Back to CNN

EPISODE ONE

Terry Paule 4:41

Co-Founder & CEO Botanical Water Technologies Ltd

How to shape a more resourceful world with purpose, people, and technology

With water scarcity impacting 40% of the world’s population and yearly droughts affecting around 55 million people, it’s clear our ecosystem is suffering. That’s why serial entrepreneur, Terry Paule, helped transform this sustainable water company into a digital platform for trading the world’s most in-demand resource – a giving mentality that goes right back to his roots.

Growing up in a working-class household with migrant parents, Paule owes much of his ambition to his mother who taught him how to think smart, do good, and dream big.

Now, he's passing on his own life lessons from the two decades he's spent investing in the start-up community.

1.Start with an idea

Over 3.5 million people die from water-related diseases every year due to water scarcity and poor sanitation. Deciding enough was enough, one company made it its sole mission to discover a new, sustainable water source, which it made in the unlikely setting of juice factories and sugar mills.

Botanical Water Technologies (BWT) now harvests surplus water from fruit and vegetables that go through a large evaporative process. By attaching its patented technology to existing industries, it catches, purifies, and distributes three trillion liters of plant-based water to more than 10,000 locations across the globe annually – water which would have otherwise gone to waste.

“We produce the world’s most sustainable water in places where there isn’t any,” explains Co-founder and CEO of BWT, Terry Paule, who has always found opportunity in humble beginnings. There’s something special about “starting with an idea on a page and developing it into something that lives and breathes beyond you.”

2. Understand the human impact

What started out as a novel invention in Australia has become an indispensable solution with a global footprint…

Whether it’s the first taste of safe drinking water in an underdeveloped country or the first drop in the middle of a national drought, BWT has the potential to save the lives of millions of vulnerable people. And it is this opportunity that drives the company.

“If we don’t do it, I’m fearful that nobody else will,” admits Paule. “It needs people who are driven by the same principles of giving.” Those who want to leave the world a better place than they found it are what Paule terms “bike riders and builders.” They understand the processes that go into driving change, but they never lose the joy of seeing it through.

3.Partner up to scale up

“A good idea is never enough,” says Paule. To scale it “you have to go through the processes of commercialization and corporatization.” BWT knew it needed to take this next step if it was going to take on the water crisis but recognized it couldn’t do it alone. And so, it decided to collaborate with a like-minded digital transformation partner to create a world-first solution.

With a commitment to using technology for sustainable change and not for technology’s sake, Fujitsu proved the perfect match for BWT. Under this shared philosophy, they worked together to develop a digital trading platform for tracking water production, connecting suppliers with customers, and removing friction from the supply chain: Botanical Water Exchange (BWX).

4.Utilize technology

Powered by blockchain technology, BWX enables the transparency, traceability, and security of processes across the supply chain. Verified data can be collected from the moment evaporative condensate is captured and purified at the factory, right to the final exchange when the water is delivered and utilized.

End consumers could be environmental and societal programs or large beverage corporations that need the water for their own production. In this case, BWT ensures a 1% minimum of the transaction is automatically placed into a water reserve, ready to be gifted to the global communities that need it most. “When you’re dealing with those transactions, you need a source of truth,” reveals Paule, which is why “blockchain is a fabulous way to use technology to solve real-world problems.”

5.Be stronger together

The partnership between BWT and Fujitsu just goes to show that collaboration has the potential to build a more sustainable world. But a joint venture is only as effective as its parties. “You need to be culturally aligned to understand and support each other,” explains Paule. “On the flip side to that, you need to bring skills, processes, and expertise to the table. That's what partnerships are all about.”

Change is never going to fall to one individual; it will always require a collaborative effort. “If seven billion people changed one or two things in their lives, it could reverse some of the diabolical things that are happening on our planet,” continues Paule. “Not huge transformational changes, but small things like using less plastic, walking more, or considering the way we heat our homes.”

6.Find balance

Coming together under a shared vision for a better future requires a particular mindset. Paule believes it’s about finding the people who can balance mind, body, and soul in both their professional and personal lives – a quality he looks for in every business he invests in and one he discovered in BWT the moment he was introduced to its creator.

If “skill is the body, the mind is intelligence,” then “the one that brings it all together is the soul,” explains Paule. To him, it is the feeling of wanting something more than anything else and being prepared to do anything to achieve it. So, when it comes to creating a happier, healthier world, the people who are willing to make sacrifices along the way will be the ones who make the real difference.

Change doesn’t happen overnight, but if a business truly believes in what it’s fighting for, it will come. It is this way of thinking that got BWT to where it is today, and it has no plans of stopping. Its goal is to provide clean drinking water to 100 million people by 2025, while continuing to lean on the people, processes, and technologies that have been its support since the first drop of plant-based water was harvested.

You can hear more from Terry Paule on our podcast

Listen now

Learn how together with Fujitsu Uvance you could contribute to a more sustainable world