Askwar Hilonga is an award-winning entrepreneur, professor and inventor. He created Nanofilter, a low-cost and sustainable water purification system particularly suited to the needs of local people in Tanzania.

<p>Askwar Hilonga is an award-winning entrepreneur, professor and inventor. He created Nanofilter, a low-cost and sustainable water purification system particularly suited to the needs of local people in Tanzania.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hyve

Jesse Zwiker

The Hyve Podcast Season 1

Why Missional Entrepreneurship

Lyndon Sweeney

Why Aren’t We Doing This?

Helping the Church Grow More Effectively

Alistair Huong

Why I’m Excited About Financial Planning

Askwar Hilonga

Clean Water for Tanzania

Seth Hill

Failure

Can I Be an Adventist Millionaire?

Lorand Soares

How to Grow Your Business

Steven Grabiner

Our Brain Tricks Us When We Make Decisions

Gray Krause

Paying Tithes is Not Enough

Sebastien Braxton

Five Ways to Start With $0

Ellen White’s Forgotten Vision

Using Your God-Given Talents

Ivonne Restrepo

The Restaurant Failed But...

Profit is Evil. Right?

Ron Price

Dealing With Conflict in the Workplace


Welcome to the Hive Podcast. My name is Vincent Boujour and you're listening to your number 1 resource for missional entrepreneurship. I'm so excited that you're here. We help you grow your startup and ministry every single week with practical advice, powerful tools, and inspirational stories. So join us and become a world changer 1 episode at a time.

We were at the Buckingham Palace. I am representing Africa and there are many other people who are representing other continents. When Prince saw us, how we struggle for the preparation and what, he told the audience at the palace, he said, ladies and gentlemen, I saw these young entrepreneurs preparing themselves. Some of them were doing that and that, and some of them were praying. And in fact, he was referring to me.

And when he was announcing the winner, he said like this, ladies and gentlemen, God is on someone's side again. I want to introduce to you Asgore Hilonga. Hilonga is from Tanzania and we want to talk about his testimony and his startup today. He's a professor, he's an entrepreneur, and he's also an adventure. In fact, he invented a water filter for the people in his country, and he has provided clean water to tens of thousands of people.

In fact, he has now a company with 120 employees and he has provided clean water to a thousand households so far and covered a hundred schools. And I wanted to ask him right at the beginning, how did you grow up? I grew up in a rural village called Gwongali, which is in Karatu district in Arusha, Tanzania. The village is very close to Serengeti and Ngorongoro crater. These places are famous to many tourists.

So I joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the year 1988, when I was 12 years old. It was in a rural village, a small village, a small Adventist church in my village, which is really despised. They're like people, there are very few people, very weak. What can I say? But I was in another denomination where life is good, vibrant, many people and everything was cool.

But 1 day, 1 missionary from the Seventh-day Adventist Church visited our family. He talked with my father. My father was drunk at that time, a binge drinker. Drunk. So when he drinks, he normally vomits blood.

So he was really in a desperate situation. So my father accepted the call and he said, please can we visit the Seventh-day Adventist Church this Saturday? So we went there. I was a little boy, very curious, age 12, and went to the church. I asked many questions.

They answered my questions, and little by little my faith was growing. And when I joined the secondary school in the year 92, when I was in secondary school, I was baptized. So that's how I joined the church and I grew up in a rural village in Tanzania, a very rural setting that you can imagine those villages that they show CNN and BBC, a typical rural village in Tanzania where we lived a really rural village life. I was happy boy. I loved my life, played with my friends.

But again, I can tell you the stories of how we have been struggling with waterborne diseases and the extreme poverty in the village. But I love myself, I love my parents, I love my community. That's why even now after I finished my PhD I still love my people. I frequently visit them even this Sabbath, this Saturday I'm going to visit them again to worship with my people I love them so much. It is the community that raised me Beautiful so when you decided to To to actually continue in education, you said you're a professor now, how did you become a professor from going from that village where you grew up to a university now you're teaching at a university how did that happen?

