Sustainable Water

• One billion people in the world lack access to water, a basic human right. Eighty-four percent of people without water, live in rural areas, and their principal economic activity is subsistence agriculture. 
• Sustainable Water wants to solve the water crisis once and for all by ensuring that the problem does not recur. We do this by being affordable transparent and designing sustainable water solutions.We have developed a low-cost solar water pump to be deployed for water supply in developing countries using a PAYG model.
• A Solar panel is connected to a submersible pump made of stainless steel and a data chip that ensures their functionality /performance is monitored. Performance and monitoring increases transparency especially for charities with donors who want to see that their money is being put to good use.Data helps to track SDG 6 progress and plan for maintenance. We have transformed 25,000 lives to date.

WATER FOR EDUCATION

• One billion people in the world lack access to water, a basic human right. Eighty-four percent of people without water, live in rural areas, and their principal economic activity is subsistence agriculture.
• Without water, families do not have health centers, education or food security. It is becoming increasingly clear that these issues are intertwined. For areas without both electricity and water, solar powered water pumps are the only affordable and sustainable solutions.
•  “Development is sustainable if it involves a non-decreasing average quality of life” (Asheim, 1994). Therefore, sustainable water development has to employ long term thinking and sustainable water technologies. Solar water pumps reduce carbon emissions and have a short payback period.
• Education in crisis areas is often impeded by conflict. Besides the fact that students have to move in search of protection, teachers often fear being posted to such areas. According to Porta(2011), with the exception of Europe and Central Asia, rural students have a higher percentage of out-of-school children with Sub-Saharan Africa showing the highest disparity at 15%. Similarly, the attendance rate is 12 % lower in rural students than in urban students. The greatest source of this disparity is low income.  

• One of the barriers to girls and women education in Subsaharan Africa is lack of water. The choice is always between water and education. Water always wins.To increase school attendance, the water barrier has to be removed. Not just any solution will do, a sustainable water solution that doesnt break down after a year causing the water problem to recur and consequently for the girls to drop out of school.
• Sustainable Water has designed a low cost solar water pump that is easy to operate. By eliminating the controller and using brushless DC motors which are thermally encapsulated; the cost reduces dramatically. Solar panels have reduced in price allowing for the pump kit to cost as low as £400. It is offered on a PAYG model.
• A solar powered submersible pump is a solar panel connected to the submersible pump. The submersible pump is versatile because it intended to be under water. Meaning it cannot be limited by suction unlike surface hand pumps. A data chip is embedded on the pump and it's functionality can be monitored over a period of time. Ensuring sustainability and transparency because people can track the pump.

99.9% of water carriers are women and girls. Today, women around the world will spend a collective 466 million hours collecting water and finding a place to go( UN Water). 

Before education delivery is possible, children have to attend the school. The barriers to education are child marriage, conflict, poverty and cultural practices. Due to conflict, teachers prefer to be posted elsewhere. These barriers often create a self-perpetuating loop.

PROVEN CONCEPT

In Kajiado district, the nomadic population moves from place to place in search of water. We wanted to address the lack of education. We stocked the school with books and teachers. After 6 months, nobody came to class. They were looking for water. Water is the root cause of most symptomatic issues that we see in developing countries such as lack of education. After installing a solar water pump , 200 students went to school and 2 years later graduated primary school.

Consistent sustainable supply of water meant that the education barrier was successfully removed.Location of pump near the school meant that they could carry water home after classes. 

Conflict over water stopped because livestock had access to water. This is what we want to replicate in other communities.

99.9% of water carriers are women and girls. Today, women around the world will spend a collective 466 million hours collecting water and finding a place to go( UN Water).It goes without saying that they wouldn't have time to attend school. If you have to choose between water and education,water wins because water is life.

This is a barrier that prevents young girls and women from learning.By providing a sustainable source of water, we have seen 200 students go back to school. In water conflict areas, we install solar water pumps in schools to give them back their time.

