Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2013. Richard’s age, his scholarship and his plans, including building an electric fence, are as of that time.
TED has spent more than 30 years inviting outstanding speakers such as Bill Gates, successful entrepreneurs, politicians and television personalities who have a message to share. For the first time it has invited a 12-year-old boy from Kenya. At first glance, the story Richard Turere has to tell might not seem remarkable, yet he won the hearts of the audience, who gave him a standing ovation at the end of his talk, even though he wasn’t prepared for a crowd of about 1,400 people and his nerves were plain to see.
In every place, country or region there is a problem to be solved, and only a few people dare to look for solutions different from the existing ones. The problem in the part of Kenya where Richard lives is lions. Richard, like many other children, has to watch over the livestock to keep lions away from it.
This boy started trying out different solutions. He noticed that lions are afraid of fire, so his first idea was to leave a fire burning to keep them away. But according to Richard, lions are very intelligent: if the fire doesn’t move, the lion comes closer without any trouble. His next idea was a scarecrow, but in the same way, if on the second day the lions see that the scarecrow doesn’t move, they know there is no danger.
So he created a system of lights that gave the impression of movement, and this idea worked. The lions stopped coming near the cattle. This simple invention was a real innovation in Kenya, and other families with livestock began asking the young entrepreneur to install the same system for them. Richard had a business.
He has been awarded a scholarship to study at one of the best schools in Kenya, and he has fulfilled one of his dreams, flying on a plane, even if it was to attend TED. Today he has many dreams, among them building an electric fence. He knows electric fences have already been invented, but he wants to build his own.
Watch: Richard Turere’s TED talk
Further reading
Featured image: Elena.laps, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
