Winners of GWP-Caribbean’s Shark Tank Competition announced

 

The finals of the 2022Global Water Partnership-Caribbean Young Caribbean Water Entrepreneurs Shark Tank competition concluded in October2022, with a total of seven finalists pitching their projects or ideas under two categories. Keston Singh, from Trinidad and Tobago, emerged as the winner in Category two on Integrated Water and Wastewater Management, financed by the GEF CReW+ project. He delivered the winning pitch, securing US$4,000 to advance his new project idea “Aqua Clean”. Dean Morris and Nicholas Kee from Jamaica took home the Category one prize to advance their project “Kee Farms” under the themes “Water and Agriculture, Water and Climate.”

According to Keston, Aqua Clean is meant to be a portable device, that can filter and purify dirty water, whether it be water from sewers, water from flooding or wastewater into clean, potable water. The device will use a combination of methods to filter the water. He proposes that the device will be solar powered to reduce negative impacts on the climate but may also be powered by electric current gained from fossil fuels.

‘’Usually in Trinidad, people who are most affected by flooding are the same persons who don’t have a regular supply of water. Instead, they may receive water less than three days per week. When flooding affects said persons, a device like this would benefit them as they can filter the flood water and receive potable water as the end product,” he explained.

As the idea of Aqua Clean is rolled out further, Keston indicated that apart from his main target audience, citizens affected by flooding, he would hope to engage water utility companies and the government in the future.

Further reading:

Finalists from Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago Deliver Winning Pitches in the 2022 Young Caribbean Water Entrepreneurs Shark Tank Competition - GWP