Ep 37 - Democratizing the Electric Grid with Leo Alicante
The topic of Green and Renewable energy can clearly be an uncomfortable conversation with anyone who's livelihood is formed around fossil fuels. Not to mention, fossil fuels has been instrumental in all of our lifestyles. But it is also a much larger umbrella for many of our most uncomfortable conversations including global warming, economic and racial inequality, and how to transition different types of work and labor.
Our guest today is the founder of Quioveo Energy, Leo Alicante. Growing up on an island in West Africa, Leo witnessed how both the smallest changes in weather patterns and the influx of extractive energy industries deeply impacted his island people and their way of life. Access to energy on the island was unreliable at best and often would take advantage of the most vulnerable. Quioveo’s vision, rooted in Leo’s journey, is of a vibrant future, fueled by sustainable, affordable and accessible energy for all.
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TRANSCRIPT:
David Gaines: In last week's episode, we introduced you to our new friend, Angela Engel, about how using the tools of business and entrepreneurship enabled her to see a problem in her community and solve it in a very socially impactful way. Now, while Angela was able to use those tools of business to solve the problem, that is not actually her business, she just was able to do something really cool at a critical time, at the very beginning of the outbreak of COVID. Today's guest is Leo Alicante and in a similar way, used his life's experiences and journey to form business around solving a social problem. And I love this story so much because it's his whole life's journey brought him to this stage and Leo’s perspective is very unique. He was born and raised on a tiny Island, 300 miles off the West Coast of Central Africa and his passion and his commitment to his work stems from this Island childhood.
It was here that Leo witnessed how both the smallest changes in weather patterns and the influx of extractive energy industries deeply impacted his Island people and their way of life. Access to energy on the island was unreliable. So there was a high cost and the reward was not what it should have been; truly another amazing story of social entrepreneurship and social innovation that solves many problems around equality, as well as climate change. With that, we have a giveaway that we launched last week sparked by Angela's episode and I'll let Mary explain here a little bit more about what that is.
Mary Allard: As an addition to this week's episode with Angela Engel, we are stoked to bring together what we're calling the entrepreneur fuel kit giveaway. We want to keep the entrepreneurial spirit alive, especially amidst chaos and crisis. So what's included? A $25 gift certificate from La Terza Artisan Coffee, a collective book studio book bag from Angela Engel, a copy of Bob Lesser's book, The Peak Performance Formula, and two of Ellie's essential oils blends, both bliss and ignite. All of these things come together and are valued at over $130. This giveaway will start on 4.05 and end on 4.15. If you're interested in participating, go to our Instagram @thirdplacepodcast, like the post, tag an entrepreneur who you want to support with some fuel for their fire and follow all of our amazing contributors. Get a bonus entry too when you share this on your story and engage with us more interactively. We welcome you to explore The Third Place with us.
David Gaines: It is an invitation to the gray space. A space where deeper connections are fostered.
David Gaines and Mary Allard: Through challenging, empowering and engaging dialogue.
Mary Allard: You will walk away with a deeper understanding of self, equipped to engage with others in life's complex conversations.
David Gaines: Thank you for listening.
Mary Allard: We invite you in to The Third Place.
David Gaines: Well, welcome Leo to The Third Place Podcast. So happy to have you on with us today, and I wanted to bring you on because I think you have a very unique story to tell. I want to hear a little bit about your background, but you're currently running a campaign around renewable energy and starting an energy company, but you have the eyes and perspectives of an immigrant, moving from Africa. You moved to a very traditionally red state that loves their fossil fuels. And you're a person of color, also living in an area that is not as diverse as other parts of the country. So I think you have a lot of intersections of unique conversations, and I'm just excited to hear your perspectives on your journey and your work as we dive into looking ahead for renewable energy in the future. So thanks for joining us.
Leo Alicante: David, thank you so much for inviting me and for having me. Same thing Mary.
David Gaines: So tell us about your work in energy. Let's begin with that part of the story and that you currently live in Philadelphia, but how you first moved to Oklahoma.