Well I don't want to overpraise myself like I was very smart and than anyone else I believe it was God's providence it is God's plan that I should be this much successful. Because I remember in our school, we were about 70 in our primary school in Gongali, Gongali Primary School. Out of 70 children, can you Imagine how many of us passed the examination to go to secondary school. We were 41234 people going forward. The rest had to remain to the village as farmers, as the normal villagers there.

I am so pitying them now that they could not get a luxury of getting higher education. As for me, I'm so grateful I was among the 4 who went to the secondary school, and The ones who continued with the further education, out of us 4, I was alone to continue with the high school. Of course, with other students now from other villages, we continue to high school, very few of us. And you can see how the equation is narrowing down now to first degree. Very, very, very few Tanzanians now.

Now it's not about the village. Very few Tanzanians go to the university. And then if you go to the Masters now, maybe they have a list of people who are in the Masters level. PhD, no, don't talk about that. You can just count how many people have PhD here.

Professors, I'm number 27, the highest ranked professor in Tanzania. My position is number 27 in the whole country. Anyway, so that's how it goes, but I thank God it's a wonderful opportunity to get both this secular education, but also under the context of Seventh-day Adventist Church. I've been raised by the church in South Korea. When I was doing my PhD there, I was working also for the church as a lay pastor.

I was a lay pastor for an Adventist church in South Korea. I have a passion to tell this story, but I thank God I've been climbing the ladder of education step by step from a rural village in Gongali to a university in South Korea called Hanyang University. I did my PhD in South Korea and now I'm a professor at the university called Nelson Mandela in Tanzania. It's a success story in a short span of life. I can remember my childhood.

Today they call me a professor. Man, I really thank God. It's a miracle happening in my lifetime. In my lifetime. How was it for you to transition from that high education and the degrees that you received to an entrepreneurial life, becoming an inventor and basically going back to the problem that you have experienced as a child, you know, with those diseases caused by just unclean water.

How did you come up with the water filter idea. How I was struggling with the worms, with the waterborne diseases of different kinds. Actually, I could see, there is a time I could see worms in my poo. Really, the worms floating in my poo. And yet, I was told that I am bewitched.

And they were looking for a witch doctor, a witch who caused all this and they told me it is a certain grandmother, our neighbor who was causing this. So the witch doctor told me to get the footprints of this woman. But fortunately, the woman was unfortunately on my side. Fortunately to her side, she was wearing shoes, so I could not get that. Anyway, To cut a long story short, I struggled a lot.

But today I'm asking a question, that what does my PhD mean to my people? Why should boys and girls suffer in the 21st century while there are a lot of technological advancement and there is a possibility to solve this problem. So in South Korea my eyes were literally opened. I saw the potential of using nanotechnology to solve this problem and that's why step by step I decided to invent a filter. I was working on it.

It's a really challenging process to develop a new innovation because there are many filters that are imported from China, from Korea, from India, from America and elsewhere, but yet they are not solving the problem, it's still there. So what was the problem? So I went there, I investigated, I see the weaknesses of those imported filters and I came up with my own invention. And now it is in the market, it is solving the problem. So it's step by step, it's not an easy process.

There are many people who play their role, like the Royal Academy of Engineering, who invested in me to develop my, my, what is that, the business skills. Because I'm trained as an engineer, chemical engineer. Now how can I do business? So I was trained by the Royal Academy of Engineering. We were participating in a program called Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation.

But later I got many other supporters, partners. I have 77 partners. I don't know if I can list all of them during this podcast, but well, they have played their role. I am so grateful today we have a product that's in the market solving the real problems of people. I'm so grateful.

Hey man, yeah, that's really powerful. And you are not done. I just saw that when we were, you know, we were talking, you were showing me the property, how your company looks like right now. You have 100, I believe 127 employees. You have multiple buildings now you are bringing clean water to thousands of people, but you're not done.

