Scaling up provision of safe water solutions

to the Base of the Pyramid through Aqua+

by Kanika Verma

Associate Program Director, Development Alternatives Group

DRINKING WATER

PROBLEM IN INDIA

Only a ¼ of the total population in India has drinking

water on their premises2

67% of Indian households do not treat their drinking

water, even though it could be chemically or bacterially

contaminated2

India has long faced the challenge of providing safe

drinking water to over 700 million people in more

than 1.5 million villages1

1The World Bank 2UNICEF

21% of communicable diseases in India are water

related1

Society for Technology and Action for Rural

Advancement (TARA)

The structure addresses the inherent need for commercialization for dissemination at scale and impact:

TARA Machines &

Tech Services Pvt Ltd

TARA Micro-

utilities Pvt Ltd

TARAlife

Sustainability

Solutions Pvt Ltd

TARAhaat Information

& Marketing Solutions

Ltd

Society for

Development

Alternatives

Society for Technology

& Action for Rural

Advancement (TARA)

Society for Development Alternatives

Non-profit focused on research and innovation

Operational from 1983 onwards

Works through projects and grants

Society for Technology and Action for Rural

Advancement (TARA)

Hybrid focused on incubation

Operational from 1990 onwards

Works through sales of products and services

INNOVATION

INCUBATION

COMMERCIALIZATION

Scalable Solutions for People and Our Planet...

TARAlife Sustainability Solutions Pvt. Ltd. (TARAlife) was set up in 2014 to fulfill basic needs of people in the rural market

WHAT IS AQUA+

Sodium hypochlorite solution produced through electrolysis using

technology developed by Antenna Technologies

30 min

• Selling Price: INR 42 (.58 EUR) /bottle

• Net content: 50 ml

• Active chlorine concentration: 6g/l

• Recommended dosage: 2 drops per litre

• One bottle purifies 500 litres of water

• Shelf life: 6 months from the date of manufacturing

The Magic of Two Drops

QUICK SNAPSHOT JOURNEY SO FAR…

2010 TARA

partnered with

Antenna

Technologies

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Market

study Prototype

developed

Business

model

development

Stabilization

of Aqua+

Production

centralized Test launch

of the

product

Setup

delivery

network

and supply

chain for

Aqua+

Commercial

launch of the

product

INR 20

Shelf life: 40 days

INR 42

Shelf life: 6 months

TARAlife

setup

Finalization

of

Business

model Social

Marketing

Expansion

of delivery

systems

Social

Marketing

Expansion of

operations in

India

Test

alternative

delivery

models

Social

Marketing

toolkit

Multiplication

in South Asia

Replication

toolkit

Microfranchisee

model Social

Marketing

toolkit

M&E

app

Project mode Commercial mode

TAF: Implications on the project

User/Buyer • Need to promote Aqua+ as an energy and money saving solution

• Need to train last mile distributors to be more aware about the product

Producers • Need to conduct continuous social marketing combining economic rationality and

health issues

• Need to work on increasing the shelf-life of Aqua+

Distributors • Need to sell Aqua+ as part of a basic needs multi-product portfolio

• Need to get national certifications to make the product more credible

• Need to enhance the brand value through intensive training of last mile distributors

Regulator/Investor/Facilitator: • Need to align the initiative with government’s existing schemes to create awareness

and raise funds

TOOL USED FOR ANALYSIS

The TARAlife Business Canvas

Key Partners Key Processes Value Proposition Customer

Relationship

Market/Customer

segment

Key Resources Distribution

Channels

Main costs sources Main income sources

• Grant partners

• Investors

• Technology

Partners (DA,

TARA)

• Micro-

franchisors

• R&D and

maintenance

• Regular Social

Marketing

• R&D

• Production unit

• Distribution

network: Micro

franchisees

Safe drinking

water for the

BoP segment

through bottled

chlorination

based

Household

Water Treatment

(HWT)

• Mobile based

application

• Personal interaction

through micro

franchisees

• Trained and

branded micro

franchisees

• Production costs for certain products

• HR for procurement, account management

• Costs for product maintenance and certifications

• Management of distribution network

• Sales of Aqua+ as a HWT product

• Sales of Aqua+ as part of a multi-product

portfolio of basic needs products

• Villages of UP,

Bihar and MP

• No. of HHs: 350

per village

• 5 people/HH

• Average HH

income: INR

5000 (68 EUR)

/month

THE PRODUCTION SETUP

An enhanced production facility has been setup at Orchha (Madhya Pradesh)

CURRENT SCENARIO • Technology on site: 4 Maxi-WATA devices • Production capacity of the unit: 240 litres/day

DESIGNING DISTRIBUTION CHANNELS

NEED ASESSMENT SURVEYS AND CONSUMER INTERACTION

60% of the people do not treat their water because of lack of Access to and/or Availability of an Affordable

water purification solution

Multi level marketing model

TARAlife End consumer

NGO Partner

Sales Entrepreneurs

Identification Social Marketing Sourcing other

basic needs

products

In-house

manufacturing

Micro-franchisors Micro-franchisees

Micro-franchisees

Micro-franchisees

End consumer

Micro-franchisee model

Social Marketing

Energy

Clean Fuel

Health

WASH

SOCIAL MARKETING

Since 2013, TARA has been conducting active social-

marketing, making people aware about the importance of safe

drinking water

Till date, more than 50,000 households have been provided

access to Aqua+ across UP, MP and Bihar

Case study: Bhadohi district, UP

Hypothesis: Selling Aqua+ through skilled and literate women

Approach: Leveraging existing TARA infrastructure

Villages covered: 15

Outreach: 3500 people: including

3100 women, 100 children, 150 men

Bottles sold during the 3-day

campaign: 432 bottles

Bottles sold 3 months post the

campaign: 8000 bottles (May–July’16)

EXPANSION AND SCALE OUT

With Aqua+ as part of a multi-product

portfolio, and each micro-franchisee

reaching out to 25,000 households,

TARA aims to reach out to 60,000

villages providing access to basic needs

products and services to 300,000 households across UP, MP and Bihar by

2021

Process of leveraging its existing footprint and capitalizing on

its captive market. The evidence of success will be measured

against:

• Density of usage and retention

• Microfranchisee retention through incentivisation

OUR VISION

“It has been a month since I have been using

Aqua+. I have relief from stomach pain and bloating

problems. I also feel that using Aqua+ would prevent

us from having diseases like Jaundice, etc. Long

term use would determine the long-term benefits of

using Aqua+.”

Manju

28th May 2016

THANK YOU