Leo Alicante: Well, so like you said in my intro, I'm originally from West Africa and when I came to the States, part of the reason why I came to the State is because they had discovered oil in my native country. And I was very fortunate as a young man to be very good in math. So the local government thought that they wanted to send me to the States to study petroleum engineering so I could become part of that generation that will take over the oil that they had discovered in my country. So that's what brought me to the States. At the time, the University of Tulsa in Oklahoma had one of the best petroleum engineering programs in the country. Colorado school of Mines also come to mind at the time. But anyways, so that's how I ended up in Oklahoma because I was studying petroleum engineering.
Mary Allard: And so that was in college that you left West Africa to come to Oklahoma?
Leo Alicante: So I finished high school after finishing high school in Africa, I came to the United States to study petroleum engineering. Yes.
Mary Allard: Okay. And so did you have to like apply or how was the connection made to your math skills to this trajectory?
Leo Alicante: So the government of my country at the time had connections with the best schools in the United States. I had no way of being able to find Tulsa in the map, nowhere in the world, right? Yeah, so that's how I was able to find that school through the connections that my local government had with the university.
Mary Allard: And so then, I mean, sort of bring us to the time where you're an immigrant in Oklahoma. Like what did that look like and feel like?
Leo Alicante: Words will never fully describe the culture shock coming from West Africa. Now, mind you, I was born in a very disinvested part of Africa and part of Equatorial Guinea. It's a little tiny Island called Annobón. We did not have running water. We did not have electricity. We're very isolated from the mainland and from the world, right. We did not have TV. We did not have computers. So imagine coming from that, Tulsa is not New York City or it's not LA, but still, you can imagine seeing heavy traffic for the first time, right, seeing running water from the first time. Going to the library, coming from a place where you never had books, culture shock will not fully describe it.
David Gaines: Yeah, I can't imagine that the culture shock. So I also didn't realize the petroleum work brought you to the United States. At what point in your journey brought you into more of this renewable energy or more sustainable energy conversation? Was that after you moved here and did work in petroleum?
Leo Alicante: Yeah, so like I said earlier, I was born in a very tiny isolated, disinvested community in West Africa. As a young man, I didn't know the science behind what was happened to my Island, right. We were small community that depended on the land for food. And we depended on the ocean to be able to fish what we eat every day. As the oil was discovered in the country, things started shifting. We started seeing things that we could not fully understand it. And as a young man, I didn't have the intellectual ability or the know-how to be able to connect the dots. When I came to the States and I started petroleum engineering, I'll call it back home and I’ll hear all these horror stories about how the beaches that I used to enjoy as a young man, you could no longer enjoy those beaches because of the pollution that had come from hydrocarbon exploration.
I will horror her stories about how the land that we have lived generations and generations of my ancestor had lived for so long were being … The environment was being changed by things that we did not fully understand, right. So that's when I start thinking deeper about, yes, I wanted to finish my degree, but I started thinking deep about, yes, we need that energy. Yes, we need the development that comes with that energy and the jobs that come with that. But how can we get that energy in a more sustainable way? So the idea of renewables, I would say from my sophomore year, I start thinking about a different way of doing it. And that's where the idea of renewable start coming to my mind, even though I was studying petroleum engineering because I had agreed to do that, I started thinking about what can I do beyond hydrocarbons?
David Gaines: Right. And I do think that that's one of the challenges I think of the conversation. You know, oil and fossil fuels can help create jobs and bring, elevate an economy locally or nationally, but also at a cost, right. So, and that's where it gets muddy really quickly, is who's paying what costs and who is making the money because a lot of the people that pay the costs are probably the people at the bottom of the totem pole, so to speak. And the people that are seeing the benefit are not experiencing the harm directly, that it can create.
Leo Alicante: David, I'm glad you said that because that's at the heart of work that we're trying to do right now, right. So where I was born, the energy was being extracted from there, but yet a big majority of the folks living on that particular land were not seeing the benefits, right. We were seeing the worst effects of it, but we were not seeing the benefits. That general dynamic is universal, not just in my little tiny Island in West Africa, but also here in the United States, right. The porous, most disinvested communities here in the United States see the worst effects of climate change. But when we're talking about energy transition, when we're talking about technologies to address that, they're not seeing the benefits of it. That's the common denominator between where I'm from and the folks that we hope into build technologies today, for … And I may be jumping our conversation a bit.
