BRAD Clair and Nick Kamols are a couple of blokes who are changing Logan’s story. They are the founders of PowerWells, builders of batteries that are powered by recycled phone and laptop batteries. The pair are at St James Palace, London, today, Wednesday, to pitch their invention at Pitch@Palace, an international competition for social start-ups run by Prince Andrew, Duke of York.
The pair pitched to the Prince during his visit to Logan last week and went to become co-winners of the Australian competition. They are one of 22 international startups that will pitch at St James.
The pair flew out on Friday. Both had had hair cuts and carried suits. They travelled light. Mr Clair said they would take only an empty motherboard and a bucket lid which had been pre-modified for the purpose of building a PowerWells battery.
The rest would be built in London. Mr Clair did not much like the chances of getting one they had made earlier (pictured left with Prince Andrew) through customs. We’ll let you judge why.
The pair expected one of their first trips out in London would be to a tip or recycling centre to find used phone and laptop batteries they would use to power the battery they take into the competition.
Mr Clair and Mr Kamols do not care if they win or lose. It is enough to meet like minded people from the around globe and show them how batteries destined for landfill can be used for the greater good. The next step is to fine-tune the prototype and take it to remote communities so locals can use use e-waste to build their own PowerWells.
Mr Clair is the founder of social enterprises AMPLFY and Traction, organisations that mentor at-risk youths and other disengaged people to skill them at utilising recycled materials. The programs mirror the work done by Substation33, which mentored Mr Clair and Mr Kamols through the process of building a business.
It’s a classic case of pay it forward.