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Water for the BOP

Water for the BOP. Presentation by Dr. Al Hammond Director, 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

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Water for the BOP

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  1. Water for the BOP Presentation by Dr. Al Hammond Director, Health for All program, Ashoka Co-Founder, Healthpoint Services India Pvt. Ltd

  2. 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?

  3. A $5 trillion BOP market From The Next 4 Billion report (IFC/WRI)

  4. By urban/rural…

  5. By sector…

  6. 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

  7. 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

  8. One example: eHPWaterpoint, 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

  9. 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

  10. Potential Water/Health Synergies Mobile technologies are disruptive for both water and health • Being used for payment systems, unit telemetry, care delivery One example is the emerging Doorstep Health model • Lay healthworkers with tablets • Radically less expensive, improved patient compliance • Healthworkers based from/leveraging the Waterpointbuildout—and the WP traffic and community trust

  11. 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?

  12. 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?

  13. 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

  14. Last Thoughts Don’t neglect disadvantaged (BOP) communities >there is both a need and a market Think 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

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