Mary Allard: No, no, I don't think so. I mean, I'm curious about, even just to go back to when the infrastructure was changing and where you were living at the time, clearly there was no mass education or awareness made to everyone. You were simply probably to me, I feel like I would feel a little bit like a victim or like a little bit in shock and not clear, but there's maybe like a desire to trust, but like you said, you're not getting the benefit, you're just seeing the effects of it. So there were no like jobs being created or any positive benefit at the time?
Leo Alicante: So that's a very good question, Mary. So the first thing that comes to mind is that when you live in one of those communities, like the one I grew up in, you don't have the wisdom or the intellectual tools to be able to have an analysis of what's going on.
Mary Allard: Or the language I would imagine.
Leo Alicante: Or the language, absolutely. I had no idea what climate change was until very recently, right. I had no idea what, you know, what could be the negative effects about the exploration. So I did not know, right. And again, that has given me a very good life lesson, as we’re trying to do this work. And I go through this investor committee, here in the United States and we're talking about today, we're talking about fracking or we'll be talking about oil exploration. I know how they feel because I was in that same position. Those companies will come in and they will sell us on the jobs, right. They will sell us on the shiny things, but what we don't know and they will never tell us is the more deleterious effect of that exploration.
Mary Allard: Right. Of course. I mean, they're going to tell you what they want you to know. And then it goes back to that saying that you hear all the time, you don't know what you don't know. And then if you don't have the means to, even if you are curious, but if you don't have that language or the means to learn more, ‘cause they're probably not being as explicit as you would like to, then how would you even begin to understand something beyond that, like climate change?
Leo Alicante: And Mary you also say something very smart. You use the word, I think victim, right?
Mary Allard: Yeah.
Leo Alicante: And now I want to dig deeper into that word if I may, right. I'm one that has every reason to feel victimized by having lost the, what I call home, right. And that we will never get that back. Chances are we’ll never get that natural my island back, but I'm also one that also understands that for us to be able to move the needle, for us to be able to go beyond where we are, we need to have forgiveness, number one. But we need to find a way to find the language, to be able to talk about this problem without being a wedge issue, right. So here in the United States, there are two camps it seems. You have progressive that are for climate change and you know, energy transition. And you have the other camp that is more for maintaining the status quo of hydrocarbon base economy and maybe then you say renewable is, you know, you're calling them a bad name, right?
But how do we … You know, one of the thing that got me so excited about coming to your platform is a place where we can talk about difficult issues and find commonalities so that we can move forward. Renewable and climate change is one of those things that those on my side that believe in a future that based on renewables, we need to be humble and find the language to be able to bring all of us along, because that's the only way collective we’ll be able to move the needle from when we are right now.
David Gaines: Yeah, and I mean, I think that that's the thing, right? Like I tend to be on the more progressive side in many different ways around this topic. Like I want a cleaner planet, I want a planet that I can give to my kids that was better than when I found it. And I want an energy source that empowers people, not only empowers a few and takes advantage of others. So there's lots of those pieces of the conversation where I find myself in and I would imagine, honestly, if we set it out in that way, many people would be in that position too. Of course we all want that, but it's almost like there's an acknowledgement, like fossil fuels didn’t get us to this point. Like fossil fuels brought us to this point with technology and the way that our world has evolved and we were able to build a lot of great things.
So there is some good that fossil energy has given to us and that we have all received the benefit from, but it is time for the next conversation. And so how do we come together at the table to actually unpack all of that and acknowledge all the good and the bad of everything that's involved, but in a humble way. And I think that that's really, maybe the next part of the story. You yourself made a shift while you're studying petroleum engineering. You know, how did you then have that conversation with your colleagues or with people that were in a community that were not on the same page?
Leo Alicante: It's a work in progress, right. It's not, I don't think it’s a destination, right. It's a journey that we need to embrace. We all collective, we need to embrace and we need to keep working at it. But my selling point is to say, I understand why you feel however way you feel about hydrocarbons, I'm very grateful, like you said earlier, about where we are, where hydrocarbon has taken us both here's the data and here are the effects of hydrocarbon energy base economy. Let’s envision, let’s dream about two more that can be built on top of this one that hopefully would be better and more sustainable than the one that we have. That's my pitch, right, and like I said earlier, I don't think, like it's not a destination, it's a journey, that my hope is that come into your platform is part of that journey to continue to educate folks, to show compassion and an understanding so that collectively we can move to that future that we envision together.