What's your vision for your life? What's your dream? What's your goal? My goal is to be a billionaire. I want to be a billionaire not in terms of money, but in terms of impacting billions of lives.

So anything I can do that can touch someone's life, that's my calling. If it is through these inspirational talks, if a little boy or a little girl is listening to me now from Mexico or in Haiti or in Cuba, somewhere in America maybe or elsewhere, whoever is being touched by my story and whoever is giving back to their community, I count those as the numbers of people I'm impacting in my lifetime. So when my day comes to bow out, I will be so grateful that I reached people in different ways by inspiring them, by providing them with affordable technology, easy to use, that's solving their problems. Children with white teeth like mine, people who are not suffering from typhoid, cholera, and other challenges. The opportunities I create for startups, young companies who study from me, they come here, the volunteers who come to Tanzania to work with me, all those are the lives that I want to touch in my lifetime.

So that's my life commitment. I'm passionate about this while I'm still living. Thank you. We're taking a short break right now and be right back to talk about faith and business and how you as a young man or woman, wherever you are, can get involved with Hilonga's cause and really understand how you can use the power of innovation with the gospel message to finish the work. Stay with us.

We'll be right back. Hive is your number 1 platform for missional entrepreneurship. Start, grow, and scale your faith-based business with us, day by day. You can find us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube. Just look for Hive INT.

That's Hive International, Hive INT. Let's change this world and the world to come together. We're back here with Hilonga and his amazing story going all the way from a rural village in Tanzania to South Korea and back now he's impacting thousands of people in his country and beyond. Hilonga thank you so much for being here. I wanted to ask you as a faith-based entrepreneur, as a missional entrepreneur, how do you combine faith and business and what would you advise to a young man or woman listening to this?

What can we do to combine the 2 and really make a difference today? I thank God. I don't have a magic formula, but I have seen God fulfilling his promise in my life. I did not mention to you, I forgot to mention about the awards I won. I won 22 awards now as I talk to you, 22 different awards.

I have been to 20 different countries around the world, 9 times in the UK, and of course, once in America. I was in Washington. I went to the White House, not inside, but just outside to take a photo a little bit. But I've been to France, to Norway, to many other countries around the world. I lived in South Korea for 5 years.

I've been to China, to Vietnam, Thailand, and which country didn't I mention? So, but I believe God has a purpose in my life that it's not an aimless life of running here and there and there. It is a life, it's a mission life because wherever I go, I get opportunities. As I talk about my business, I also talk about how God has blessed my life, who is God, by the way, in my life, And people see that. Let me give you a typical example.

We were at the Buckingham Palace. And the prince, this was the second time, first time I won the award is called Pitch at Palace Africa. So we were there competing and I was the first winner. Now I went there for the pitch at Palace Global. So I am representing Africa and there are many other people who are representing other continents.

So When Prince saw us, how we struggle for the preparation and what, he told the audience at the palace. He said, Ladies and gentlemen, I saw these young entrepreneurs preparing themselves. Some of them were doing that and that, and some of them were praying. And in fact, he was referring to me. And when he was announcing the winner, he said like this, Ladies and gentlemen, God is on someone's side again.

And then he announced the winner. And the winner is Asquire Hilonga. And that's me. And now that was a big testimony. The news reporters were following up me and they were asking about the success story.

How did you do this and this? You know, my friends, it is like replaying the stories of Daniel and other heroes in the Bible. Those boys who were 10 times better than others, who were smarter in everything they were doing. So you can read those stories, but God has given us an opportunity to replay these stories in our life while we are still living. So I am not exaggerating my story, but if you can look at that, coming from that background, getting a PhD at a very young age, becoming a professor at this age, owning a company that is very rich, this much rich, of course in Trans-Saharan standards, maybe in America you'll say, brother, it's not really rich.

But from That background of growing from a grass house to a four-story building to an employer of a number of people and all this kind of exposure in all those countries, I believe it is God's specific plan, not coincidence. This is a plan, it's a purpose of God to demonstrate His power in us, to fulfill His promise in us, because He promised to us to make us head and not tail. So it's happening in my life. What else can I do, brother, except to be a testimony to others? So I believe God is using me as a teaching aid in his hands, as his missionary to demonstrate, to display how unique I am, how unique his people should be.

