精东影业 students Wonsuk You '19, Christopher Hwang '18, Natalie Saul '19, and Kelly Stone '19 discuss their projects to aid Puerto Rico with Carroll School of Management faculty member Laura Foote. (Lee Pellegrini)
Students in a Boston College Carroll School of Management course that applies the principles of entrepreneurship to pressing social issues turned their problem-solving to the storm-ravaged island of Puerto Rico, searching for solutions to shortages of clean water and electricity.
Two groups of students in the class Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship, taught by Adjunct Lecturer Laura Foote, looked for solutions to two leading problems in the U.S. territory since two hurricanes lashed the island in September, killing at least 55 people and causing damages estimated at up to $72 billion.
Sabrina Sarmiento, a senior economics major and Managing for Social Impact and the Public Good minor, said her group focused on the estimated one million people left without clean drinking water.
鈥淲e recognized the issue of clean drinking water in the aftermath of hurricanes Irma and Maria,鈥� said Sarmiento. 鈥淲hen we started looking at what solutions are already out there, we found a lot of solutions and technology for processing and purifying water. The issue was distributing the technology to the communities that need it.鈥�
Sarmiento and her teammates chose a $300 household water purification product, which can purify enough water to serve 100 people for a year, Sarmiento said. The team realized that distribution would be a formidable challenge.
鈥淧art of our initiative was creating a response team on the ground,鈥� said Sarmiento. 鈥淩ight now, most current efforts were just bringing bottled water and bottled water donations. That鈥檚 not really sustainable and not great for the environment. Our proposal is to establish a distribution team, so you don鈥檛 have to rely on FEMA or the Red Cross. You can also better track distribution.鈥�
Trevor Lennox, a senior CSOM student studying finance and entrepreneurship with an Environmental Studies minor, was a member of a team that focused on providing people with power as the island struggles to rebuild its electrical grid.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been two months now,鈥� Lennox said last month. 鈥淭here are still a couple of million people without power. We were trying to figure out how to help people get power now and be more resilient in the future. This is not the only storm to hit them.鈥�
Rather than focus on island-wide infrastructure, the group tried to find a solar-powered solution for individual households. They settled on a solar-plus-storage solution with a six-panel solar array and a battery capable of storing enough energy to help power household needs. They tried to keep the price close to $5,000, about the cost of buying and running a gas-powered generator.
Given limited financial resources, the team studied potential microfinance solutions capable of helping residents purchase the technology without steep financial costs. In the end, such a solution is possible at a monthly price that鈥檚 slightly higher than the average electrical bill on the island, he said.
Lennox, who works part-time for a solar energy company, said the project reinforced the need to look at new ways to solve complex problems.
鈥淭his definitely affirmed the idea that there are a lot of problems you can look at with the social entrepreneurship mindset and find sustainable solutions,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think this project helped us look at problems in a new light and realize that there are so many different potential solutions that can be implemented.鈥�
Ed Hayward | University Communications