Young Champ Omer Badokhon tells his story!

Omer Badokhon, 2017 Young Champion of the Earth for West Asia, shares his experiences implementing his biogas project in Yemen. 

July 2018

Fighting challenges in Yemen to build success

The conflict and lack of services in Yemen have indeed made my work difficult. But it is my job as a Young Champion of the Earth to help my people in these difficult circumstances. Every day, there are cooking gas shortages, and long queues of people waiting to get bottled gas at high prices - up to seven times the normal price.

The result is that more than three million people use firewood stoves to cook. This is dangerous for the environment and for health.

That’s why my project aims to create small-scale biogas plants, to convert organic waste into biogas and compost for families at home. By providing a clean source of energy and solving improper waste management, I hope to improve the health and environment of people in Yemen.

If you persevere despite challenges, you will succeed

I have experienced many delays in my project activities due to conflict and conditions in Yemen. But I have also received a lot of support and encouragement. For example, during a boot camp with the Do School in Berlin, we benefited from expert advice related to management and marketing - an excellent opportunity because I don’t have experience in developing a startup company.

I visited several German start-ups, who are pioneering the way in the green economy, and also some leading biogas companies such as BSR's biogas plant, which was a source of much inspiration.

There have of course been obstacles: the journey to Germany took more than two weeks, in addition to starting the visa process one month in advance of travelling, due to travel restrictions and the fact that there are no foreign embassies in Yemen. I have lost time in developing my prototype and in implementing my work plan, because of challenges related to internet access and travel.

But I have also had successes: I have arranged and prepared our new headquarters to complete the pilot test for the biogas plants before the end of the year. And, we have received the support of local government, a vital component for any project to succeed. Coordinating and facilitating activities with the government is really important, and I have received assurance that this will happen.

Being an entrepreneur is rewarding, keep going!

I have had significant financial set-backs due to money transfer blockages to Yemen. This has had knock-on impacts and affected the daily running of my business.

But I plan to continue building up a talented team, to help me deliver on my dream. I also continue to look for partners - especially development organizations - to accelerate the project implementation. I hope you will join me on my journey, or reach out to me for more information.

March 2018

 

February 2018

It is an honor to be one of the of the Young Champions of the Earth. We must make great efforts to serve the planet and that is not always easy. It is especially difficult in a country like Yemen!

I have devoted my efforts over the past year to developing a biogas system that uses waste to produce clean energy. It has the potential to be a solution to many of the problems that we suffer from in Yemen. However, it is a difficult time, Yemen has been in a state of war and conflict for years. I have made great efforts to overcome many obstacles, which are exaccerbated by a lack of funding and an unstable situation.

After the Young Champions Awards Ceremony in Nairobi, I found it was quite difficult to return to Yemen. At first it was necessary to go to Cairo, Egypt, and stay there for two full weeks because of the challenges of traveling to Yemen. That time was a good opportunity to participate in a workshop on sustainable consumption and production, organized under the auspices of the Arab League and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). It was a great opportunity to familiarize ourselves with some Arab environmental activists and to connect with some environmental organizations and centers.

I also had the opportunity to meet the Yemeni Minister of Water and Environment in Cairo during the workshops and discuss our plans to contribute to improving Yemen's environment in these difficult circumstances.

Finally, with the New Year holidays, I arrived at Sayiun airport in Hadhramout in Yemen and received an official reception. I was very moved and encouraged, which gave me the fuel to make more efforts despite the difficulties in starting my program, which ended up delaying my work plan by 3 weeks.

After a short break, I resumed working on my program with my colleagues. We began to prepare a place where we could work and started looking for a small apartment that would be our headquarters. We also tried to communicate with government and non-governmental organizations to facilitate our work and work with them and get funds to support our activities.

One of the good things that we have achieved is the introduction of the initiative. We have reached many people, thousands of them through our appearance on two local television shows as well as coverage by international news reports such as Reuters. We have also made visits to some colleges at the university to introduce the project.

One of the biggest obstacle is the speed of the Internet, which is very slow in Yemen. The speed of download in Yemen is 0.79 s / Mb and the speed of an upload is even slower. At the moment it is too difficult for us to communicate online, make calls over the Internet, and use programs such as Skype, Google Handout and others.

Another difficulty we are facing is a lack of foreign embassies in Yemen as a result of the conflict. This is very worrisome and can cause a lot of problems. For example, when I need to get a Schengen visa to travel to Germany, as planned in our work program, I have to travel to Egypt and stay there for a time, a week or two, until the procedures are completed. This is very expensive in terms of time and money.

To be continued...