Innovation

Khalid decided to make the drastic decision to change his business model by going hybrid on every single vehicle in his minivan fleet. He knew this would not be an easy feat, but it would be a massive technology innovation, which was a personal goal of his to get done. This solution also satisfies the affordable and clean energy section of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal.

Khalid knew this would be an overwhelming task, so he decided to consult his business partners and hear their thoughts on the matter. His business partner Mahmood gave him the idea to consult with the board of education to potentially work with them on this innovation. Khalid went on a government vehicle bidding website and purchased his first hybrid van. This is an innovative solution for the affordable clean energy UN sustainable development goal.

Khalid then arranged a meeting with the board of directors at the board of education. There he proposed his solution to create an eco-friendly fleet of minivans to take children to school. The Board of Education told him they would fund the project wholeheartedly if he could prove its success. “I felt like I was crazy” Khalid told us when we asked about the how he felt going to the board. Khalid then went on to test the first hybrid van which reduced gasoline costs tremendously and also reduced gas emissions, which in turn helped the environment. After seeing this for about two years, the board of education decided to go full-in on the project. By then Khalid was already able to assemble a fleet of five hybrid vans of varying sizes. Khalid had the desire to create a clean energy source for his business partially for-profit and long-term gain but also to genuinely help the world.

Inspiration

Khalid was inspired to create this innovation after seeing how expensive gas prices became which was negatively affecting his livelihood as profits began to dip. Khalid also saw the negative effects that climate change and pollution had first-hand in his original home country of Sudan. “I saw how nobody cared about the pollution happening, I knew it wasn’t sustainable and if no one was going to try to do anything about it, then who would?” Khalid stated in our interview.

Overall impact

The impact that the innovations of helping disabled children get to school and hybrid vehicles had were marvelously positive. Firstly, parents did not have to worry about how their child was going to get to school on a given day. A lot of these parents were both working to support their families and, in some cases, single fathers or mothers who really needed the help. Care Link Transportation was there to help them when no one else was. With their state-of-the-art wheelchair vans, these children were able to get to school and continue their education which is incredibly important for long-term success in life. Khalid spoke of this phenomenon in our interview: “Everyday, I see the faces of gratefulness in the parents whose children we pick up for school. I’ve had parents tell me that without my company, their children would likely not even be able to attend school.” The hybrid vehicles made the impact that other companies in the transportation business took notice and began experimenting with the ideas themselves. “At first, it was just us, but quickly about a few years in I noticed my competitors slowly started to do the same thing.” Khalid told us. In short, the company’s decision to go hybrid propelled other companies into doing the exact same thing.

Business benefit

The innovation benefits the business as Khalid’s company was able to save thousands of dollars monthly. Vehicles that typically require diesel fuel do not last long and are extremely expensive to maintain. Hybrid vehicles on the other hand are a major asset to the company as they can appreciate in value. Hybrid vehicles take much less fuel than normal vehicles and this helps Khalid save so much money which he can then allocate to other areas of his business such as increasing employee wages which in turn helps to increase employee productivity and keeps his personnel motivated to do their job. We spoke to one of his employees named Victor who stated: “Khalid is such a nice boss, he always makes sure we are good and pays us very well and according to our needs.” The hybrid vehicles reducing company costs directly helped the company have better employees as the company was able to afford paying them a much higher wage.

Social and environmental benefit

Khalid’s hybrid vehicle innovation benefited society and the environment in many ways. Firstly, the hybrid vehicles are really good for the environment as they use very little gas in the long run. Studies show that that hybrid vehicles use about 25-35% less gas than a conventional vehicle. This means that Khalid’s decision is directly minimizing the damage being done to the environment by fossil fuels. This also helps society as Khalid is able to help more disabled children get to school and receive an education due to the money being saved that normally would have gone to gasoline costs. This is because Khalid is continuing to invest that money into building up his hybrid vehicle fleet every single year. Khalid told us: “When I first started the hybrid initiative, I only had one hybrid vehicle, now I have eleven hybrid vans which help the disabled children in my community get to school everyday”

Interview

Khalid Elsadig, Founder