right, that led 0:12:30.520 --> 0:12:33.120 to my first invention that it wasn't like I went 0:12:33.160 --> 0:12:35.960 to my aunt's wedding, you lost power. And then there 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:41.160 was an invention of an energy generating soccer ball. That year. Uh, 0:12:41.320 --> 0:12:44.280 there were three people in my family, my grandfather, my uncle, 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:48.880 and my aunt. All of them died and they all 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.160 passed away from things that either could have been at 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.079 least delayed, if not totally avoided UM if they had 0:12:55.120 --> 0:12:57.400 access to this infrastructure that we take for granted. And 0:12:57.440 --> 0:13:00.640 so that was the thing that in me kind of 0:13:00.640 --> 0:13:02.480 a line and say, all right, you know, I like 0:13:02.600 --> 0:13:05.480 I often tell people like intersectionality is a compass, and 0:13:05.520 --> 0:13:07.040 when you think about all the things that make you 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:11.200 who you are and all of your experiences, that's something 0:13:11.280 --> 0:13:12.920 like if you look at the intersection of that, the 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:15.000 next point of that is what you should be doing 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:18.080 with your life period point like that's it. And so 0:13:18.200 --> 0:13:21.400 what I found at that next point for me was 0:13:21.720 --> 0:13:24.880 like trying to address this problem. Like I literally remember 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:28.280 thinking I was in my ap psychology class, high school year, 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:31.880 eighteen years old, right before all this thinking, I know 0:13:31.960 --> 0:13:36.199 I can't cure death, but can I cure life? Because 0:13:36.200 --> 0:13:39.880 what's messing with me more than anything, honestly, like is 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:45.360 it's not just the fact that they passed in a 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.360 way that could have been avoided. It's that most likely 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:50.480 when they took their last breath, they thought the same 0:13:50.520 --> 0:13:54.000 thing that my cousins you know in Nigeria thought, which was, 0:13:54.559 --> 0:13:57.880 we have no agency, We can't change this. The best 0:13:57.880 --> 0:13:59.800 way to deal with your problems is just to get 0:13:59.800 --> 0:14:03.400 you to die. And so like that broke my heart. 0:14:03.440 --> 0:14:07.680 That seemed ridiculous, like I refuse to accept it, like 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:09.760 it is truly the thing that made me say, all right, 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:11.560 So how do I then start to think how I 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:13.840 could bridge the gap in YadA, YadA, YadA. So then 0:14:13.880 --> 0:14:17.160 once I had that true north, everything just becomes kind 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:22.360 of like a meditation on intention and impact. So first listen, 0:14:22.360 --> 0:14:27.040 I'm young, thinking the issue is inspiration approaching it. I 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.920 had opportunities to be in the business of just making 0:14:29.960 --> 0:14:33.640 millions of soccer balls. Yeah, I had, like I had 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:38.720 that in fact that people wanted that. But so if 0:14:38.760 --> 0:14:41.400 I'm seeing that it's not actually resulting in what I want, 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:43.880 And in fact, it's just more plastic, more this, more that, 0:14:44.320 --> 0:14:46.640 And it's not Leslie fixing the bigger issue because you 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.600 then what's what's up? Um, Like, I didn't get into 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:52.840 this just because oh, look, I can say I made 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:56.400 you know this. It's like this was step one. But 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:59.360 my intention, what's my intention? My intention is to fix 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.520 this infrastructure issue. And if it's not happening just through inspiration, 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.360 then what's happening? So then I'm thinking, oh, maybe there 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:07.440 needs to be an infrastructure model for decentralized energy. I 0:15:07.440 --> 0:15:10.040 thought that that was the issue that people can conceptualize 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:14.280 a world where we didn't have centralized infrastructure systems. Built 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:17.000 a system there you go, then you get them. You realize, No, 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:19.800 it's bigger than that. It's not just about decentralized energy. 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:22.480 This is about the lack of a platform to actually 0:15:22.520 --> 0:15:26.160 pull it all together, to get all these disparate decentralized 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:31.720 infrastructure solutions interoperating together. And again like like for me, 0:15:31.760 --> 0:15:34.320 I was like, of course, like, inasmuch as this speed 0:15:34.320 --> 0:15:37.920 bump is still sexy and fun, I have a goal. 0:15:37.960 --> 0:15:39.640 I have a goal because this is a life or 0:15:39.640 --> 0:15:43.080 death situation for me personally. Um, and now even bigger. 