Competition

Water for education is a program that meets these women and girls at their point of need. In water conflict areas, livestock is stolen and the population moves from place to place in search of water. How are girls who are fighting for their families' survival supposed to sit still in a classroom? You have to solve their most urgent need: WATER

Other education solutions assume that if they give more books and teachers or make creative curriculums that women and girls will want to learn more. If conflict is raging outside, the urgent need is not education it's safety. 

Water for Education is the only program that combines education with water by partnering with schools in developing countries and installing water pumps there so that students can stay in school as a form of conflict resolution.

Innovation

Solar water pumps are automatic: no manual labour is required. Consistent supply allows girls to stay in school for years without dropping out.The pump system consists of a DC motor pump, a controller and solar PV panels. This is a direct connection, and no battery bank, controller or inverter is needed.Unlike electric pumps which pump at a constant rate, flow rates for solar pumps are variable over the course of the day as the sun is shining. 

It costs £ 400 while the conventional SWP costs £ 5000. By comparison, the pump is affordable and has a data chip that monitors performance during its lifetime. The USP is the PAYG model. 

PUMP TECHNOLOGY 

The water for education program removes the barrier of water access so that girls can attend school. We believe that water is the root cause of most symptomatic problems in developing countries -most in Sub Saharan Africa -such as lack of education. We install solar water pumps which is the only sustainable source of water supply because it is powered by free sunshine.

Alternatives such as handpumps are unsustainable as they breakdown after 1-2 years and the problem recurs.Girls and women then drop out of school to find water again. Broken pumps become broken dreams.Since diesel pumps require diesel,this becomes a constraint due to the cost of diesel and maintenance.The data chip is used to monitor the pumps performance /maintenance over its lifetime.

DATA PLATFORM

We combine three key trends solar technology, IOT and digital payments to create the required ecosystem that will give consumers access to sustainable water sources.

The funding will cover the development of the data platform (including a means of collecting, storing and analysing the data) and deployment of said data chips with solar water pumps in the field. This is a proof of concept.

Data Platform: PAYG requires a platform that can monitor millions of devices remotely as well as payment plans while storing data(cloud) that can be analysed for consumer insights and transparency.

Data sensor: GSM embedded chip allows payments to be collected through mobile payment services.Already designed and ready for testing and manufacture. Ideally, we would like to manufacture 100 units 

Here is a link to the World Bank Report on Pay as you Go as a model used to increase access to renewable energy powered products in the African market.PAYGo Market Attractiveness Index 2019. In Kenya, GSM embedded solar lanterns have been deployed to bottom of the pyramid consumers who do not have access to electricity. 

According to IFC analysis of the solar market in developing countries, the size of the addressable market is driven by upfront cost and willingness of customers to pay. The market is smaller if customers are required to pay upfront than if they can spread the cost over time. A pay as you go model coupled with mobile payment has been chosen for countries in East Africa where the first project has been deployed. We have already deployed a system in Kajiado Kenya.

Pumps are widely used and accepted technology. Solar water pumps use the same pumping technology but the source of energy is sunshine from a solar panel.Solar panels have reduced in price allowing for the pump to cost as low as £400. A solar powered submersible pump is a solar panel connected to the submersible pump. The submersible pump is versatile because it under water. Meaning it cannot be limited by suction unlike surface pumps.

The GSM chip turns the pump on and off once payment has been received. This also reduces risk for the company as continous payment is ensured and maintenance is guarenteed throughout the systems lifetime.

THEORY OF CHANGE

1. Activity 1 :Communicate our plans with the community involved and get their buy in
2. Output 1: Community is involved in the process of installation as it builds a sense of ownership in each of them
3. Outcome 1: Gathering information about the education -water nexus problem on the ground from their perspective
4. Short-term outcome: Learning to design water for education programs that are customized to the community's needs.
5. Longterm outcome: Creating a solution that will encourage the parents to release children to attend school

Activity 2

Get permission from local water ministries and governing bodies

Output: Freedom to proceed with projects with complete transparency 

Outcome: Water source is registered and sustainability can be ensured if the local government wants to work with the Water for Education Program

Short term Outcome: No need to bribe or have stalled projects because of local conflicts.

Longterm Outcome: The project becomes an example that can be replicated throughout the country as it will be sustainable and successful.

