Through all-in-one mobile units that leverage solar power, the company is bringing potable water and electricity to off-grid communities hit hardest by the worsening effects of climate change.
Whether it’s used for drinking, bathing, cooking, or recreational purposes, safe and readily available water is essential for public health. But clean water is not necessarily a given in all communities: The World Health Organization estimates that more than 2 billion people live in water-stressed countries—a concerning data point that is likely to become further exacerbated in some regions due to climate change and population growth. Furthermore, approximately 2 billion people worldwide rely on a water source that is contaminated with feces, which poses the greatest risk to drinking water safety—though other threats often come in the form of water-borne diseases as well as chemicals, ranging from arsenic, fluoride, or nitrate, to pharmaceuticals, pesticides, polyfluoroalkyl substances, and microplastics. And because diarrhea kills 2,195 children every day—more than AIDS, malaria, and measles combined—the water crisis is dire.
An electrifying story in East Africa
Be it changes in precipitation or increasingly severe droughts or floods, the impacts of climate change are vast. But they pose an even greater risk to regions that are already ill-equipped to handle these impacts due to geographic and socioeconomic inequalities. In December 2021, poor seasonal rainfall prompted scientists at the Famine Early Warning Systems Network to sound the alarm that East Africa could be hit with unprecedented drought if precipitation didn’t improve in 2022. Thus far, it hasn’t: The region is currently experiencing the driest conditions and hottest temperatures since satellite record keeping began, according to the UN Environment Programme. At present, as many as 13 million people are experiencing acute food and water shortages as a result; by mid-2022, an estimated 25 million will face a similar fate. For that reason, OffGridBox has focused its efforts on East Africa.
After launching in Rwanda in 2017, OffGridBox leveraged partnerships to scale its East African operation to include Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Today, the company provides services to more than 70,000 people. While innovations in solar technology have allowed for growth in energy access in other parts of the world, water and clean energy still remain problematic in these countries.
“Lack of access to water puts a strain on a community’s time and security,” explains Bonsignore. “Imagine walking 14 or 15 miles to get water for your family, and the quality of that water isn’t even controlled—that’s the best-case scenario. There are communities where there’s no access to water whatsoever, so they’re forced to take very bad quality water and boil it.” But boiling water requires wood to burn, which contributes to deforestation and air pollution. And while a diesel-powered generator could suffice as an alternative, it’s not a particularly viable option due to the high cost of operating one.
BOXKEEPERS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR SO MUCH. AND THEY’RE OUR FACE IN THE COMMUNITIES—THEY’RE HOW WE BUILD OUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH PEOPLE AND HOW WE MAINTAIN A HIGH LEVEL OF SERVICE.”
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Revolutionizing reforestation:
Eco•pre•neur: an environmentally minded entrepreneur who leads and drives climate action worldwide
Fortunately, a solution has come in the form of OffGridBox, an all-in-one system that leverages solar power to purify water and redistribute energy to water-stressed areas. Where traditional water purification systems are costly and cumbersome to implement, OffGridBox is nimble and cost-effective, allowing it to meet the moment with urgency.
“At OffGridBox, our mission is resiliency: resilient, abundant access to clean, safe water and solar power for the remote areas that need it most,” says Emiliano Cecchini, Ph.D., the company’s cofounder, president, and chief technology officer. “We’re fighting climate change by providing these sustainable solutions for people by harnessing solar power, capturing rainwater, and utilizing other tech—including hydrogen—all packed into a preassembled unit.”
In 2010, Cecchini was working at La Fabbrica del Sole, an Italian nonprofit he founded that focused on creating clean energy products. There, he met Davide Bonsignore, who serves as OffGridBox’s cofounder and chief operating officer. The two collaborated with OXFAM, a global charitable organization, on several projects around the world with the goal of bringing clean water and electricity to rural areas. In 2014, Cecchini and Bonsignore were assigned a project that ultimately led to the birth of the grant-funded company they co-run today.
Cecchini and Bonsignore were tasked with installing solar panels and a water purification system for six kindergarten schools in rural South Africa. The project was slated to take at least three weeks due to the vast distance among installation sites, the time needed to train the labor force to maintain the systems, and the limited availability of the required materials. The sheer inefficiency of the operation left them both with an idea.
“We realized we were running out of time,” recalls Cecchini. “We needed an easy, quick solution—something cost-effective—to really change the world and make an impact. So, we thought about putting all these devices together in a small cabin and then came up with a small container, which is a six-by-six-by-six-foot cube, with all the devices inside.” The result? “We went from taking a couple of weeks for installation to installing the whole thing within a few hours. That was the eureka moment for OffGridBox,” says Cecchini.
