IXL Social Enterprise Case Studies Water March 2011 | Page 2

Getting Safe Water and
Sanitation to the Bottom of
the Pyramid through Bold and
Game-Changing Innovations
Accelerating Water.org’s vision
by Hitendra Patel, Ahmad Ashkar, Sabina Ciminero,
Tyler McNally, and Ronald Jonash

Water.org believes
that new business
models are needed
to reach 100 million
people in five years.

As one coconut after another broke open
next to shiny new water taps, cheers and
laughter filled the steamy afternoon air with
great festivity. Why the celebration? For the
first time in their entire lives, the people of
Annanagar slum in Hyderabad, India had
quick-and-easy access to safe water—just
minutes ago, clean water began flowing,
crystal clear, from taps installed right outside
of their homes (taps and connection fees they
had proudly paid for with a “WaterCredit”
loan).
WaterCredit has been a breakthrough
innovation of non-profit Water.org and is on a
path of exceptional growth towards reaching
10 million people over the next five years.
However, co-founders Gary White and actor
Matt Damon see this as representing just a
tiny sliver of the one billion people lacking
access to safe water and the more than 2.5
billion individuals without basic sanitation.1
They envision the day when everyone in
the world can take a safe drink of water and
experience the dignity of a toilet. “We need
to keep pushing the envelope and look at
bigger and bolder solutions that will further
accelerate our reach from today’s potential of
10 million people to 100 million people in five
years,” said Gary.

How can we ‘crack the code’ on getting safe
water and sanitation to the Bottom of the
Pyramid, as quickly as possible, reaching at
least 100 million people in 5 years? What will
the solutions be? Will they include leveraging
business models found at the intersection of
other industries? Will they include empowering
people at the BOP to hold their governments
accountable to deliver on their water and
sanitation needs? Will they include exploring
franchise solutions for entrepreneurs at the BOP
who can find ways to deliver water profitably?
What will be our next big game-changers?”

Walking back across the lane of silvercolored water taps, Gary stopped and turned
to Matt: “We are living in amazing times
where industries such as telecom, education,
and banking are penetrating the Bottom of the
Pyramid (BOP).2 If we want to move beyond
helping just 10 million people in five years,
we need to push harder and move beyond
WaterCredit.

P. 2