So he's doing it. I don't know what else can I say? In health, God has given us, like, what is that? The principles of healthful living. I followed it to the dot.

I did my best, you know. After I joined the Seventh-day Adventist Church, I decided to stop eating meat. I'm a pure vegetarian, as I'm talking to you now. Of course, I eat a little bit of egg and fish, maybe fishtarian, or a little bit fish and egg a little bit. But I follow all those principles.

I don't eat meat like cows, the goats and what. And today I am 45, but you can look at my face, maybe because you are privileged to see this. Some people feel like I'm 20 something, but I'm already 45, man. So again, I'm not over-praising myself. I'm just saying, by following those regulations, the principles that God has given us, healthful living, exercise, cheerful heart, and loving people, giving back to people.

That's my life and I am harvesting the fruit while I'm living. Well, we talk of the kingdom of heaven, but I think we can enjoy good life even now, while we are waiting for the blessed hope of the second coming of Jesus. Amen. Thank you for sharing that. It's so important to give praise to God and to point back to our Creator and Redeemer every single time that He blesses us with our successes.

Well, basically those are his successes, right? And so I really appreciate you sharing these powerful stories how God has worked in your life. Last question for you, my friend. How can we get involved with you? How can I get involved with you?

How can we be a part of the cause that you started? Tell us. Thank you very much. And among the people I must be so grateful to is my wife, who is a CEO of the company. And my son is 13 years old now, and my daughter is 11 years old.

We are 4 in this company. I and my wife and my son and my daughter, 4 Seventh-Day Adventists working for this company. And we are open-minded to work with anyone who wants to work with us. I will give you my contacts. I hope you will put it somewhere.

If you contact me, we can discuss and see how you can be involved. If you are an investor, you want to invest in this, we call social impact investors. Those who are not really craving for too much money from the poor people but who maybe just want their money to come back that you impact people and after they pay back you get your money back or with a small interest or a donation or a grant or you want to be a volunteer, you want to work with us, or you just want, as a tourist, to stay in our hotel at an affordable price. We have a hotel here, I built a house here where we have 16 rooms. You can stay here and some of the income that we get goes back to the activities we are doing here to touch people's lives.

I'm open-minded, we can discuss, just as a friend, let's talk, like how do you want to be involved. If you are coming to Tanzania, definitely we are here to host you. So just drop by, you can visit Serengeti, Kilimanjaro, or communities, churches, whoever wants to support a church. I'm a church elder also in my church. It's called Arusha International SDA Church.

So you can just drop by here, sing with us, anything you want to do that can bring glory to God but also bring blessings to humanity. I am open-minded. Welcome to Tanzania. If you want to listen to more inspiring stories, powerful episodes, and practical takeaways, make sure to subscribe. We are on all major podcast platforms and we have new episodes coming out every single Monday at 6 AM Eastern Time.

So subscribe, follow us And listen to more next week. My name is Vincent Boujour. You've been listening to the Longest Story, and this is the Hive Podcast. ♪♪

Series

The Hyve Podcast Season 1

Clean Water for Tanzania

Description

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

Why Missional Entrepreneurship

39m

Why Aren’t We Doing This?

26m

Helping the Church Grow More Effectively

26m

Why I’m Excited About Financial Planning

22m

Clean Water for Tanzania

22m

Failure

27m

Can I Be an Adventist Millionaire?

28m

How to Grow Your Business

32m

Our Brain Tricks Us When We Make Decisions

44m

Paying Tithes is Not Enough

28m

Five Ways to Start With $0

36m

Ellen White’s Forgotten Vision

16m

Using Your God-Given Talents

30m

The Restaurant Failed But...

34m

Profit is Evil. Right?

35m

Dealing With Conflict in the Workplace

32m

Sound Doctrine