Latin America Leadership Program

Lëmnec Tiller, GCL 2023, was featured in the Future 50, a list annually compiled by the Project Management Institute (PMI) that recognizes fifty emerging leaders who are changing the world, and in the Bloomberg Linea List of The 100 Latin American Innovators. 

Lëmnec was recognized for his project, Fundación Wayuuda, which provides indigenous communities in the country with access to clean drinking water in their homes. According to figures from the Minister of Housing, City, and Territory, Catalina Velasco Campuzano, 12 million people in the country do not have adequate access to clean drinking water, which equates to 25% of the population.

Lëmnec co-founded Fundación Wayuuda in 2016 with the aim of contributing to a better future for the Wayuu people of Colombia and, at the same time, ensuring that project management is carried out for the well-being of these communities, combining traditional knowledge with advanced technologies. Wayuuda started with the distribution of non-perishable food and has now implemented 13 self-sustaining projects. One of their projects is Wüin-Wayaa, which means "we are the water" in Wayuunaiki, the Wayuu language. It involves the synergy between the knowledge of women from indigenous communities, who, with their spiritual gifts, locate water through dreams, and the installation of intelligent systems for pumping water with solar energy. They work for and with the community, jointly opening artisanal wells in the middle of the desert and providing training on how to install and maintain the solar-powered pumping system. Since 2018, they have installed 3 prototypes that supply at least 45,000 liters of water per day to over 10,000 people, totaling more than 20 million liters of water extracted entirely sustainably.

In the future, Lëmnec hopes that the Wayú people can live in self-sustaining communities thanks to other Wayuuda projects, such as a hydroponic farming system that provides food with lower water consumption and the construction of schools with community support, using traditional Wayú architecture and materials from the region. He also hopes to create opportunities for decent employment in these communities through ethnotourism and the technification of craftsmanship.

The goal for 2030 is to create 10 of these automated solar pumping systems with potabilization modules and hydroponics in Wayuu communities in La Guajira, Colombia, and thus impact  more than 30,000 people.

Ricardo Triana, Executive Director of PMI Latin America, commented on Lemnec's impact.

"Leadership of the caliber of Lëmnec consistently achieves milestones that directly contribute to improving equitable access to essential resources such as clean drinking water in rural and indigenous communities."

Lëmnec is a mechatronic engineer from the Autonomous University of Bucaramanga. Previously, he was selected as the Humanitarian of the Year by MIT Technology Review in Spanish in their 'Innovators Under 35 Latin America 2020' list.

At LALP, we take pride in the recognition received by our alumni who work tirelessly to create change in their communities through the multiplier effect. Congratulations, Lëmnec!