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THE ADVENTURES OF AN INVENTOR
When Stephen Grant became a finalist for Entrepreneur of the Year, little did he know that a journey thousands of miles away to one of the poorest countries in the world would lead to a committed and lasting partnership. Niamh MacSweeney reports As part of the 2007 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year, finalists were invited to travel to the Dominican Republic and Haiti to impart their expertise and assist local communities to develop much needed sustainable enterprises. Although Stephen Grant, Founder of internationally renowned Grant Engineering, had previously been involved in projects on a local level, he had never embarked upon an international venture like this before. Clearly the trip was a real eye-opener for the entrepreneur and he has vowed to continue working with local fishermen in what he hopes will be a lasting enterprise and a positive project for the people of Haiti who are experiencing severe poverty. ALLEVIATING POVERTYAccording to Grant there are a number of reasons why Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world and why it will be an immense challenge to alleviate their problems. “Bad government was the biggest downfall to the country down through the centuries. With no electricity, no running water and poor infrastructure, its abject poverty beyond belief,” he says. Grant also highlights that some of the problems the country is experiencing are man made and that the vicious circle of poverty is hard to break.With no money to buy gas and no electricity, the locals are forced to cut down trees for fuel. “Coffee plantations need the shade of trees to grow, so that is damaging their coffee production. When the rains come the land gets washed away because there is nothing to hold it together. That soil gets washed into the sea and the next catastrophe is that the inshore feeding grounds for the fish is destroyed,” Grant explains. In Haiti he was concerned about the primitive conditions the fishermen were working in and found it unbelievable that in this day and age, only a few hours from the US, fishermen were using dug out canoes, without lifejackets or any communication with the mainland. “The project we have undertaken is to start them off with two fibreglass motor boats, sufficient lifejackets, deep water fishing nets and we will equip them with two-way radios so that at least they can be in touch with somebody on shore,” he says. FORGING PARTNERSHIPSThis is the initial programme, however the next step will be to follow up on their progress in the hope that they will be able to fish safely in deeper water and increase their catch by 500%. The project will ensure that the fishermen get the support they need to gradually build up the number of boats and to increase their catch and get the fish to market.Although this is the first time Grant has undertaken a project like this, he was so inspired personally that he undertook another project this time with a small community of cashew nut producers. According to Grant the production of the cashew is very laborious, as each nut has to be split open individually and then roasted in an inefficient oven. He is planning to provide them with a hand operated machine and better quality ovens. “When the group of us went there and when we saw the poverty you just couldn’t walk away and do noting, you couldn’t forgive yourself and although I know its small in scale, we felt we could help a small community to improve their life,” Grant says of the reason he felt so compelled to do something. Since their return to Ireland the group have been actively working on building the project and are confident that it will be a positive and lasting partnership. Grant says that his visit to Haiti has been a life changing experience and that more people should get involved in similar international projects. “I know what it was like in old days to be pretty poor, but I have never seen anything like this. Even in the worst times in Ireland I don’t think it was ever this bad. In this day and age to see people in a poverty trap with no way out unless they get outside help is a real eye-opener,” he admits. CONSTANTLY INNOVATINGIf his own business success over the last 30 years is anything to go by the fishermen of Haiti are certain to benefit from his expertise and innovative, entrepreneurial streak. Grant Engineering was originally set up as a small operation with the pioneering inventor making boilers at night. In the early 70s Grant left employment and set up a heating and plumbing business. “When the first oil crisis came in the early 70s I fitted some back boilers and found them to be extremely poor and inefficient so I set about designing a boiler that would work properly,” he explains. He gradually grew the business but realised that while his strong point was in design he was going to be weak on the management side and so sourced a partner, John Fay, who looked after the business on a day-to-day basis, allowing Grant to concentrate on R&D.PREDICTING MARKET FORCES“On the design side we diversified the oil fire boiler business in the mid 80s and grew that business steadily into the 90s. I took out a new patent on Euro Flame and MultiPass Boilers in anticipation of a European Directive. Up until 1995 you could sell any kind of oil boiler without certification to any standard. But in the mid 90s a European Directive (EN3O3 Part 4) came in and it became a criminal offence if boilers didn’t comply,” Grant explains.In 2002 he launched a range of condensing boilers one of the most ground-breaking boilers on the market and Grant Engineering is now the biggest producer of oil boilers in Ireland and the UK with 40 patents received since he started designing and 25 more pending. According to Grant his R&D is driven by pending legislation and market forces. Conceiving and formulating new ideas is all in a days work for this inspiring inventor but is it difficult to constantly innovate? “It sounds like it should be difficult but I spend a lot of time planning, thinking and designing new things. To some it's difficult and others its not – its within me to do it,” Grant reveals. GREENER SOLUTIONSA constant innovator, Grant is now working on bio-fuel boilers and recently diversified into solar panels, which are brought in from Europe and then distributed in Ireland and the UK. “My policy is always to have the most environmentally friendly products that we can make. We have to accept that burning gas or fossil fuel is not environmentally friendly but if you are going to burn it, do so as efficiently as possible,” he says.An advocate of growing crops to produce bio fuel, Grant says there is no one single solution to our energy needs and to reducing the pollution of the atmosphere. “Awareness has to come very quickly because we can see there is definite climate change taking place. I only hope that its not too late to make a change,” he concludes. Published in the September 2007 Issue of Irish Entrepreneur | back to top |
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| © 2007 Irish Entrepreneur Irish Entrepreneur is published by Morrissey Media Ltd. 3 Dublin Road, Naas, Co. Kildare. T: + 353 45 866200 F: + 353 45 883709 E: info@irishentrepreneur.com |
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