This Fall Semester I enrolled in a Global Social Entrepreneurship

seminar. This seminar is a collaborative effort between the University of

Cincinnati, USA, and the University of Montreal in Quebec, Canada. At the
start of the semester each student prepared their own product idea and
presented it in front of a jury panel in Montreal. From the very beginning, I
wanted to develop a product that is related to preventative healthcare. I
researched many topics and found out that many people suffer daily from
water born illnesses such as cholera, typhoid fever, hepatitis A, amoebic and
bacillary dysentery, as well as other diarrheal diseases. Every day, 4500
children die of diarrhea. And so in Montreal, I presented my idea of an
innovative water filter system that harnesses the UV rays from the sun in
order to kill harmful pathogens in the water. My system was based on the
Solar Water Disinfection (SODIS) method developed at the Swiss Federal
Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. Currently, five million people
worldwide use the SODIS method to clean their water. After the panel
selected my idea for further development, I formed a team of five members.
Each person in my team has a special skill set that makes my team diverse
and ready to overcome the impeding challenges. In addition to the
commitment I demonstrated to the project, my servant leadership style and
my proficiency in French allowed me to build a relationship based on trust
with my peers and establish myself as the group leader. We presented our
final project that included three different product designs, a miniature model
and a detailed business and implementation plan. We are currently in contact
with a social entrepreneurship start up in Cincinnati in order to explore our
options outside of the classroom. I am very proud of my team and our
achievement. I am confident that our efforts will be translated into an
innovative social business that aims to prevent the spread of waterborne
diseases.