Current WBS FTMBA student and entrepreneur Will Skillman is bringing safe bio-fuel to homes in South Africa. While running a medical charity in South Africa, he hit on the market potential for a cheap and safe alternative to paraffin cooking oil.

In the spring of 2009, Will set up a non-profit NGO that provides holistic medical care to the underprivileged in Mamelodi, in South Africa. "I worked with a group of doctors to design and build a fully-equipped clinic", he explains. "Our goal was to provide the poor of South Africa the same level of care that we receive in the developed world." The organisation has brought more than 3000 volunteers, mostly medical professionals, to South Africa.

"One time, a 15 year-old boy was carried into the clinic because he had been burned in a paraffin fire. You can imagine how frustrated we were to learn that...he may never walk again", he says. And yet, in the problem of the unsafe storage of paraffin in shacks, Will foresaw an opportunity. "I began to think about how we could prevent some of the injuries and illnesses from happening in the first place. I came to realise that a cleaner, healthier way to cook, and heat these shacks could make a huge social and environmental impact on the world. That is where the idea for a bio-cooking fuel was born".

Realising the potential of the fuel, Will worked with a PhD research chemist to develop the product formula, and decided to take a year to deepen his knowledge of business by doing an MBA at Warwick Business School.

He took various entrepreneurship electives, such as Entrepreneurial Finance, New Venture Creation, and Entrepreneurial Innovation, and thinks the degree will be extremely helpful in gaining perspective on his experience in South Africa, and in helping finding the best business model for his venture.

The MBA seems to integrate perfectly with his project: "the next step in the venture is to run a small-scale pilot project", to be used to raise start-up capital. And this will be the topic of his MBA dissertation.

"Currently, I am working with an outstanding professor, Nigel Sykes, who is also passionate about Social Entrepreneurship. We are working through the details and intend to start the project in mid- June", he says.

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