Unlocking the potential of communities through safe water

We all know that access to clean water is important. Unfortunately, for much of our world, clean water is not readily available. This means that millions of people are unable to grow their crops, stay healthy, get an education and continue working. Thankfully, clean water is never far away.

So, whilst we at MegaGroup are about Bringing Water to Life by selling water solutions to our customers, we have aligned our strategy to give back to the environment and unlock the potential of communities through safe water.

WaterStarters, a social enterprise

Our belief is that every human being should have access to safe and affordable water and that no one should suffer from waterborne related diseases. Therefore we want to radically improve this situation for 1.5 million Kenyans in water stress areas in the coming 7 years.

To achieve these goals, MegaGroup and Amref Flying Doctors have joined forces to create synergy in their two core competences: water supply systems and community-led health promotion. This has led to the development of a social enterprise named WaterStarters (WS): a franchise that will renovate and/or build 600 boreholes, impacting the economic and health situation in rural and peri-urban Kenyan communities, offering impact financiers and donors an effective and sustainable program to finance.

Unique franchise model

WaterStarters is an innovative model featuring a unique franchise concept which includes the following key aspects:

• We give water managers and entrepreneurs (franchisees) the opportunity to become the owner and manager of a successful water company by investing at least 15% of the initial investment.
• We renovate existing or build new water systems together with the community.
• With our technology we guarantee access to clean water throughout the year.
• We combine the expertise of local companies, a private partner (MegaGroup) and an international NGO (Amref Flying Doctors) to reach our goal.
• We work with: groundwater scans, contracts with suppliers, solar energy, prepaid water metres and a monitoring dashboard

Empirical studies

Lessons learnt from empirical studies have shown that inclusion of community households improves the longevity of an installation. The boreholes we install are therefore delivered through a collaborative financial effort between the private, NGO and local to increase community well-being through the delivery of fresh water. In this manner we aim to increase a sense of responsibility and empowerment by not just giving communities.

Break the Cycle: We are moving from aid to trade by encouraging communities that possess the ability to co-invest and pay-back.

See how you can help us to achieve our goals and make a live changing social by visiting the (WaterStarters website)