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1. Project title
Igua smart water stations: Democratizing sustainable access to safe water in public spaces
2. Areas of Focus
- Water, sanitation, and hygiene
- Community economic development
3. Overall objective
Igua is a social enterprise that creates sustainable access to safe water in public spaces through a net of smart water stations that are connected to the public grid.
4. Specific objectives
This project has three specific objectives:
- To democratize the sustainable access to safe water, at affordable prices, through a net of Igua smart water stations.
- To create an additional income for Peruvian SMEs (Small, Medium Enterprises), especially corner shops, that host an Igua water station.
- To prevent plastic pollution through the consumption of bottled water, to encourage a sustainable lifestyle and the use of reusable bottles.
5. Brief project description
The problem
Sustainable access to safe water is a huge challenge for Peruvians: drinking tap water is not safe and buying bottled water is expensive and damages the environment, due to plastic pollution.
The solution
Igua creates sustainable access to safe water at affordable prices: USD
0.15 per liter (compared to USD 0.72 for one liter of bottled water).
¿How does a smart Igua water station work?
Igua stations filter water directly from the public grid in multiple stages to guarantee optimal quality for consumption. Each smart water station has a digital system (Iguino Board) with Internet of Things (IoT) technology that tracks filter performance through an online platform. This system allows us 24/7 remote quality control. Our customers have an engaging user experience through an user app (currently in development) and different payment methods (cash, RFID, QR). They only need their own reusable bottle.
¿How is our business model?
Igua water stations are installed in busy streets in order to reach as many people as possible. Igua offers water as a service in a shared revenue business model (B2B2C). We partner with people/organizations that host our water stations. Our hosts cover operative costs (water and electricity). Igua provides the water station, maintenance and technical support, changes filters and performs additional water quality monitoring. Igua also provides an online platform where the hosts can access the data of their water stations. Each month, the host and Igua share the water sales profits (up to 50%).
¿Where will our Project be implemented?
We want to implement a network of 150 additional Igua smart water stations in the city of Lima. In order to identify our ideal hosts, we are developing a partnership with the social program "Growing for a dream" (http://creciendoporunsueno.backus.pe), of the company Backus AB InBev. This program seeks to transform the lives of female leaders, who own corner shops. In this way, we could benefit 150 women, giving them the opportunity to house an Igua water station and thus be able to generate an additional income of approximately USD 210 per month, depending on the volume of water sold. Statistic confirm that women invest more in health, education and nutrition and 90% of the women that are part of this program have children.
With a daily sale of 100 liters per Igua station during 6 months, we could serve 2.7 million liters of safe water, meet the daily needs (of 2 liters) of approximately 1.3 million people, generate savings of USD 1.9 million compared to the purchase of bottled water and avoid the potential consumption of 4.3 million 625 ml plastic bottles. In addition, we could generate revenues of approximately USD 205 thousand for our 150 hosts.
Project duration
This project has a duration of 9 months (April - December 2020).
Project managers
Igua is a Peruvian social enterprise that starts operations in 2017. Since that date, we have been developing IoT (Internet of Things) technology specialized in the operation of water purification systems.
Igua is:
- Jose Corso, Bachelor in Business Administration from Universidad del Pacífico, responsible for commercial development
- Kiko Mayorga, Electronic Engineer from Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, responsible for the electronic area
- Rodrigo Derteano, Master in Digital Communication and Multimedia from New York University, responsible for the development of data platforms and software
- Stefanie Delgado, Master of Economics at the Ludwig Maximilians Universitaet in Munich, responsible for business development
Igua's Achievements 2017:
- Winners of the entrepreneurship contest "StartUp Perú", sponsored by the Peruvian Ministry of Production 2018:
- Part of the "Utec Ventures" acceleration program of the University of Engineering and Technology (Utec) 2019:
- Finalists of the Latin American Award for social enterprises "Viva Schmidheiny", in Argentina
- Funded by the Dr. Jeno Staehlin Foundation of Switzerland
- Winners of the "Gran Reto Kunan", sponsored by Kunan and
Telefónica del Perú 2020:
- Advice program by the international social enterprise incubator "Nesst"
Impact
Currently Igua has a network of 8 installed water stations in different parts of the city of Lima. We have served more the 46 thousand liters of water, we have calmed the daily need for water (2 liters) of approximately 23 thousand people, we have saved USD 26 thousand to our users in comparison to the purchase of bottled water and we have avoided the potential consumption of 73 thousand 625ml plastic bottles. We are in the process of producing and deploying 20 additional fountains until March 2020.
6. Project budget
Total amount: USD 322,000
Water station production USD 132,500
Operations USD 18,720
Sales USD 4,700
Communications USD 13,500
Insurance USD 3,600
Team (8FTEs) USD 133,800
Finance and administration USD 15,265
TOTAL USD 322,085
Since Igua's business model is self-sustaining, this Project will not require additional funding to continue operations.
7. Financing proposal RC Club USD
District 4455 USD
8. Responsible for the presentation of the Project
Stefanie Delgado
Email: stefanie@igua.pe
Mobile: 989 193689
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