Manila, Philippines - 9 February 2015.  Meet Aldrin Calderon, a graduate of the Leadership for Sustainability course at the United Nations University in Tokyo last October.  As a research specialist at the Industrial Technology Development Institute under the Department of Science and Technology of the Philippines, Aldrin is a passionate designer of energy-efficient technologies.

A dedicated researcher, he has recently pioneered the use of nanotechnology to invent a low-cost membrane that can adsorb CO2 from low-grade biogas. Such gas is typically produced by backyard swine farms in rural communities that are still without electricity in this country of 7,000 islands.

Without the CO2, the biogas will be more combustible to produce energy for these poor rural households. And unlike many new technologies, his invention will not need energy to work.

He came to the Leadership for Sustainability course to sharpen his focus and expand his leadership skills. Upon return he was asked to give an echo seminar to share his experience with colleagues, which in turn led to a request to repeat that with other aspiring leaders. 

Aldrin's leadership is now taking him to explore working with partners to move his invention through the successive phases of product development, demonstration and deployment in rural communities. 

"Leadership carries a responsibility to help others to bring out the best in them," he said. "While that may sound idealistic, adopting this view will lead to an exponential growth of leaders in the future."

Taking the leadership course at UNU and a coaching session with Coach Wouter of TransformationFirst.Asia opened his eyes to organizing his strengths and turning challenges into opportunities to grow.

“Leaders should have regular engagement in complex environments for further development,” he said. “They should continually position themselves in projects with significant development impact.” 

With his passion showing, Aldrin is becoming an example for others to follow.

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