Growing talent

[gallery size="medium" td_select_gallery_slide="slide" td_gallery_title_input="Growing talent" ids="122073,122074,122075,122076,122077,122078,122079"] By Hanan Alnufaie A 29-year-old Saudi has shown a flair to apply what he has learned into something practical that would benefit not only him but also his country. Currently pursuing his Master’s in biotechnology at the King Saud University, Sultan Algethami, has invented a reactor that can transfer waste agriculture into humic acids – under certain measures and temperatures — and that leads to high quality organic fertilizers. He has also patented his discovery and is now seeing the fruits of his labor by setting up a factory “Bio Organic” to produce high-quality organic fertilizers in the Kingdom. An engineer at National Agriculture and Animal Resources, has a bachelor degree in biotechnology and hopes to provide the local market with locally-produced high quality fertilizers. “It’ll save lots of money that’s spent on importing fertilizers. If there comes a time that Kingdom is ready to export it then it’ll add to the national revenues. After the successful display of his fertilizers and the attention he gained, I hope to be a part of the Saudi success story in agriculture,” he said. He said: “Throughout my work experience, I noticed that we had an acute shortage of fertilizers and also there were problems with chemical fertilizers. I directed my attention to organic fertilizers. I benefited a lot from what I studied in my university and what I am currently studying. I found a way and I was granted a patent for that invention. It is mainly a reactor that works under measures and temperatures to transfer humus acids into organic fertilizers. By using this, we can have 33 types of very high quality organic fertilizers. I participated in the International Invention Fair in the Middle East and I won the silver medal.” On securing the patent, he said: “Thanks to Allah Almighty, all officials and concerned authorities were very surprised at the invention and were truly impressed at the results. It was something beneficial for my country. It saves a lot of money spent on getting chemical fertilizers from outside. It is also time to go back to our past and use the organic fertilizers that our grandparents used. ‘Badir’ — program for technology incubators at King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology — incubated my invention. And there’s no looking back. “I also own a factory in Riyadh to produce 33 organic fertilizers depending on the need of the soil and the corps. And I have lots of clients from small, medium, and big companies such as: Nufa Farms, Aljouf company for Agriculture Development. Eight months ago, I was nominated to join the Saudi delegation headed by the Minister of Trade to Turkmenistan. We met with lots of investors who showed interest in the project. I am so proud of the quality fertilizers and its affordability such that any farmer can easily buy the fertilizers. “Thanks to Allah, I proved my invention works and I found myself a place in the market in a very short period of time. I am glad to say that the biggest giants and investors in the country want to step in and invest such as Aramco, which asked me for a feasibility study in order to financially support me and later become a partner. I also got other offers.” Algethami said: “It took me two years. I spent substantial amount of money in research and experimenting for example: I once tried to heat tanks by using special electronic belt, it got burned then I tried to mix some types of heaters with solutions, it did not also work. After that, I developed my idea: I made a double jacket tank. I then added two holes. I used steam heating. The expenses of the solutions and labs were very expensive. Unfortunately, we do not have labs for liquids and solutions here. So I used to send samples to Bahrain and Australia. Alhamdulilah now after KACST incubated my invention. I am allowed to use its labs.” On his feelings after attaining success, he responded: “No one can know how I felt when I first got incubated by KACST. The moment I had a meeting with experts from ‘Badir’ I was on top of the world when they went with my effort after seeing my Power Point presentation. The second moment I felt so happy was when I started to send tests to the biggest farms in the Kingdom. They were all impressed at the excellent results. The best feeling ever is success after long experience of trial and error. “Alhamdulilah I always receive calls from biggest farms and companies asking about my fertilizers. I have more dreams. Now I work on finding alternatives for chemical fertilizers. I am planning also to have more research in using bacteria to fertilize farms.” “I deeply believe in hope. Always hope for a bright future, even if you encounter failures. Having hope will make you believe in yourself and you can succeed. Another thing, everything starts with the first step. If you have an idea, work on developing it and believe me, out of my own experience, our country will financially support it through the massive institutions and centers to support and incubate inventions.”