“
CEO, OffGridBox
jodie wu
OffGridBox has also created job opportunities for women. “When you look at the challenges of water, the people who always carry the biggest burden are women,” notes Wu. “The people fetching water are women, and the people who need extra hours of light to carry out their household duties are women. There are simply not enough hours of sunlight in the day to cover the domestic responsibilities they carry for their families. So, we found it really important that they’re the ones running the boxes.”
To recruit boxkeepers, the company first talks to village and faith leaders to see who in the community is interested in being a candidate. After passing an initial test consisting of basic math and smartphone savviness, a boxkeeper is trained on how to run their daily and weekly accounts, how to manage their inventory tracking, and how to report their sales. “They’re responsible for so much,” says Wu. “And they’re our face in the communities—they’re how we build our relationships with people and how we maintain a high level of service.”
Sarah Nzayituriki is one such boxkeeper who got involved in December 2020, when OffGridBox first came to Nyamirama. “As a boxkeeper, I offer three kinds of services,” she says. “The first is to provide electricity to the community, the second is to give the community clean drinking water, and the third is to give electricity to the health center. I enjoy seeing people leave happy after the services I’ve provided them.”
For those who already had work, consistent access to electricity and water has still been a boon. “Before OffGridBox, we used another electricity source,” says Diane Nunuwe, a receptionist at the Nyamirama health center. “But it wasn’t good. It would go off at night and always cut out during the rainy season.” OffGridBox, on the other hand, has allowed the health center employees to work at night, to perform lab tests with an electrical microscope, and to provide their clients with clean drinking water. An added bonus? “Our patients are happy because they can watch the news and sports in the lobby,” notes Nunuwe.
Nassan Gatsinzi, Nyamirama’s village chief, says the change in his community is noticeable. “When OffGridBox brought electricity to our village, people were able to have portable batteries that they can now charge at the box.
While he hopes electricity access can continue to expand in the village, Gatsinzi stressed how vital the access to safe drinking water is. “We didn’t have safe drinking water,” he explains. “We used to have to go and buy a liter, which was expensive. Now, we use this water for drinking, cooking, and washing clothes. When I drink it, I feel that it helps my health, and I’m not the only one benefitting from this. In short, OffGridBox rescued us.”
©2022 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy (Your California Privacy Rights) | CCPA Do Not Sell My Information Fortune may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Quotes delayed at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Interactive Data. ETF and Mutual Fund data provided by Morningstar, Inc. Dow Jones Terms & Conditions: S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions. | EU Data Subject Requests
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MEET THE ECOPRENEUR: Jodie Wu of OffGridBox.
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BEHIND THE SCENES: Episode 6 of The Ecopreneurs in Rwanda.
Powering Access
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Listen to Emiliano Cecchini on sustainable solutions for rural communities.
By contrast, OffGridBox offers a safe, sustainable solution that reduces the need for travel and empowers communities that rely on a box. Solar panels absorb energy, powering the pump. The pump can then filter the water, using a UV lamp and other processes. And with a remarkably easy installation process, a box is undoubtedly more efficient.
“It’s really easy,” says Jado Ndayambaje, technical field manager at OffGridBox. “We can put the box together in three hours, and then people from the community are able to come and get water and power right away.”
Ndayambaje, who trains and manages a team of technicians responsible for box installation and extraordinary maintenance, notes that there were some logistical challenges at the outset—namely bad roads that required manpower to transport the box-building materials when cars cold not reach the area. OffGridBox has developed an additional way to streamline its operations through a mobile app. “The app helps us communicate with technicians in the field,” Ndayambaje says. “I’m often in another location. That way, I can communicate without going into the field. It helps us control the system remotely and stop issues before they arise.” The app also aims to make it easier for boxkeepers to manage customers and to submit their weekly reporting, which feeds into dashboards, giving OffGridBox a more holistic view of its operations.
The seamless efficiency of OffGridBox has created life-changing results in the remote communities it serves. “The communities appreciate our system so much,” Ndayambaje says. In one of the villages, the company services the local village health center, which, previously, didn’t use anything that required electricity. Now, it does. Pregnant women and children no longer have to travel to another village to receive vaccinations, and the clinic is generally able to offer a wider range of services to all its patients.
“The biggest danger is that residents can’t get to medical care in their villages,” says CEO Jodie Wu, who joined OffGridBox in 2019. “If they can’t get transportation to the nearest medical center, then the only end is death. What should be a simple injury becomes a big problem if there isn’t access to adequate medical services.”
