Moh’d Khair Albattikhi
Hometown: Amman, Jordan
Major: MBA
· Tell me a little about what you do for the university.
o I am a Graduate Assistant for the WMU Marketing department and also for the Management department. I’m also representing the university in the Michigan Clean Energy Venture Challenge (MCEVC).
· What is the Michigan Clean Energy Michigan Challenge?
o The CEVC is a competition between teams of business and engineering students from different universities in Michigan. We’ll be competing to convince a panel of judges to invest in the launch of our product.
· How many teams will be competing?
o 27, and 4 from WMU.
· What’s your product?
o We plan to start a company called E-Rescue, which will aim to help reduce the pollution caused by e-waste in the developing countries. We want to invent machines and create methodologies to serve that purpose. We already have our first prototype for a machine that will strip the copper out of wires, called StripWire. The StripWire will be easy to use, even by people with disabilities. What makes this product special is that it doesn’t need electricity to work. This is especially important for people in developing countries who don’t always have access to batteries or electrical outlets.
· Can you elaborate on what you mean by ‘e-waste’ and why you chose this topic?
o It’s short for ‘electrical waste’. The U.S. generates more than 3.1 million tons of e-waste every year. Almost 87% of this gets dumped in landfills or incinerators. The other 13% is supposed to be recycled, but most of it gets dumped into developing countries like Ghana, Vietnam, China, and others around the world. People in these counties use hammers, acid, and especially fire as a way to extract valuable materials like copper from the e-waste. Our machine will separate copper from the wires without harming the environment or people.
· Isn’t it dangerous to use acid and fire to dismantle electrical appliances?
o Yes. A lot of people who use these methods get injured or start fires. Doing this can also expose people to the harmful elements used to make wires like mercury, lead and plastic, which can lead to brain damage, kidney damage, hormonal changes and cancer. Our aim is to encourage American companies to be responsible for their e-waste, and to provide them with products and methodology to do so.
· How do you plan to market this to poor people in developing countries?
o We have different plans. First of all, we’re targeting NGO’s who care about the environment. We’ll either sell them the device or give them license to produce it. Second of all, we are going to sell it here in the United States for individuals. Whenever we sell one here we will give one to people in developing countries for free. We’re also developing an iPhone app to support our cause. People can use this app to financially participate in producing a machine and ship it to people who need it. They can also use this app to join our blog or calculate the value of their e-waste, and do a few other things.
· When is the competition and what will happen if you win?
o The competition is February 14th at University of Michigan and we’re planning to win first place- which would mean we get $50,000. With that money we would produce prototypes and take them to developing counties to work with actual users to determine how we can improve our product and how well it fits their needs. In addition, if we won the first place we’ll compete nationally.
· How many members are there in your team?
o Andrew Gabrielson, an aviation major student, and Barcley Johnson our instructor and mentor. There are also 4 other members that we meet with once a week.
· How did you end up participating in this competition?
o I signed up for a business venturing course and then I received an email from the instructor, Barcley Johnson, asking all the class to drop by his 4000 level course. He gave a brief explanation of the idea in his email. It sounded interesting so I dropped by his class and I’ve been part of it ever since. In addition, I am a very competitive person and I enjoy working on startups. This competition is for startups and entrepreneurs and I had already started two small businesses and one company in Jordan, before I came to the United States.
· And how old are you?
o 25
· Wow, that’s impressive! Any advice for readers who want to start their own businesses, or are just starting them now?
You should realize that the world is moving fast. You can either move faster, or move backwards. If you have an idea for a business, write it down and discuss it with potential customers or at least your friends. Your customers will modify your idea into something that they would really buy or use. They will help you change your idea into something they will pay money