Water for the BOP

Presentation by

Dr. Al HammondDirector, Health for All program, Ashoka

Co-Founder, Healthpoint Services India Pvt. Ltd

Are we serving those with the greatest need?• The poorest, most disadvantaged—the bottom billion—rarely have

access to safe water• But the problem is larger than that: most of those in the Base of the

Economic Pyramid also lack reliable, affordable access to safe water• Recent analysis by UNC’s Water Institute suggests the unmet need is

about 3 billion people• The BOP lives in rural villages and peri-urban slums; piped solutions

not feasible, market not easy to access• Who are these people? What is their spending power? Is there a

potential market for safe water in the BOP? How can we tap that market?

A $5 trillion BOP market

From The Next 4 Billion report (IFC/WRI)

By urban/rural…

By sector…

The BOP Market• The potential BOP market for drinking water—600 million

households—exceeds $30 billion/year • Incomes and aspirations are rising rapidly• Large companies have mostly not succeeded in serving BOP

markets; principal exceptions are FMCG and telecom sectors

• Social entrepreneurs are attempting to fill this gap—thousands of startups in virtually every developing country

What are Social Entrepreneurs?

• Motivated by social impact more than by money• But need sustainable business models, operational skills, access to

capital—just like any business• Ashoka has been identifying, mentoring, and supporting social

entrepreneurs for 30 years—a network of over 3000 Fellows around the world (a source of local expertise, market intelligence)

• Number and quality of social enterprizes exploding—many in Asia, many in the US and EU, huge growth in Africa in recent years

One example: eHP Waterpoint, rural Punjab

eHP operates 152 WPs, serving 250,000 people/day Water price (for 20 liters/day) is $1.50/month/HH 50-100 times less than cost of bottled water A sustainable business--units break even in 6 months

CONFIDENTIAL

Water as Health • The new frontier in health is actually an old one—focus on prevention

& wellness rather than illness care—safe water, full nutrition, etc.• In India, the average household experiences 8 bouts of diarrhea (from

water-borne disease) per year; closer to 12 bouts/y in the BOP• Waterborne disease is the major killer of young children—450,000

per year in India alone• Without safe water, nutritional supplements are wasted• Plus chronic problems from arsenic, fluoride, other dissolved solids,

pesticide residues• Yet the public health community and the water community are siloed

—and rarely act in common

Potential Water/Health SynergiesMobile technologies are disruptive for both water and health• Being used for payment systems, unit

telemetry, care deliveryOne example is the emerging Doorstep Health model• Lay healthworkers with tablets• Radically less expensive, improved

patient compliance• Healthworkers based from/leveraging

the Waterpoint buildout—and the WP traffic and community trust

Are There Other Water/Health Synergies?• Waterpoints as a distribution point for nutritional supplements,

condoms, other health commodities?• Nutritional supplements delivered with drinking water?

> full nutrition critical during pregnancy, can determine health outcomes for the whole life of the child—need new solutions

• Shared water/health infrastructure and human resources?> buildings, data links, personnel> lower capex, opex

• Waterpoints as a community hub for mobile money transfer, for cell phone re-charging, for other urban-quality services?

Getting Social Enterprizes to Scale• Social enterprises are a powerful source of innovation—but it won’t

solve water and health problems unless new solutions get to scale• In India, rural water enterprises have reached 3000 out of some

200,000 rural communities that lack any source of safe water• Market penetration in SE Asia, Africa, even lower• Lack of finance is a key problem—despite the rise of the Impact

Investing community • Lack of management depth—could urban water companies mentor

water social enterprises?

The Role of Large Corporations

• Large companies may not be good innovators, but they are great at replication—buy and scale successful social enterprises?

• Not just water companies—the rural BOP market is the next source of growth for virtually all consumer-oriented businesses; they have saturated all other markets

• Water as a lead product > for consumer goods companies, for pharma companies, for financial services companies?> a tale from India

Last ThoughtsDon’t neglect disadvantaged (BOP) communities

>there is both a need and a marketThink outside the box (eg, water as health, etc.)

>water is more important, more central than you know

Use social entrepreneurs as a source of innovation>may help you to grow your business, expand your impact