Time is Money

Franklin Templeton, the investment company is listed on the NYSE under the ticker BEN. This was in honor of Benjamin Franklin, who was highly admired by Johnson, Sr., the founder of the company. Benjamin Franklin was one of the founding fathers of the modern day US. He was born in 1706. Very few people in this world have donned as many different hats as Franklin.  In his lifetime, he had been a great statesman, a shrewd politician, an astute businessman, prominent philosopher & writer and printer, inventor and diplomat. He was a person who made up his mind to cultivate his virtues. He listed all the character traits that he wanted to develop and then spent considerable time enhancing each character trait.  In fact his autobiography is a bible and workbook on character building.

In a 1748 article, "Advice to a Young Tradesman, Written by an Old One", Ben Franklin announced "Time is money". This phrase has since become a holy grail of many men and almost all business enterprise. I can even stick my neck out and state that in today's world, time is not money, but in fact become more (important) than money. Well, almost for everyone.

How would you react if I tell you that from tomorrow you have to spend 5 hours every day on your feet to secure water for your domestic use? 

Is this some kind of a joke? You may be wondering why on earth anyone would do that. Water anyway comes directly to your taps. If ever there is a shortage in supply, you do have money in your wallet.  You can always place an order for a water tanker privately. Most of us are smart enough to avoid all such hassles. We buy all amenities and conveniences in exchange for money.

But there are remote villages in India where womenfolk have to carry pots full of water over their head everyday for more than 5 hours. These women, who carry such heavy load, apart from risk of developing health problems, are also wasting 25% of their life in completely avoidable chores. This is not a figment of my imagination. It is the fact in many of our villages. If they had water available to them easily, it would be a boon to all such people.

An enthusiastic team, an innovative idea, and a big dose of determination is all that is needed to change the life of many people in those villages.

See how Cynthia Koenig of Wello water is contributing to the lives and times of the villagers. With this innovative approach, they are not only providing them with an alternate delivery mechanism, but also are giving the villagers the gift of several productive hours every day. They are giving them the gift of time. And as I mentioned earlier, time is greater than money.

But, here is my take on this.  I agree on the benefit of time saving part. But Wello water and other organizations promoting this should not just let the 5 extra hours that these women gain daily, just fizzle out doing nothing. There should be some mechanism to get the womenfolk utilize this free time for their benefit and that of all others in their village community. Can you think of any innovative idea that can help villagers utilize the extra time they get?

This post is written as part of ‘The Idea Caravan’ organized by Indibloggers with Franklin Templeton Investments. Franklin Templeton Investments partnered with the TEDxGateway Mumbai organized in December 2012.