0:15:43.160 --> 0:15:46.040 I you know, I got engaged last year and so 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:49.760 I'm gonna I'm gonna be getting married in Nigeria, big 0:15:49.880 --> 0:15:53.480 Nigerian wedding in March. And if you think they go, 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:55.720 I'm gonna let these people bring a diesel generator out 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.640 after everything I've done said for the last decade thirteen years. 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:04.160 Will listen, So I'm out here, like, listen, y'all, I 0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:08.800 get it together all right, So so so so this 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:11.880 is the like I'm real big on drink your own medicine, 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:14.640 like the first parts of our system we installed, you 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:16.920 know at a facility where my own mom and brother 0:16:16.960 --> 0:16:19.960 would like, you know, be driving over at etcetera. Like 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:24.920 I am a percent bringing this platform to Nigeria and 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.840 the first place y'all gonna see it as at my wedding, 0:16:29.120 --> 0:16:31.640 and I'm gonna be like, you smell that air, You 0:16:31.680 --> 0:16:39.360 smell that fresh air, you like that look. Now I'm 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:43.200 about to be like, I'm like, oh, y'all this, I 0:16:43.200 --> 0:16:46.720 don't care what's up. So it's it's personal, right And 0:16:46.800 --> 0:16:50.360 I think I think if you know why you're doing it, 0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.920 and you are, I think fully understanding that just because 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:57.400 it's not your plan doesn't mean it's it's not gonna 0:16:57.400 --> 0:17:00.360 be your destiny. Is something I say a lot um 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:04.480 you you you just gotta be really uncompromising with your mission, 0:17:04.520 --> 0:17:09.680 but then flexible with everything that takes you there. And yeah, 0:17:09.720 --> 0:17:12.400 it's it's a it's a it's a it's a balance. 0:17:12.480 --> 0:17:16.040 But I think that the rubric is know why you're 0:17:16.080 --> 0:17:19.680 doing it. That's the thing that that's the know why 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:22.520 you're doing this, know what you intend for this to be, 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.119 and and find ways to continuously bring yourself back to that. 0:17:27.119 --> 0:17:30.800 That why So I'm so glad you said you ended 0:17:31.119 --> 0:17:34.200 on that, because so many people I want to start 0:17:34.240 --> 0:17:38.160 a business, um, may not know what idea to pursue, 0:17:38.240 --> 0:17:40.960 what idea they can you know, create value with for 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:45.640 others and up shows that ideas are literally all around you. 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:50.720 Um how problems are literally all around you that you 0:17:50.760 --> 0:17:55.320 can solve even how do you, by more than just 0:17:55.480 --> 0:17:59.240 your representation, get us to look around us for the 0:17:59.280 --> 0:18:04.440 problems that we can solve. That's a really good question. Um. 0:18:04.480 --> 0:18:07.439 So we do have that. That's we do have a 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.760 program at the company because this is something we actually 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:12.879 want to operationalize um. You know, in the early days, 0:18:12.920 --> 0:18:15.600 I truly believe that almost anyone could be an inventor, 0:18:15.680 --> 0:18:17.600 they just had to be given the kind of right 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:22.720 psychological tools. I still very much believe that the problems 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:27.200 of this world are entirely too complex, complicated for any 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:31.040 one person or organization to solve. And so our best 0:18:31.080 --> 0:18:33.399 chance in hell, especially with the damn near you know, 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:35.600 end of days that it seems like in the world 0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.359 right now, with everything going on with the locus and that, 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:42.119 you know, like it's scary, it's it's a scary time. 0:18:42.720 --> 0:18:45.840 We need as many people as possible believing that they 0:18:45.840 --> 0:18:47.960 can make a difference, because even if it's just one 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:51.280 out of every one thousand people doing something that really 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:54.159 changes where we're at, that's better than what we have 0:18:54.320 --> 0:18:56.159 right now, which is, you know, a small group of 0:18:56.200 --> 0:18:59.200 people who basically all think the same thing, who think 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.440 that they're the only one that are worth getting their 0:19:02.480 --> 0:19:06.440 big idea funded right and pushing forward. And so for 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:10.080 for us, that meant developing a program that we call Uplift. 