022 | "Elon Musk's Biggest Competitor, The Fuel of The Future" (Vaitea at Enapter)

Oct 18

Today’s guest on the “Phil with Forbes 30” podcast is Vaitea Cowan – Co-founder of Enapter

Forbes List: USA
Year: 2020
Category: Energy

I really enjoyed my conversation with Vaitea Cowan, the co-founder of Enapter, an oil and gas company of the 21st century. Multilingual, Vaitea connects the leading markets of hydrogen and finds special projects to deploy Enapter's electrolyser technology. Vaitea is an advocate of hydrogen fuel as it does not emit any CO2. Her company is the first to use electrolyser technology on a large scale.

Vaitea is passionate about the renewable industry in both her personal and professional life. She is also an advocate for promoting women in technology. She is a graduate of Concordia University in Montreal and a 2020 Forbes 30 under 30(™) USA Energy category.

We shared a great conversation and I hope you will be inspired by Vaitea’s journey to entrepreneurship and being an Elon Musk competitor.

She shares details on working during COVID-19 and how her company’s technology works.

During Covid Vaitea spends time reading a variety of topics. She takes it one step further by sharing her notes and knowledge to others to spark ideas and debates.
To keep her team from Italy, St. Petersburg, Berlin and Thailand together, she hosts a virtual Sunday morning trivia game.
She also hosts events with partners and potential partners to get to know the company better. She gives them the opportunity to give feedback on the company’s latest research and development.
Enapter’s partners are those that can take a hydrogen generator and understand how to integrate it within a whole energy setup.
The technology works by taking electricity and water inputs into the Enapter’s hydrogen generator. The technology basically splits the water into H2 and O2 and the H2 is an energy vector. The energy vector, the output of the hydrogen generator is then stored in a tank for as long as necessary.

I learned how Vaitea’s background influenced her and the determination for her passion. She shares a great story on her journey to being involved with Enapter from the ground up to co-founder.

While living in Thailand she read about a self-sustainable house. She introduced herself to the owner with a plate of cookies and CV. She opened the door to her future by using past volunteer experiences and offering to help create an event. That event produced partners that became invaluable to the company. She started on the ground level and eventually became a co-founder.

Vaitea dispels the myth that the renewable energy industry is male-dominated. However, there is work to be done to make it better. We got into a great discussion with Vaitea sharing advice to other women, the importance of mentors and coaches.

I think our conversation will benefit both women and men and the importance of diversity in the workplace. I hope you enjoy our conversation!

“Under 30 Seconds Round”

1. What is the book you’ve gifted more often than any other book, and why?

The Wise Heart, Jack Kornfield - It teaches Buddhist principles and psychology.

2. What’s one of the best investments and one of the worst investments you’ve ever made and why?

Best - Lightweight, Samsonite carry-on luggage.
Worst - Not understanding the sound canceling panels I got for our office that don’t work.

3. What’s the most impactful thing you do in your Morning routine and most impactful thing you do in your Evening routine?

Morning - Exercise and just listening to the birds which running instead of wearing headsets.
Evening - Reading.

4. Pretend you won the Peter Thiel Fellowship and you were going to get money to start a business instead of go to college, what’s the very first thing you’d do to start a new business?

Get into the zero waste movement. I recently started a zero-waste 30-day challenge. I would research people who are already in the zero waste food movement and get their advice.

5 .What’s something you never knew you needed?

Fluffy sole inserts for the inside of my boots to keep my feet warm.

In the REVIEW SECTION, please let me know…

The city / country you’re tuning in from!
How Vaitea Cowan’s story has inspired you! And, your favorite part of this episode!
Tell me the questions you’d like me to ask future Forbes 30 Under 30 Members!

GUEST INFO: Vaitea Cowan – CoFounder of Enapter