Post date: Jun 20, 2012 11:36:5 AM
JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA (RECENT) (REUTERS) - For most people taking a bath or shower is only a water pipe away. But there are various situations when stepping into a shower is not possible. Millions of people around the world, do not even have access to piped water.
South African student, Ludwick Marishane has invented a bath substituting gel known as DryBath. The germ killing product comes in a bottle and can be used to wash up without having to get wet.
Ludwick Marishane, a student from Johannesburg, South Africa says he may have a solution. He has invented DryBath, a water substituting gel that can be used to clean the whole body.
When applied on the skin and rubbed, the gel creates a thin protective layer of foam which carries off dirt as it evaporates. The personal care product kills germs and Marishane says, it leaves skin moisturized and with a sweet scent.
It took Marishane six months and many hours on the internet researching potential ingredients before DryBath was conceived, but the idea for his invention was inspired by a lazy friend.
"I was in grade 11, it was June winter time and I was relaxing with a couple of friends of mine. The interesting thing about the Limpopo winter is that during the day it is blazing hot and during the night it is freezing cold. So we were sun bathing during the hot time and we had to run an errand. So a friend of mine had to go bath so he could leave and he was lazy and he happened to say, "why doesn't somebody invent something that you can just put on your skin and you don't have to bath," Marishane said.
Marishane says his main goal is environmental -- to conserve water.
"The average bath consumes 18 litres of water. DryBath is 25 ml of water just once a week, our goal is to get 10 percent of the world's population to skip a bath even if they don't use DryBath to skip a bath once a week and just save that valuable water," he said.
The young entrepreneur says his biggest challenge was finding funds. He was turned away by many financial institutions who said he was too young to run a business. In 2011, he won the Global Student Entrepreneur of the Year GSEA (Global Student Entrepreneur Awards) and was awarded 10,000 US Dollars.
Marishane, the country's youngest patent-holder then founded Headboy Industries Ltd. for which he is also the CEO and has partnered with Bioearth Laboratories in Cape Town to produce DryBath. The two organizations are currently producing about 10,000 sample bottles of DryBath for different companies all over the world.
British Airways has placed an order for 200,000 units for use on long-haul flights, while an Indian group of companies is interested in manufacturing about 7 million units of DryBath to sell in Asia.
Hennie Du Plessis the CEO of Bioearth Laboratories.
"We do the bulk lot of the product, we do all the mixing it into a gel formulation into which we add ingredients that kills all the bacteria and germs and it also inhibits the growth of any new bacteria," Du Plessis said.
On the streets of Johannesburg the idea of applying a gel all over your body instead of taking a bath is hard to sell, especially in the city where piped water is available to most people.
"If I had to go to like the bundus (rural areas) right now, and there was like no hot water I will probably use it but like right now coming to school and I have a geyser I wouldn't," said Thandiwe Mathafeni, a Johannesburg resident.
"I personally don't really agree with it, I like the conventional method of taking a bath you know with water relaxing and stuff, so I think like a whole lot of stuff in life are really made too easy for us in nowadays. The one thing I would like to keep the same is my bath time you know so I really don't agree with it to be honest," said Mfunyo Munyai, a Johannesburg resident.
DryBath is packaged in sachets and bottles that retail for between 0.50 and 1.50 US dollars depending on the outlet.
Marishane has been named the 12th brightest young mind in the world by Google.