Tam Tran The

October 23, 2015

Energy and Technology Gaps

In today’s fast-paced digital world, when talking about technology, people usually think of a watch which performs every personal task in a second, a smart phone which connects an individual to people all around the world or a living-room screen which displays everything on the Internet. Sometimes we are so impressed with these fancy technologies that we don’t even realize that most of them are not relevant to more than half of the world population, who are living under the poverty line. What matters to these people living in the third world is “Do we have clean water to drink everyday? How can we work at night if electricity is not available in our village? Kerosene stoves are harmful to our health and highly inefficient; is there a better way for us to cook food?” So on and so on.

This summer, Tam worked for Kopernik, a non-profit organization which connects simple technology, such as water filters, clean cook stoves, and solar lanterns, to the last mile communities. These communities are the hardest-to-reach parts of the developing world and usually do not receive much support from the government. By contributing to the organization’s marketing efforts and building its online and public presence, Tam learned to embrace the power of simple technology and brought her marketing skills to the next level.