ThinkLite CEO Dinesh Wadhwani and COO/CFO Danny Wadhwani were interviewed by host Adam Torres on the Mission Matters Innovation Podcast.
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In this episode, Danny and Dinesh Wadhwani talk about how ThinkLite is developing solutions for energy efficiency, crop yield, and indoor air quality to make the world a safer place.
How did you get started on the path of entrepreneurship as brothers?
Danny and Dinesh explain that they were born into a family of entrepreneurs in Ghana, West Africa, where they grew up with a shared vision of owning a business together. Ten years ago, as Dinesh started growing the company he’d founded in college, Danny quit his job at PWC and joined his brother full-time. Dinesh says their complementary skills and mutual trust have made the partnership successful.
ThinkLite’s journey to success
“Although the world was knee-deep in recession when we began ThinkLite in 2009, there was a big push for sustainability,” Dinesh says. “That’s when we introduced our first technology to attain the highest level of efficiency in lighting and reduce carbon footprint. It was 90% more efficient than traditional lighting and 50% more efficient than LED lighting.”
They naturally progressed toward developing smart sensors to help automate systems in forward-thinking buildings. “By 2015, we were working with hospitals, where we got to know how hospital-acquired infections were a serious problem,” Dinesh continues. “We worked with them to develop smart air purification solutions; and with the pandemic, these have evolved from a niche healthcare solution to an everyday solution.”
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How does ThinkLite solve problems?
From air quality monitors and filtration systems to light fixtures that double as pathogen-killing solutions, ThinkLite aims to make people in all indoor spaces safer from airborne disease. Danny shares that, according to the CDC, 58% of our population spends a great deal of time in facilities where the lack of ventilation and/or filtration poses a high risk of airborne disease transmission. In accordance with the Clean Air Challenge rolled out by the White House Office of Science and Technology, he says ThinkLite is focusing on providing advanced safety solutions for hospitals, schools, universities, restaurants, libraries, gyms, and other public facilities to minimize airborne disease transmission. He notes that the brand’s technology monitors indoor air quality and viral loads in real time, which helps not just with COVID-19, but with other airborne pathogens, too.
Dinesh explains how ThinkLite’s indoor air quality monitor helps to determine what kinds of improvements should be made to a customer’s existing infrastructure. “We’ve encountered many times that schools had an air purification solution worth a million dollars, but the monitor showed it wasn’t doing its job, exposing students to transmissions.” He stresses the power of accurate information: “We’ve had schools tell us that they sent (asymptomatic) students home after the monitor showed the air (quality) turn from green to red, and two days later, (some) students found out they were infected by flu and COVID.” The early warning, he explains, prevented additional students and staff from infection by limiting their length of exposure.
What’s next?
The Wadhwani brothers have spent the past eighteen months working with HVAC companies, schools, and hospitals to monitor viral loads and other key safety factors in the air. “We’re excited to scale our solutions to serve each of these markets and innovate our products with AI to make them simpler, smarter, and futuristic,” Danny says.
To learn more about ThinkLite, visit www.thinklite.com.
