“When a doctor sees an x-ray report, they can easily diagnose a condition. Similarly, with the capacity of diagnosing water, one can understand where the contaminated water is coming from or detect a problematic pH level, Turbidity, Total organic Carbon, Dissolved organic carbon and Free chlorine easily. So, we invented Hydroquo+,” said Zahin.
“Conducting the same tests in Buet will cost more time and money. But our system aims to deliver results at only Tk 1.5 within a very short time,” he added.
After successfully finishing the pilot process of online monitoring of water, the Hydroquo+ team aims to work area-wise to make this advanced system more effective.
The motivation for the founders
What drove Zahin and Rizvana to form Hydroquo+ was the urge to save Bangladesh from the freshwater crisis. Rizvana even left Canada to come and help her brother pursue the start-up.
Zahin explained, “Water industry is the most difficult industry to operate in because it takes a long time to even finish the pre-planning process. But we have dared to challenge the stereotype as a very high functional tech company.”
“There are only three international companies like us who work for the improvement of the overall infrastructure of the water resource management system, that too in a different capacity than ours,” he added.
From the start of his student life, Zahin had taken an interest in studying various fields. After much research, he found out that in the future, if World War III takes place, water would be one of the prime reasons behind it.
He believes that Bangladesh has abundant water resources. And to save the country from the anticipated scarcity and existing pollution, a sustainable infrastructure is needed to preserve our water as we grow economically.
The Hydroquo+ team consists of 10 people including Zahin as the CEO and Rizvana as the COO. Four of the members are foreigners.
The founder outsourced the full-stack industrial grade system from Austria. During the deployment phase the team underwent rigorous project based training.
Even though the team is small, the members are experts in different fields like astrophysics, chemistry, electrical engineering etc.
Is it commercially viable?
In entrepreneurship, behavioural challenges and financial challenges are common. Hydroquo+ was no exception.
Nonetheless, this venture has commercial viability as well as the power to impact the lives of millions.
“When you initiate something different in the market where the potential is hidden, it is common to get rejections. Not everyone could comprehend the unique approach we were advocating at the beginning. Also, my final product was not ready when we started our venture. As a result, it was difficult to get investors,” says Zahin.
“However, I always believed that the water industry with a market of over six billion can lead one day. Those who once rejected the idea have now started to believe in it,” Zahin shared with us.
Hydroquo+’s journey in the market has just begun and it aims to level up by reinforcing its current credentials.
When we asked the founder about their future vision, he said, “We want to build a circular water industry by harnessing the power of artificial intelligence algorithms and big data analytics to maximise information and data available. It will help to improve the quality of water worldwide and prevent outbreaks of waterborne disease.”
Zahin is hopeful about the future.
“I hope that we soon enough cross the phase of behavioural awareness so that people can understand the necessity of this industry. For that, we need national and global effort. We need to adapt this technology at an industrial level so that we can be ready before the water crisis begins,” Zahin went on.
Zahin Razeen’s ideology to be a successful entrepreneur is to relentlessly pursue and ruthlessly execute.
“An entrepreneurial spirit should never die because of rejections. S/he should not stop pursuing his/her dreams unless death comes in their way. I was my company’s engineer, facilitator, and commercial viability partner. In short, I played multiple roles because there was a lack of understanding among people about my project. But it did not dishearten me, I was tenaciously working to bring something that can be a big solution to a big problem,” he concluded.
