Richard Turere

Nairobi National Park is known for having the largest population of lions, which are becoming more rare and are a valuable tourist attraction. For this reason, not much has been done to prevent them from from attacking local livestock.

Leave it to 13 year old, Richard Turere, to come up with a plan. 

Before he was 11, he already had a strong desire to protect his livestock from the lions. He tried fire, but that just gave the lions better lighting to see the cows. Then he tried scarecrows. They worked the first day, but by the second the lions realized they weren't real people and went about attacking as usual. Then finally at the mature age of 11 he made an important connection.

“I discovered that the lions were scared of the moving light.”

Then BAM! With no technical training, he wired some bulbs to a box of switches, and an old car battery charged with solar panel that operates the family television set. The lights are faced outward and blink in a way that appeared similar to how humans walk around with flash lights.  Since his discovery, a lion has not attacked his livestock. 

 Because of his invention he has been invited to talk for TED and was a scholarship to go to Brookhouse internation school. 

“A year ago I was a boy in a savannah grassland. I saw planes fly over and I said I’d be inside one day. I had a chance to come by plane for the first time for TED. My dream is to become an aircraft engineer and pilot when I grow up.” [source]

You don't need a lot of money, resources, or even experience to be inventive. Just keep trying :)