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:13.000 And what we did is we created a curriculum, and 0:19:13.080 --> 0:19:15.720 especially curriculum now that's gone through it's like fourth version 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:19.159 we digitized it during COVID and we still reach like 0:19:19.520 --> 0:19:23.920 lots of kids through through digital means. Um. And basically, 0:19:23.920 --> 0:19:26.480 we have a curriculum called Think Out of Bounds that 0:19:26.520 --> 0:19:30.119 teaches kids how to become social inventors. How and literally 0:19:30.119 --> 0:19:31.680 it goes through the process of teaching them what it 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.320 means to be an inventor because some examples of inventors 0:19:34.359 --> 0:19:38.040 that look like them, uh, and teaches them how to 0:19:38.400 --> 0:19:42.160 look at their surroundings not as obstacles but as opportunities. 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:44.439 So let's make a list of all the problems you 0:19:44.480 --> 0:19:46.800 have and now let's come how would you think about 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:50.000 inventing something to solve that? Uh? And so that's that's 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:53.520 a program we like to do wherever we're about to work, um, 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:56.040 you know, Poughkeepsie where we're where we're working on some 0:19:56.119 --> 0:19:59.800 exciting things to to demonstrate how a normal city, you're 0:19:59.800 --> 0:20:01.760 not even one of the big you know, quote unquote 0:20:01.760 --> 0:20:04.840 sexy ones, like a normal city most cities are like mckepsie, 0:20:05.400 --> 0:20:09.560 how they could use our smartphone to choose the apps 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:12.200 that I go to transform their city into a smart, 0:20:12.200 --> 0:20:17.600 sustainable city in record time and under budget. Um, you know, 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:19.919 before we we do all that we want to make 0:20:19.960 --> 0:20:22.080 sure that the people in that city feel prepared for 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:25.639 that opportunity, right like they need to they need to 0:20:25.720 --> 0:20:27.760 understand the power in their hands when you when we 0:20:27.800 --> 0:20:31.920 give them this this platform. And so we've done already 0:20:32.080 --> 0:20:35.520 almost two hundred kids. UM in partnership with the city 0:20:35.640 --> 0:20:38.480 school district. We're getting ready to do like a little 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.919 um like invention the thon with some of the kids. 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:46.879 And it's it's it's dope, right, It's it's focused, you know, 0:20:46.960 --> 0:20:51.399 it's authentic. It's not like the broadest scale stuff. But 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:56.760 it's something that we've done in Swaziland, Bronx Harlem like 0:20:57.240 --> 0:21:00.400 you name it, um if we've worked there, we we've 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:04.480 added that component and um, you know, we've seen an 0:21:04.520 --> 0:21:09.120 actual statistical improvement in creative confidence, like like you ask 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:12.760 the kids beforehand, do my ideas matter? And you asked 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:15.760 them after and it's it's a it's a maybe to 0:21:15.880 --> 0:21:18.800 an increase and that that's one of the things that 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:23.520 we do structurally. Uh. I think as an organization. So 0:21:23.600 --> 0:21:26.320 I hear you when you because and I love that example, 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:28.520 because I want to push you a little further down 0:21:28.560 --> 0:21:31.280 that line. Because the SBA put out a study. I 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:33.359 think it was the last time that they did it, 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:36.399 but it said eighty percent of black owned businesses are 0:21:36.440 --> 0:21:40.080 in the bottom for a revenue. Like, so we over 0:21:40.200 --> 0:21:43.840 index on creating service worker you know, so we long 0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:47.639 care and beauties shops and you know, diners, and but 0:21:47.720 --> 0:21:51.080 we pent of our businesses are created in those the 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:56.040 bottom of industries for a revenue. Um. But the work 0:21:56.119 --> 0:22:01.280 you're doing is industry reimagining. Like blow, it's a trillion 0:22:01.280 --> 0:22:06.679 dollar market, you know. And what you do with sustainability? Um, 0:22:06.680 --> 0:22:09.200 are we thinking big enough? Just i' mean black people, 0:22:09.240 --> 0:22:12.920 are we thinking big enough? You know? It's a two 0:22:12.920 --> 0:22:18.200 sided street, right, So on one hand, you know you 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:21.600 you you innovate on what you know, right, And it 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:23.720