When I found out exactly how many accomplishments this 26-year-old has under his belt I asked myself: “Where does he get the energy?” But now that I’ve met him, I see that it’s passion that drives his enormous skills of innovation.
When I found out exactly how many accomplishments this 26-year-old has under his belt I asked myself: “Where does he get the energy?” But now that I’ve met him, I see that it’s passion that drives his enormous skills of innovation.
James Lech studied a BSc at Rhodes University and completed his honours in Information Systems. Through being chosen as one of the top 100 Brightest Young Minds in South Africa he was then offered scholarships to study at Harvard where he studied Business Management, and Cambridge where he studied Sustainable Development Scenario Planning. He is also the President of Haiko energy, a company that sells small-scale wind turbines, and offers consulting services to companies to decrease environmental impact and increase profits.
He is a member of the South African Wind Energy Association and an executive committee member of the Green Building Council of South Africa, among others.
Whew! Lech has an immense capacity for innovative thinking, and was drawn to the field of Green Development, Consultation and Development.
During his studies he even challenged the system and won – in his final year of geography he wrote his dissertation on the use of Chinese geomancy, (otherwise known as feng shui) and GIS (Geographical Information Systems) in Grahamstown.
The university was sceptical about his choosing such a controversial subject, but in the end he proved that feng shui is indeed a science as well as a way of life which he says was, “something not really done before.”
His project received much recognition and he received the award for top marks of his class. When asked about his time spent at Rhodes he says, “I was a rebel; when someone or a lecturer told me ‘No’ or that it couldn’t be done, I went out of my way to show otherwise.”
He misses the student life and wishes he could come back and “just live there and study something weird.” Since leaving Rhodes he has been a consultant and developer for several ‘carbon neutral’ companies which helped him to prepare his designs for the development of the Green Healthcare Network’s green city in Dubai called the Masdar Project.
Despite his success he encounters resistance from many prospective clients because, “sadly, at the end of the day all everyone cares about is how cheap and how quickly I can make my money back.”
This hardly disheartened him however, as his belief “you only fail when you give up” propelled him forward to devise a business plan to appease these concerns.
His energy saving products are even being sought after across the African continent and he was recently flown to Nigeria where he met the president and other members of the Nigerian government to discuss potential solutions for the country’s energy needs.
Lech is currently on vacation in America, but even on holiday he cannot resist new work opportunities. He has been invited to train with the world’s number one off-lead dog trainer, David Dikeman, and the number one dog whisperer, Cesar Millan.
Did I not mention that Lech is also ranked the number one dog whisperer in Africa? Yes, that’s right – not only is he an environmentally friendly genius, but he knows how to sweet talk your canine into good behaviour too.
He has a 100% success rate and is currently planning a radio and television show about his dog whispering that he hopes to air next year.
He believes that “there are only a few people in the world that can do what I do with dogs and their owners. It’s a special type of calling, like a sangoma.
It’s not something you can learn in school, only from Mother Nature and the dogs. As you can see with my green business, I aim to help bring people back to nature.”
He cannot say for certain what he will be doing in the next ten years of his life, but he says he is sure that it will be even better than what he has already done.
He is easily bored by repetitive activities, so he always looks for something new to try his hand at, and new skills to add value to his current business.
World watch out James Lech is armed with an arsenal of qualifications, sustainable energy resources, and he just might whisper innovative plans to take over the world in your dog’s ear. Grocott’s Mail Tuesday, 22 June 2010 ENVIRONMENT 21 It snowed!
