Passion, coupled with a healthy dose of frustration, is what drove Eden Full, founder of Roseicollis Technologies Inc., to create a renewable rotator for solar panels. In doing so, she is also creating new hope for energy-starved families in developing countries.
Full spoke to Ivey HBA students as part of the J.J. Wettlaufer Distinguished Visitor Lecture Series about how a passion for making a difference in people’s lives led to the development of the SunSaluter. Mimicking the action of a sunflower, the non-electrical rotator for solar panels uses calibrated water flow to follow the sun, generating up to 40% more electricity per panel, while providing clean water.
“You don’t have to be smart. You have to be passionate and you just need to be frustrated that things aren’t working right,” Full told the students.
However, the path for Full has not been a smooth one. After a year in engineering at Princeton, she spent the summer testing a prototype in Kenya. But the device proved too costly and complicated for use in developing countries. While there, she learned much about solar panels, culture and her passion for creating.
“It really struck me that this isn’t just about something that I can invent in my own backyard. This is something I can share with other people.”
While in Kenya, Full met a mother of three, who used solar energy to power her lanterns. Eden went into a nearby city to buy the necessary supplies to help optimize her solar panels. When Eden returned, the woman was gone – she had gone into the dark to find firewood for her family, and was killed; trampled by a buffalo because she couldn’t see.
“The experience really showed me that I was really passionate about people and making a difference in their lives, because it really sucks to build stuff and have it sit in your basement gathering dust,” Full said. “I wanted to do something I could share with people.”
Learning how to let go
In the Q&A that followed moderated by Tima Bansal, Director of the Centre for Building Sustainable Value and Executive Director, Network for Business Sustainability and Claus Rerup, Associate Professor, Organizational Behaviour , Full spent time inspiring students to think about leadership in a new way.
“That’s what I’ve been learning about leadership these days. It’s not so much about me telling people what to do. I give them the idea and they run free with it and it’s awesome to see what people come up with. It’s better than anything I could ever dream of.”
For Full, life has been about not settling for the way things are, but questioning that and not settling for things the way they are.
“For me, it was the solar panels that were powering my toys were inefficient. I wasn’t thinking about developing countries or starting a company, I was just thinking about a problem that I faced in my everyday life.
That dissatisfaction is what’s changing lives.
About Speaker: Eden Full
Eden Full is the Founder of Roseicollis Technologies Inc. She studied for two years at Princeton University and is currently taking gap years to work on her start-up full time after being selected for the inaugural class of the 20 Under 20 Thiel Fellowship. The SunSaluter won the Mashable/UN Foundation Startups for Social Good Challenge and was awarded the runner-up prize at the 2011 Postcode Lottery Green Challenge. While at Princeton, Eden initiated and curated TEDxPrincetonU. Proudly Canadian, she was born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. After coxing for the Princeton lightweight women’s team, Eden was selected to be the coxswain for the 2012 Rowing Canada’s senior women’s development team, where they won a gold medal at Holland Beker and the Remenham Challenge Cup at the Henley Royal Regatta, beating the German Olympic boat.
About the J.J. Wettlaufer Distinguished Visitor Lecture Series
This lecture series was established to express our profound appreciation and to pay tribute to (Jack J.) J.J Wettlaufer, a long-time faculty member who played a pivotal role in shaping the School. Jack was a faculty member for more than 40 years, was dean from 1963 to 1978, and helped develop the School’s first executive programs. He died in 1992, and the former executive development centre in Mississauga was named in his honour.