Mary Allard: Yeah. I love too how you said I do find it so interesting and I think that that's like part of the essence of The Third Place is that, you know, when you say I am progressive, then immediately, that means that you’re saying something negative about the other quote on quote party or the other school of thought. And I think that what your work is doing, and what we're trying to do is to press into the, it doesn't have to be that when you assign yourself or have a certain approach that, that negates the other approach. It just means that it's just a way of making sense of gaining that language. But it doesn't have to become much greater than that, but it's so easily does, especially with these charged topics, like renewable energy.
Leo Alicante: Yeah, I always remind folks that I'm not against anything. I'm for a future that is more sustainable, where poor communities and individuals will have the technologies to self empower themselves, to give them the ability to be self autonomous from an electric grid that is increasingly old and unreliable, right. So I'm not against anything. I can only speak for the company that I represent. Quioveo is not against anything. We are for a sustainable future.
Mary Allard: Yeah, and I think that distinction is really powerful though, the against versus for and that, again, shows you the power of language and how just shifting to that positive connotation can be an undertone that can be really impactful.
Leo Alicante: I think so.
David Gaines: Yeah, and so you've had the experiences, or are currently living out the experiences of meeting people where they're at is really what it sounds like and helping them see the next step of the journey. Can you briefly like also speak to the experiences that you had as person of color, or anti-immigration like, do you have experiences where those were also barriers?
Leo Alicante: So I've been very fortunate that I've been trained to be very focused on the tangible path that we're trying to follow. As you may know David, we're in the middle of a fundraising campaign to raise capital so we can fully develop and bring our first product to market. I wrote a recent article not too long ago, about how the space in which you then find yourself in a climate intelligence space or a renewable space, it's not very diverse, and I'm not talking just about a background diversity. I'm also talking about background in the type of companies that get funded in this space. It’s real, but I often choose to focus on the positive folks like you guys, that giving us an opportunity to be able to share our vision and what we're trying to do, Right. It doesn't take very much to see how there's a lack of diversity in this space. Just that personally, I choose to focus on the blind spots.
Mary Allard: No, that's beautiful. It is. It's the shift to the tangible, I think is, I mean, when you talk about basic conflict resolution skills, it always is focus on the tangible, focus on the facts and that I think that, that can move you away from the emotional space you can move the needle, right, that you're talking about. And so can you share with us, you know, what is your vision?
Leo Alicante: Yeah, so whether you live in Missouri, whether you live in Texas, whether you live in South Louisiana, we know that extreme climate events will become more prevalent for now going into the future. And maybe then those events happen, a common denominator is that folks in the lower class of our society suffer the worst consequences of those events, right. So for example, the most recent grid collapsing in Texas, a lot of folks lost power, and you notice that the power restored in wealthier communities before they were restored in poor communities. That's a dynamic that we've seen for many years now, right, and that's the dynamic that most likely we'll continue to see, unless folks are more educated about issues like this, right.
So at Quioveo Energy, we're trying to build technologies designed to empower folks in that lower class, in disinvested community to be able to understand what's happening and to be able to empower them self so that when those events happen, then the better position to the lift them self up. So that's what we're doing right now. That's the work that we're trying to do. Now, we understand that from a business perspective, most investors will say, okay Leo, how are you going to make money? We love your mission, how are you going to make money? So we have a business model that connects affluent parts of the society and this disinvested part of our community, so that we can have a sustainable plan going forward so that we can become what we call a business. So that's what Quioveo Energy is doing right now.
Our first product, we call it the Illuminator. We also call it the Zillow for sustainable energy. It’s a way to data that historically has been very opaque and nobody understand or don’t have. Most folks don't have the bandwidth to want to understand. We democratize that data so that we all can see what's happening with the electric grid vis-à-vis the grid infrastructure on energy.
David Gaines: Oh, interesting. Yeah, so can you unpack that a little bit further, ‘cause I don't understand what you're talking about either, so.
Leo Alicante: David, I mean, have you guys able to use Zillow? I mean, like to buy a house or to look for?
Mary Allard: Yes. Yes.