Activity 3

Design and install solar water pump

Output: Functional constant water supply powered by free sunshine which is abundant everywhere

Outcome: Women and girls are released from having to walk long distances in search of water. They also get back their time.

Shortterm outcome: Women can go start going to the market and develop income generating activities

Longterm outcome: More students are enrolled in school and attendance increases. More students graduate from primary school and go to high school

We are currently serving 25,000 people per community. Fifty percent are women and girls. This number increases as the sustainability of the water resource increases. Families settle around the water resource and have a regular postcode. This means that more students enrol in the school where the pump is installed. 

This means that in some places demand outstrips the supply and we always have to increase the water volume supplied by installing additional pumps.

We will serve 125,000 in a year with five similarly installed systems

We will serve 2,500,000 in five years by increasing the number of systems by five annually.

Impact 

We've changed the lives of 25,000 people by providing 20000 litres of water through one solar water pump installed in a village school. We saw 200 students go back to school,20 graduated primary school and 1 dispensary opened. Each pump has to supply water for 10 years, otherwise it doesn't pass the sustainability challenge.

 A $500 pump will deliver 2000 liters a day and 3,500,000 in 5 years. The impact in a school is 500 students and in a school in a village it's upwards of 6000 students. By installing 10 pumps ( 5 in a normal school and 5 in a village school) in 2020 ,we can reach 32,500 students.The number of lives transformed is 125,000 in a village and 2500 in a normal school.

With increments of 20 pumps each year, we will install 100 pumps in 5 years, we will have transformed 1,275,000 lives. 

We are targeting 20 pumps now and then we can scale to 100 pumps. Each pump kit costs $400 bringing the total cost to $40,000. Since we can get to 20 now we are hoping to attract additional funding once we have proven our credibility.

Barriers

• Funding and investment only comes after we have had a proven track record with credibility.
• Scale:10 pumps occupy 0.25m3 of a container. 1 container has a volume of 38m3. 1 container has 1520 pumps. This would reduce the pump costs significantly allowing us to increase our revenue as we will be taking advantage of economies of scale.Taking a 5% discount for more than 5 pumps as an indicator of the rate cost reduces with scale, each pump shipped in the container could reduce by $100. This reduction in pump cost translates to 68% profit margin. 
• IOT and data platform. Deploying IOT requires a substantial amount of money. We think this is worth it since we can use data to launch other revenue services such as transparency for the charities sector. They have donors who need to know that their money is being put to good use.

Overcoming barriers

• By developing the data platform we can roll out the final transaprency service which is geared towards increasing the level of transparency in the water crisis sector. If you can track the pump, you can monitor its performance and plan for maintenance. This increases the sustainability of water solutions. This service is expected to increase in demand as impact is key for donors today.
• Partnership with CSR program with corporates that want to play their part in delivering SDG goals
• Increasing brand awareness and marketing strategies in both UK and developing countries.

Marketing Strategy 

Lead generation and referrals are used to reach customers. 

Developing country: e.g Kenya - Credit Sales . We sell to farmers and schools directly on a yearly PAYG contract.

• Targeting local council meetings and churches where we request to give talks to demonstrate solar products.

• Using schools as demonstration sites. There students and parents who consistently come to the school and spread the word through word of mouth.

• Incorporating local women into the sales force and training them to repair and maintain their own systems. Besides speaking the local language this engenders trust because they are already part of the community

• Websites and internet can be used to reach customers by placing Google ads or Facebook

Developed Country: e.g UK - Cash sales to reduce sales cycle. 

• Brand awareness through social media ,video and other content creation.

• Email campaigning by engaging the diaspora in the UK

1 full time employee based in Kenya is responsible for carrying out site surveys,design and installation of solar water pumps in schools

1 full time employee based in UK deals with the design of the data platform its testing and subsequent deployment and marketing leads

1 part-time staff to deal with the supply chain of water pumps and shipping to our Kenyan Hub. 

Contractors: ESEYE has a coverage of over 500 mobile networks in Africa. They will connect the devices through mobile networks (IOT) and store the data. Create dashboards that display the consumer insights while tracking pumps remotely. 

