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Studying engineering seemed a natural transition following a childhood spent going to airshows with my father, who was an aerospace engineer, combined with my own curiosity about how things worked. From wondering how enormous objects like airplanes actually get up into the sky and stay there to taking our home appliances apart, with my mother often declaring that nothing was ‘Navjot proof’, I was on track to becoming an engineer.
Following four years at Queen Mary, University of London, in 2013 I graduated top of my class, gaining a master of engineering degree in aerospace, aeronautical and astronautical engineering.
Two months later I joined Dyson as a graduate research engineer. Being accepted on one of the best graduate programmes in the country and at one of the best technology companies in the world was such a euphoric moment. Within only a few months I was in front of James Dyson presenting ideas as part of the Separation Systems research team.
I spent three amazing years at Dyson but I came to realise that with every bit of good engineering I was doing I was essentially making a vacuum cleaner for a rich person. So I decided to leave and pursue what really interested me. With my father and his family having fled the India-Pakistan partition in 1947 and in the process losing everything, displacement interested me, as did women empowerment. My father died when I was young and my mother single-handedly raised us and so I knew from very early on the power of such incredible women like her around the world.
I packed my bags and moved to south India where I volunteered for an organisation called Engineers without Borders UK, which was involved in a project making fuel-efficient cookstoves. The burden of cooking is mostly placed on women who have to spend a lot of time foraging for wood before they can even start cooking. Our solution cut fuel needs by up to 50% and indoor air pollution by 80%.
My time in India was a real penny-drop moment for me as I realised that making products that help people around the world is what I want to do with my life. It was spending time with my neighbour, Divya, that inspired an idea for a hand-cranked washing machine. I used to see her every single day slaving away on her hands and knees washing her family’s clothes, and it was through frustration that I promised her a solution.
When I returned to the UK in 2016 I did four things. Firstly, I started the Washing Machine Project, a social enterprise with a vision of bringing to market this washing solution aimed at 70% of the world’s population who don’t have access to electric washing machines. Our first product was called Divya in her honour. Secondly, I became a board member for Engineers without Borders UK. Thirdly, I went back to university to do an MSc in humanitarianism, conflict and development. Fourthly, I joined Jaguar Land Rover as a senior cost engineer because I needed to pay the bills.
The best decision I’ve ever made was to study humanitarianism. But among the 30 industry professionals on my course at Bath University I was the only engineer, which I found unfathomable. More than half the world’s population is crying out for innovative solutions to help in their everyday lives and it’s engineers who have the power to help people like Divya, who have so much pride and all they want is dignity. I came to realise that there is so much out there that needs support from engineers
Over the past couple of years the Washing Machine Project has really taken off. We’ve interviewed and watched the washing habits of thousands of families in more than 10 countries across the world. With our small team and through the generous support of universities, investors and volunteers, we recently delivered our first batch of the Divya Two model to refugee camps in Iraq.
One of the Washing Machine Project streams is outreach and my biggest passion is talking to people, especially students, about the importance of innovations for people like Divya. I want the next generation of engineers to know that their only option is not having to join the next-best grad programme in order to do engineering – engineering is all around us. And although many students coming through right now are really fired up and they want to create these sustainable solutions it’s up to organisations like the Washing Machine Project to make opportunities available and for governments around the world and big corporations to connect the dots.
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