Leo Alicante: Okay. So Zillow, what it is, is a map, right. The basic foundation is a geospatial map and on top of that, they've added different layers, they've added, you know, properties, right, house properties, and they've added quality of the schools in that particular zip codes. And they've added parks. So let me give you an example. So, I remember when we're thinking about moving to Philadelphia, my wife got a job in Philadelphia and I had never been to Philadelphia. So the first thing I wanted to do is, okay, where can we find a house that we can afford? And the first thing I did is I went to Zillow. I was like, okay, this is where my wife, so I put the address of my wife's office and all of a sudden, I see all the different prices of properties that were near her office. And then I'm like, okay, I have a five-year-old and I have an eight year old, they will need to go to the park, right?
So Zillow, you pick a house and all of a sudden it tells you where the closest park is for your kids and it also tells you the quality of the schools within that particular zip code. So within an hour or so, I had a very good sense of Philadelphia where I wanted to live, because I didn't want my wife to be driving two hours to go to work. The quality of the schools, so I had a very good understanding of big picture Philadelphia vis-à-vis my interests. And we're talking up from a home perspective, which home can we afford, where will be the best place to live?
Now think about the same thing with energy. So you have a house in the countryside and you're thinking, no, it'll be nice to be energy independent. You know, what type of energy will work for me? If I were to spend X amount on solar panels to put it on my roof, how long will it take for me to get that money back? Does it make sense? Is it financially feasible? If I were to get that, and I wanted to set some of that back into the electric, how will I do that? So imagine a tool or and that's the case of you as an example. Now, also think about a poor community, in the poor middle of Pennsylvania, they do have land, but they're looking for ways to create revenue. There's something called energy farming. So the tool that we're building is one that will do a very quick, with a one push of a button analysis of whether it make sense for them to have a small, what we call, DER, which is a distributed energy resource, like a solar farm or wind farm. I mean, either on their property, on their roof.
So all of the sudden having a tool that will do that analysis for them, and it will show them how easy it is for them to be able to create revenue from that particular operation is a very, very valuable tool. It shows them data, it shows them the possibilities of what they can do with the resource that they may have.
Mary Allard: So then from there, I love the visual of Zillow, like all the characteristics that are brought in or put into play so that you can really personalize your relationship to buying a home. But for this like engaging in renewable energy, right? That to me in itself feels really empowering, just because it takes away the intimidation factor. I mean, I just had a quick moment of feeling so intimidated by some of the first things that you did, and then you were able to break it down for us. So I can see that that just that in itself feels like, oh, suddenly this is not this big monster that we have to tackle, because it feels so intimidating to think about the sort of trajectory that we're currently on. And that there's like a hopelessness that comes from that when you feel like you've got a mountain in front of you and a mountain behind that, and then it's a whole valley of mountains beyond there, right? So I love that this to me makes me immediately feel like, oh, I can entertain this concept and I can engage in it.
Leo Alicante: So maybe for talking to me today, if I were to tell you, hey Mary, tell me about the electric grid. You'd be like, “Oh, I can't do that.” Right. Most folks are on the same boat as you. The electric grid and the energy system is so complex and is so opaque that those of us, regular citizens that have, should have the power to do something about it, we don't know enough about it, right. So what we envision doing with the Illuminator is educating you. Trying to speak to you in your own language because we want to empower you so that collectively we'll be more knowledgeable about our relationship with the electric grid and with the energy systems, things that traditionally, only utility companies have been able to do for us. Why? You tell me, probably, you don't know where your electricity is coming from. If you don't know where your electricity is coming from, somebody knows, and somebody is making that decision for you, right.
As regular citizens, I want us to know where our energy is coming from so that we can make better decisions collectively about policy, about who we put in power to represent us, right. That's how we in a very small way, long-term will have an effect on the decision that we make vis-à-vis renewable. So Illuminator will be that. It's just a very simple platform that we'll be able to make folks aware there in time to educate them about the connection and the relationship between them and this big, massive thing that most of us don't fully understand.
Mary Allard: Yeah. What a perfect name to Illuminator. I mean, it sounds like a way of bringing visibility into our awareness.
Leo Alicante: That's exactly what it is. It's bringing visibility, making it easier for us to engage with the electric grid and renewables in general.