Tabitha Wacera Mbuthia: Founder with a Masters in Sustainable Energy engineering from the University of Nottingham. She has three years’ experience in the energy sector in East Africa having worked in both sales and marketing of power products and design of off grid systems.

Having walked the water walk, I am uniquely positioned to design water systems that serve women and girls. I too have carried more than 120 litres of water on my back in a day over a distance of 7 Km. On weekdays we would have to do this for 2 hours before settling down to do my schoolwork. It is because I didnt have to choose  between water and education that I have the above qualifications. I was lucky and I just want to pay it forward.

Sveva Langella: She is the value chain manager. She has a degree in Business from the University Of Nottingham. As we scale,we can mitigate economic risk by streamlining value chain processes such that most inefficiencies are weeded out. 

Anthony Maina: Degree in Electrical Engineering from Jomo Kenyatta University with 10 years’ experience in the East African energy sector. He runs the Kenyan hub and installs solar water pumps

Data Team: Maintenance of the data platform and IOT sensors which are managed remotely.

Non executive director: Having a non executive director on the management team who is experienced in this industry helps mentor the younger members of the team. This reduces the risk for any investor. 

Organization Highlights

• Worked with the University of Nottingham and won 5 awards in the Ingenuity 19 Competition.
• Entrepreneurship networks: Royal Institute of Engineers and won Sainsbury Engineering/ Business Awards. Ingenuity Impact network. Women in Business network.

Existing Partnerships

Sustainable Water currently has two partners for IOT development and initial piloting:

• The University of Nottingham has a business incubator called the Ingenuity Lab where Sustainable Water is based. They help with research, mentors and interns as the business grows and scales.
• ESEYE is our partner in the deployment of IOT sensors embedded on our pumps.
• Experian UK supports us in the effective creation of a socially innovative product.

Beneficiary

The water for education program is run by installing solar water pumps in schools in developing countries so that girls can attend school. Since most of these school are in marginalised low income communities sometimes they cannot afford the pump.We offer these pumps to the schools for free. Generated revenue is used to pay for these school pumps.

Revenue generation

One billion people in the world lack access to water. This is a basic human right. 84% of people without water, live in rural areas, and their principal economic activity is subsistence agriculture. Without water, families do not have health centers, education or food security.

We offer our solar water pump on a PAYG model to farmers in developing countries.The target customers are rural farmers (male and female) whose economic activity is farming and live in areas without both water and electricity.

Target Customer

Aged 20-60,owns or rents piece of land and farms for consumption and sale . He has a low income, buying is motivated by cost. Has a desire to increase production (2nd or 3rd generation). Has no pump or has a diesel pump. 

Value Proposition: Our solar pump is 80 % cheaper, saves the farmer $230 per month per acre and increases yield 8 times. Reduces cost of labor.

Impact: 

We've changed the lives of 25,000 people by providing 20000 litres of water through one solar water pump. We saw 200 students go back to school,20 graduated primary school and 1 dispensary opened. 

Since the entreprise and social program are embedded, we work in different markets to ensure that we solve the water crisis and ensure girls go back to school. To be financially sustainable in developing countries,we sell solar water pumps with PAYG and branded stainless steel water bottle in the UK.

Proven Concept

For the sake of this business plan the chosen business case has been developed in Kenya. Having proven the concept last year, we realized with as little as $200 we could market the products and now have a list of consumers who have a need for the product if it is sold using the PAYG model. There are consumers who are willing to buy systems upfront as well. These are small charities based in Africa but fundraise in UK. Having talked to owners or friends of such charities they are interested in buying solar water pumping systems.

Developing Country addressable market.

The market is sized by taking the number of existing diesel pumps that we want to replace 1,000,000. Given that farmer education is necessary to ensure conversion is 5% the first year. 

number of target diesel pumps × rate of conversion per year × cost of pump = market p.a 1,000,000×5%×$500=$25,000,000.  

Developed Country: e.g UK 

• Brand awareness through social media , video and other content creation. Email campaigning by engaging the diaspora in the UK

• Partnerships with charities, schools and  CSR programs taking advantage of the sustainability trend and SDG goals.