Filipino social entrepreneur wins Asia Game Changer Award

asia_game_changers_awardees

Asia Game Changer Awardees. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

NEW YORK — Illac Diaz, founder of MyShelter Foundation and Liter of Light, is one of the winners of the first-ever Asia Game Changer awards given by Asia Society.

Diaz, who promoted his Liter of Light project in Jersey City two years ago, in partnership with the Philippine-American Friendship Committee Inc., is being honored “for bringing light to those in the Philippines who lack electricity and have done so in brilliant and sustainable fashion.”

Diaz joins 12 other individuals and institutions representing “an extraordinary range of geography and achievement” who share a “common vision, passion and proven impact, wherever and however they happen to be changing the world,” Asia Society said in a statement. The awardees are from China, India, Japan, Philippines, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia.

The 2014 Class of Asia Game Changers will be honored on October 16 at a Game Changer Awards Dinner at the United Nations Dining Room and Terrace.

Josette Sheeran, president and CEO of Asia Society said that the selection process began early this year, “inviting suggestions from Asia Society’s global network.”  She reported that more than 130 individuals and institutions were nominated.  Asia Society took six months to decide before announcing the awardees on September 16.

Bottle of light

Diaz is a social entrepreneur whose concept is to combine sunshine, water and chlorine inside a used one-liter bottle to bring light to disadvantaged Filipinos while recycling tons of plastic waste that would otherwise end up in already overburdened landfills.

His eco-friendly bottle lamp called “Liter of Light” comes from scavenged empty bottles. It is suspended from ceilings where during daylight hours the water inside the bottle refracts natural sunlight to produce a light equivalent to a 55-watt solar bulb, which then extends for another 10 hours at night.

The light source was designed with students from MIT and is rooted on the principle of Appropriate Technologies, a concept that provides simple and replicable technologies to address basic needs in developing communities.

Illac Diaz. CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

The 1-Liter of Light has brightened 140,000 homes in the Philippines alone since 2011 and this simple technology is now replicated in 15 other countries including India, Bangladesh and Nepal.  Diaz’s goal is to reach one million lights installed worldwide by 2015.

The program is inspired by many innovations from around the world. Many cultures have used glass bottles to allow lighting through the roof.  Alfredo Moser, a Brazilian mechanic, began pioneering methods of experimenting with plastic bottles.  However, modifications have been made to the Philippine model.

MyShelter Foundation hopes that “others take their work and continue to grow the concept, spreading it rapidly to empower and lighten the lives of people.”

Ateneo alumnus

He is a son of Ramon Diaz, an accomplished visual artist and brother of Gloria Diaz, the first Filipina Miss Universe.  Diaz earned his bachelor’s degree in management economics at the Ateneo de Manila University and obtained a master’s in entrepreneurship at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM).

Later, he left the Philippines to take up urban studies and planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Boston  In 2008, he took his master’s of political administration at Harvard University.

Diaz is the youngest Asian Institute of Management alumnus to receive an Honors and Prestige Award.  In 2004, he received a three-in-a-row award: Everyday Hero Special Award from the Reader’s Digest Asia, an Entrepreneur Award from the 1st Johnny Walker Social Award and a runner-up in New York’s Next Big Idea International Design Competition.

In 2005, he was a recipient of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award for Social Entrepreneurship given by JCI Philippines. He also received a citation from the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Geneva as one of the “Young Global Leaders of 2008.”

The First Asia Game Changer Awardees

RELATED STORY

Illac Diaz: Starting the revolution of light

Read more...