David Gaines: Well, and I know like every state's different, but several years ago, Ohio went through a deregulation set of laws. And so the idea being that it would open up where I could as a consumer choose among several energy providers, including the main provider that was here. And you know, I think the idea was that, hey, by removing all this regulation, it'll enter energy into the market, people will be able to have choice. It'll help keep costs low. I feel like it's done the exact opposite. Like, I feel like I'm pretty smart and educated, but I'm like, I've got every year now phone calls, hey, choose us as your provider, choose us provider. I'm like, I don't even know what you're talking about. Okay, yeah, that rate sounds fine. Sure. And it's become where it's very frustrating because I don't have time to do it every year, every year, every year and I do have access to resources. I do, I have had access to education. So to be someone who would be poor, like I'm middle-class, but to be someone who's poor and having those feelings, I can't even imagine what it would be like to be poor and therefore you know that people are taking advantage.
Leo Alicante: So David, we are … Throughout the US electric grid, there are two sides. We have deregulated markets and we have regulated markets and that opaqueness is in both type of markets. So in Pennsylvania, we have a deregulated market, what we call a PJM, I think Ohio is also part of that as well, PJM. The fact that even in a deregulated market, information around the topologies that we use, the type of energy that we use is not transparent, it's not so easy to understand, even after we, I mean, you guys went through a deregulation process. It makes the case for us to envision a different type of tool that empowers you so that you can have a better understanding of this massive, I mean, imposing and intimidating thing that we call electric grid and our relationship with our energy systems, right.
That's the importance of Illuminator. How can we make sure that collectively, we’re more educated and you know, when you interact with Illuminator, we will not be asking you to chose a company or energy source? We're just saying, hey, David, here is the information, right. So you can be more educated about the imaging system. And I'm going to say one last thing if I may. Traditionally softwares that have tried to do what we're trying to do, they have been designed for utility companies and big resourceful companies. This is the first technology to my knowledge designed for folks like me and you, with the sole intent of trying to empower us and trying to educate us so that we can make better decisions about this core solution that we call electric grid or energy systems.
Mary Allard: So, you know, we had a podcast episode, I guess it was about a month ago on basic needs and how it's nearly impossible to engage in conversations like this or schools of thought. There are systems like this when you don't even have your basic needs met. And a lot of that, there can often be synergies and that basic needs aren't being met with lower income communities. So I'm wondering if you have any thoughts on like, how are you going to engage them in this conversation, or how are you going to engage them in the work that you have ‘cause they're probably not going to seek it out. So I imagine there has to be some pretty active initiative to get in front of them to begin with.
Leo Alicante: That's a very good question. So in our business model, we're using a combination of freemium and subscription based model, and we have identified the different type of users that we foresee using this powerful technology. For individuals like me and you, and for disinvested community, they'll be using this software for free. We plan to make it free for them. And then we have a different type of users that will be engaged in these to a subscription model, where we hope that they’ll be subsidizing the usage for individuals like me and you that strategically long-term, we think that will be able to help us move the needle around climate change and the amount of renewables that we're using the electric grid. Does that make sense?
Mary Allard: Yeah.
Leo Alicante: So to a freemium model, we hope that individuals, individual citizens, and especially disinvested communities will be able to use our platform for free.
Mary Allard: And then the, you know, the, obviously the investors are asking you, right, like the monetization. So that's coming from more of the affluent partners and how do you gain buy in from that side?
Leo Alicante: So there are many issues, so without getting too technical, so there are many issues that folks care about the electric grid and energy system are facing. One is grid visibility. The ability to be able to see not just what your small solar farm or your small power plant, but being able to see beyond what you're using, what other users are doing. That's something that we’ll be providing through subscribing customers or subscribing users, number one. Grid access, right, so one of the cool things about, there's something called LMP, where do I need to be in a small D or a small power station, right, so that I can make it more financially viable. Where in the areas of the electric grid, does heavy traffic, congestion of electricity, so that it makes more sense for us to be able to put a small power plant over there so that we can make, instead of taking 20 years to make our money back, we can make it in one year.
So that's another feature that we're providing to subscribing customers, that traditional softwares have not been able to do. So we have a plethora of features that we think that would be attractive to our subscribing best customers that will make them want to have Illuminator. And then in then doing so, again we can subsidize regular individuals and disinvested communities that our mission claims to want to empower.
Mary Allard: That's brilliant. Yeah, you're shortening the return for the subscribing customers. Yeah, sounds like pretty dramatically too. And at the same time, getting to get in front of those that need to be empowered and want to be empowered. It's brilliant.
