By Leslie Pariseau
25 February 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: For over a hundred years municipal water systems have relied upon chlorine to purify the common user’s water supply and protect him from life-threatening diseases, such as cholera. This is a fact often taken for granted if one has access to a clean faucet tap or Brita filter, with water chilled and ready for the gulping. This, however, was not a reality for many poor inhabitants of Karachi, Pakistan, until they met the SaafWater ladies.
“We have been working in low-income areas of urban Karachi since the end of 2007 [and] have spent the last year in [the] pilot phase learning key lessons about how to make our social-business model work,” said Sarah Bird, co-founder of SaafWater, while discussing her company with MediaGlobal. According to a United Nations report, approximately one in six people do not have access to clean water. SaafWater’s overall goal is to make a healthy water supply available to these low-income, urban residents. “Saaf” is the Urdu word for “clean.”
While working toward her Master’s degree in technology and policy from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Bird began to explore the possibilities of entrepreneurial business in developing countries. In 2007 she began a project with Saira Khowaja and Khalid Saiduddin to advance her original idea for SaafWater. The three emerged as finalists in MIT’s 100k Entrepreneurship Competition and received $10,000 to put the concept of SaafWater into practice.
Tainted water is often the breeding ground for diarrheal disease, such as cholera, which can lead to severe dehydration and malnutrition. According to SaafWater, diarrheal diseases account for 60 percent of child mortalities in Pakistan. This high-risk population seemed a good place for Bird and SaafWater to begin.
When putting function to form, Bird and her team began to dissect the problem of limited infrastructure in developing nations. Though America and Europe have had the ability to construct intricate water systems for decades, emerging countries still lack the capital to invest in and maintain such integral structures. Karachi has some access to water lines, but in many cases old and cracked sewage pipes lie next to them causing waste to leak between them and tainting the larger water supply.
Essentially, chlorine (in proper dosages) is the active disinfecting chemical in a water supply. If SaafWater could turn this small yet invaluable piece of the puzzle into a desirable selling point, they would be in business. And they are. After a year of pilot tests, the company is providing approximately 2,000 residents in the Karachi areas of Machar Colony and Lyari Town with clean water thanks to the simple technology of chlorine tablets.
Going door-to-door, SaafWater representatives sell daily chlorine capsules, which can be immersed in a family’s water container rendering the supply free of contaminants in 30 minutes. Sales representatives offer a week’s supply for about 30 rupees, the rough equivalent of U.S. 40 cents.
To some this may seem to be a case of a for-profit business reaping money on a non-profit venture. When asked recently on World Vision Report radio program why she has pursued a for-profit business model with a typically non-profit vision, Bird replied, “these chlorine tablets that we sell are being distributed by non-profits and they’re hitting less than one percent of the global need. A lot of NGOs just don’t get to scale and they don’t have the profit motive. There’s [also] a constraint on funding.”
With profits, SaafWater doesn’t need to worry about a lack of funds to provide distribution. By offering chlorine capsules at an affordable price, the company can continue selling without asking donors for additional funding.
A profit-driven model has also furthered SaafWater’s ability to employ local Pakistani women as sales representatives. In the same interview with World Vision Report, Bird stated, “Water is a woman’s problem.” Women are responsible for taking care of the home during the day, which includes preparing food. Pakistani women are motivated by the social cause and the opportunity to do something healthy for their children, communities, and families.
Bird told MediaGlobal, “By working with women from the local community, we aim to provide complete information in a way that is readily understood and through a trusted source.” All except one of SaafWater’s employees are women, many of whom are limited in job opportunities because they are illiterate or have a low skill base.
However, while working with SaafWater the women are able to benefit from incentives and rewards for outstanding sales. Employing women as representatives in Pakistan is also a culturally sensitive mode of communication; it is generally inappropriate for a man to call a woman’s household during the day when no other men are present.
Having sold more than 15 times their 2008 average in January 2009, SaafWater continues to grow. The company hopes to expand their sales team to 200 representatives and serve 20,000 residents over the next 18 months. The company has also partnered with AquaTab, one of the leading makers of chlorine capsules, which will help to expand the business across Pakistan as a USAID-funded public-private partnership.
Finally, SaafWater plans to launch independent programs with existing NGOs to help create self-sustaining water purification programs throughout Pakistan.