Ndayambaje personally feels the ripple effect of these changes as well. “It excites me when people come up to me and say that they’re better because of the services I’m able to offer them,” he explains. “They’re very happy about it.”
New beginnings in Nyamirama
Those fortunate enough to live in communities where clean drinking water and electricity are a given may not immediately grasp the full extent of what life is like without those two things. But for the residents of Nyamirama—a rural East African village where most families live below the poverty line and in mudbrick or concrete houses—OffGridBox has been a revelation.
“Energy is ultimately a solution that addresses so many different issues,” Wu notes. “When you look at poverty, it is ultimately the result of many factors. People already have very few possibilities to generate revenue from economic activities, and this is exacerbated by the high costs of running diesel generators, for example. Or it can result from not having lighting in your home to conduct your business operations or for your kids to study at night,” she says.
Not only has OffGridBox brought power and water to Nyamirama—it has also created work that was otherwise scarce, outside of farming and cultivation. Gideon Bimenyimana, who works as a village welder, knows this firsthand. “We used to walk many miles to reach electricity,” he says. “But now, OffGridBox gives me electricity to weld people’s doors, broken bicycles, and cars. It gives me water to use at home, and it provides light, so my children can study in the evening. It has an important role here,” explains Bimenyimana.
Village Welder, Nyamirama
Gideon bimenyimana
“
Listen to Davide Bonsignore on the role of technology in addressing scarcity.
How OffGridBox is providing equitable access to clean water
and electricity in East Africa
We used to walk many miles to reach electricity. But now, OffGridBox gives me electricity to weld people’s doors, broken bicycles, and cars. It gives me water to use at home, and it provides light, so my children can study in the evening. It has an important role here.”
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EXPLAINER: See why OffGridBox built a portable disaster relief hub
Eco•pre•neur: an environmentally minded entrepreneur who leads and drives climate action worldwide
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©2022 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy (Your California Privacy Rights) | CCPA Do Not Sell My Information Fortune may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Quotes delayed at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Interactive Data. ETF and Mutual Fund data provided by Morningstar, Inc. Dow Jones Terms & Conditions: S&P Index data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Terms & Conditions. Powered and implemented by Interactive Data Managed Solutions. | EU Data Subject Requests
Read More
BEHIND THE SCENES: Episode 6 of The Ecopreneurs in Rwanda.
Read More
MEET THE ECOPRENEUR: Jodie Wu of OffGridBox.
Explore More
Fortunately, a solution has come in the form of OffGridBox, an all-in-one system that leverages solar power to purify water and redistribute energy to water-stressed areas. Where traditional water purification systems are costly and cumbersome to implement, OffGridBox is nimble and cost-effective, allowing it to meet the moment with urgency.
“At OffGridBox, our mission is resiliency: resilient, abundant access to clean, safe water and solar power for the remote areas that need it most,” says Emiliano Cecchini, Ph.D., the company’s cofounder, president, and chief technology officer. “We’re fighting climate change by providing these sustainable solutions for people by harnessing solar power, capturing rainwater, and [utilizing] other tech—including hydrogen—all packed into a preassembled unit.”
In 2010, Cecchini was working at La Fabbrica del Sole, an Italian nonprofit he founded that focused on creating clean energy products. There, he met Davide Bonsignore, who serves as OffGridBox’s cofounder and chief operating officer. The two collaborated with OXFAM, a global charitable organization, on several projects around the world with the goal of bringing clean water and electricity to rural areas. In 2014, Cecchini and Bonsignore were assigned a project that ultimately led to the birth of the grant-funded company they co-run today.
Cecchini and Bonsignore were tasked with installing solar panels and a water purification system for six kindergarten schools in rural South Africa. The project was slated to take at least three weeks due to the vast distance among installation sites, the time needed to train the labor force to maintain the systems, and the limited availability of the required materials. The sheer inefficiency of the operation left them both with an idea.
“We realized we were running out of time,” recalls Cecchini. “We needed an easy, quick solution—something cost-effective—to really change the world and make an impact. So, we thought about putting all these devices together in a small cabin and then came up with a small container, which is a six-by-six-by-six-foot cube, with all the devices inside.” The result? “We went from taking a couple of weeks for installation to installing the whole thing within a few hours. That was the eureka moment for OffGridBox,” says Cecchini.
Fortunately, a solution has come in the form of OffGridBox, an all-in-one system that leverages solar power to purify water and redistribute energy to water-stressed areas. Where traditional water purification systems are costly and cumbersome to implement, OffGridBox is nimble and cost-effective, allowing it to meet the moment with urgency.
