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 disadvantagedthe bottom billionrarely 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 UNCs 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?

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

By urban/rural…

By sector…

The BOP Market The potential BOP market for drinking water600 million householdsexceeds $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

What are Social Entrepreneurs? Motivated by social impact more than by money But need sustainable business models, operational skills, access to capitaljust like any business Ashoka has been identifying, mentoring, and supporting social entrepreneurs for 30 yearsa network of over 3000 Fellows around the world (a source of local expertise, market intelligence) Number and quality of social enterprizes explodingmany in Asia, many in the US and EU, huge growth in Africa in recent years

One example: eHP Waterpoint, rural Punjab eHP operates 152 WPs, serving 250,000 people/day Water price (for 20 liters/day) is $1.50/month/HH times less than cost of bottled water A sustainable business--units break even in 6 months CONFIDENTIAL

Water as Health The new frontier in health is actually an old onefocus on prevention & wellness rather than illness caresafe 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 children450,000 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 siloedand rarely act in common

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 Waterpoint buildoutand the WP traffic and community trust

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 childneed 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?

Getting Social Enterprizes to Scale Social enterprises are a powerful source of innovationbut it wont 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 problemdespite the rise of the Impact Investing community Lack of management depthcould urban water companies mentor water social enterprises?

The Role of Large Corporations Large companies may not be good innovators, but they are great at replicationbuy and scale successful social enterprises? Not just water companiesthe 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

Last Thoughts Dont 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