The impact of poor water is colossal: water-related diseases such as typhoid kill two million people every year and diarrhoea is the second biggest cause of death of children under five.
The consequences extend beyond poor health; harming education, livelihoods, and wellbeing. Everyday across Africa and Asia, often women and girls, walk long distances to fetch water and carry it back to their homes – an arduous task, taking time, energy and education from the day. The water is often poor quality and drawn from sources that are poorly managed. It is estimated that 40% of all handpumps across rural Africa are broken at any one time.
We are a small family foundation with big ambitions to transform the water sector by pioneering long-lasting, sustainable solutions that overcome the failure of traditional infrastructure-only approaches. The charity model of providing free services, while well meaning, is not operationally or financially sustainable and a huge waste of money. We provide risk capital to innovative enterprises and new ideas that have the potential to achieve transformational change.
At the heart of our approach is a belief in the power of entrepreneurship to be a disruptive force that can accelerate positive change in people’s lives.
Market-based approaches are not a silver bullet. But, for certain markets and customers, they offer the possibility of high-quality, affordable and reliable services that are financial sustainable by generating revenues from households, government or others.
Our portfolio is focused on expanding piped water via decentralised systems with a strong focus on household connections bringing water into the home. We provide grants and impact investments to high-potential enterprises which provide safe, affordable water to households, along with non-financial support and expert advice to help our partners achieve successful, financially viable businesses.
Our geographic focus is sub-Saharan Africa and South East Asia, particularly Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia as well as Cambodia and Bangladesh. You can review examples of the partners we work with in the Portfolio section below.