David Gaines: And you know, and you're providing hope in that same process. You know, when Mary brought up basic needs, you know, it's so easy when your needs aren't met, whether they're basic or more advanced. When your needs aren't being met, it's so easy to get caught it in hopelessness. And I think you're really giving an opportunity for hope. I want you to just, as we close, talk about your current campaign, because I think one of the other things which also speaks to everything that you're doing is you are providing an opportunity for many people of many different economic status to be able to hop in, you know, so what is the campaign for? How long does it last and what does it take to be able to buy in like me? Can I do that?
Leo Alicante: So thank you, David. That's a very good question, right. So traditionally small startups like us are with revolution technology like Illuminator, they were founded and owned by what we call accredited investors. They’re wealthy folks that the law allow for many reasons to be the only ones to be able to own this type of technology, right. We're talking about democratizing the electric grid. We wanted to live by that same philosophy and who will loan this company and who will own this technology. So we're using a cut founding platform to give regular citizen, anyone with at least a hundred dollars, the opportunity to own Illuminator and to own Quioveo in general. So we’re using Wefunder and we're trying to raise $250,000 so that we can finish developing Illuminator and we can take it to market. The campaign will go for about three months and we started that on March 15th. So we're going to be there for the next three months. It's open to anyone; you, me, anyone that thinks that having a sustainable future is a smart thing to do. Anyone that thinks that giving everyone in our country an opportunity to determine their own energy future is important. This type of technology we think would make a difference in that.
David Gaines: That's amazing. You were connected to me from a dear friend of mine who I think is brilliant in his own, right and very much in the social entrepreneurship space. So, you know, I bring that up just because I appreciate the work that you're doing, that it also is just so empowering for everybody that wants to be involved. And you've been thoroughly thinking through how everyone can be involved, the consumer or the investor. And I just love how it's full circle. It's fully encompassing. And I think it really does give hope. So what is your website? Where can people find you? How can people engage and learn more?
Leo Alicante: They can go to our website is quioveo.com, which is Q-U-I-V-E-O.com. Or they can go to Wefunder and type the same thing, Quioveo, and they should be able to find those easily on the Wefunder platform.
Mary Allard: Yeah, what does that stand for? Is there a meaning behind the word? There must be.
Leo Alicante: Yes, there is. You know, advice to everyone listening, if you're starting a company, make sure you name it something that anybody can pronounce. Don’t bring in Quioveo. But that's a good question, Mary. So I was a young man in Annobón, like we're telling earlier, I was telling you guys earlier and Quioveo is the highest peak in the island where I was born. And I was a young man, we didn't have running water, we didn't have electricity and we'll climb up over there and I would dream about walls beyond what I could see. I had no idea that that type of work would take me to machine learning and artificial intelligence, which is what I'm doing right now. But every time I, you know, whenever I have a burden I think about the challenges that we're facing as a small startup, I'm taken back to that, to my youth and my days in Quioveo. So that’s where the name comes from. It means something to me. It may not mean anything to anyone, but that’s where the name comes from.
Mary Allard: I think that that's one of the most beautiful stories. I also would say that if you are an entrepreneur or starting a business, that your name will often prompt a story or an ask, right. So maybe, you know, in the spirit of Leo, in, in flipping the script and doing something always with positive connotation, to me it sounds like an opportunity to share a visual that to me feels like the embodiment of the work that you're doing now.
Leo Alicante: I endorse that opinion.
Mary Allard: Endorsed by Leo.
David Gaines: I feel like it's a word that I want to start incorporating into my own language, bringing you to a place to see beyond, you know, to see ahead, to see future and dream. That's a beautiful word and should be in our language.
Leo Alicante: Yeah, always having to teach folks to say Quio-veo.
David Gaines: Quioveo
Leo Alicante: You see, once you break it up it’s very easy to say.
Mary Allard: Yeah, and I mean, when I think of different languages too, you know, qui or qui is life and veo is it has a lot to do with visibility. So there's like a lot of … There's just so much subtle things coming through that are very powerful and the work that you're doing, Leo, like, I feel honored that we get to share this story, you know, your story and how that's unfolded into the work that you're doing now, but also to have met you. So thank you for coming on today.
Leo Alicante: Oh, that was awesome. Thank you so much guys.
Mary Allard: All right. Be well.
