Hello and welcome back to Let’s Face It, the podcast about PPE and the face mask culture we are now a part of. We are excited about our next guest… not just because he’s the president and CEO of The Big-Nano… an incredible technology that has completely revolutionized how we produce the raw materials used to manufacture face masks. Because…that would normally be enough for an entire show… and we will get into all that in just a bit.
The other reason we are excited to bring him on the show is to shed some light on the humanitarian effort he has spearheaded for the people of St. Vincent with the donation of surgical masks and other PPE graciously organized through the Canadian Association of PPE Manufactures.
In case you don’t know yet… there was a tragedy in the region on April 9th of this year. This nearby volcano had not previously erupted since 1979, causing close to 20,000 people to evacuate the village of St. Vincent.
The UN says about 4,000 displaced people are now living in 87 shelters – many of which lack basic services such as drinking water. The UN has begun setting up an international funding appeal, with Canada being one of the first to respond with aid to the region.
So, it was through the resources of CAPPEM that John could connect with us at Crown Mutual Group. And we were more than happy to lend a hand and provide half a million masks toward the cause of supporting this noble effort. So that all being said, I’d like to welcome Mr. John Rawlins to the show.
Hello John!
John, I’d like to start by asking you for any update on what is happening with the relief effort and how the people of St. Vincent’s are coping with this disaster.
Reading your impressive bio before the show, I see you have more than one connection to the region. Could you give us a little background on your journey from St. Vincent to Canada?
Could you tell us about The Big-nano Company and how you got things started there? What is the primary focus of the work you guys do?
I looked over the article published in The Journal of Applied Polymer Science titled, “Fine liquid blowing: A high Reynolds number, high production rate nanofiber manufacturing technique”. Could you give us a breakdown of the research here?
What are your plans with The Big Nano Company? Where do you hope to take your tech next?
How did you come to be a part of CAPPEM, and how do you see them helping the industry at large?