“At OffGridBox, our mission is resiliency: resilient, abundant access to clean, safe water and solar power for the remote areas that need it most,” says Emiliano Cecchini, Ph.D., the company’s cofounder, president, and chief technology officer. “We’re fighting climate change by providing these sustainable solutions for people by harnessing solar power, capturing rainwater, and [utilizing] other tech—including hydrogen—all packed into a preassembled unit.”
In 2010, Cecchini was working at La Fabbrica del Sole, an Italian nonprofit he founded that focused on creating clean energy products. There, he met Davide Bonsignore, who serves as OffGridBox’s cofounder and chief operating officer. The two collaborated with OXFAM, a global charitable organization, on several projects around the world with the goal of bringing clean water and electricity to rural areas. In 2014, Cecchini and Bonsignore were assigned a project that ultimately led to the birth of the grant-funded company they co-run today.
Cecchini and Bonsignore were tasked with installing solar panels and a water purification system for six kindergarten schools in rural South Africa. The project was slated to take at least three weeks due to the vast distance among installation sites, the time needed to train the labor force to maintain the systems, and the limited availability of the required materials. The sheer inefficiency of the operation left them both with an idea.
“We realized we were running out of time,” recalls Cecchini. “We needed an easy, quick solution—something cost-effective—to really change the world and make an impact. So, we thought about putting all these devices together in a small cabin and then came up with a small container, which is a six-by-six-by-six-foot cube, with all the devices inside.” The result? “We went from taking a couple of weeks for installation to installing the whole thing within a few hours. That was the eureka moment for OffGridBox,” says Cecchini.
An electrifying story in East Africa
Be it changes in precipitation or increasingly severe droughts or floods, the impacts of climate change are vast. But they pose an even greater risk to regions that are already ill-equipped to handle these impacts due to geographic and socioeconomic inequalities. In December 2021, poor seasonal rainfall prompted scientists at the Famine Early Warning Systems Network to sound the alarm that East Africa could be hit with unprecedented drought if precipitation didn’t improve in 2022. Thus far, it hasn’t: The region is currently experiencing the driest conditions and hottest temperatures since satellite record keeping began, according to the UN Environment Programme. At present, as many as 13 million people are experiencing acute food and water shortages as a result; by mid-2022, an estimated 25 million will face a similar fate. For that reason, OffGridBox has focused its efforts on East Africa.
After launching in Rwanda in 2017, OffGridBox leveraged partnerships to scale its East African operation to include Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, and Uganda. Today, the company provides services to more than 70,000 people. While innovations in solar technology have allowed for growth in energy access in other parts of the world, water and clean energy still remain problematic in these countries.
“Lack of access to water puts a strain on [a community’s] time and security,” explains Bonsignore. “Imagine walking 14 or 15 miles to get water for your family, and the quality of that water isn’t even controlled—that’s the best-case scenario. There are communities where there’s no access to water whatsoever, so they’re forced to take very bad quality water and boil it.” But boiling water requires wood to burn, which contributes to deforestation and air pollution. And while a diesel-powered generator could suffice as an alternative, it’s not a particularly viable option due to the high cost of operating one
By contrast, OffGridBox offers a safe, sustainable solution that reduces the need for travel and empowers communities that rely on a box. Solar panels absorb energy, powering the pump. The pump can then filter the water, using a UV lamp and other processes. And with a remarkably easy installation process, a box is undoubtedly more efficient.
“It’s really easy,” says Jado Ndayambaje, technical field manager at OffGridBox. “We can put [the box] together in three hours, and then people from the community are able to come and get water and power [right away].”
Ndayambaje, who trains and manages a team of technicians responsible for box installation and extraordinary maintenance, notes that there were some logistical challenges at the outset—namely bad roads that required manpower to transport the box building materials when cars cold not reach the area. OffGridBox has developed an additional way to streamline its operations through a mobile app. “The app helps us communicate with technicians in the field,” Ndayambaje says. “I’m [often in another location.] That way, I can communicate without going into the field. It helps us control the system remotely and stop issues before they arise.” The app also aims to make it easier for boxkeepers to manage customers and to submit their weekly reporting, which feeds into dashboards, giving OffGridBox a more holistic view of its operations.
The seamless efficiency of OffGridBox has created life-changing results in the remote communities it serves. “[The communities] appreciate our system so much,” Ndayambaje says. In one of the villages, the company services the local village health center, which, previously, didn’t use anything that required electricity. Now, it does. Pregnant women and children no longer have to travel to another village to receive vaccinations, and the clinic is generally able to offer a wider range of services to all its patients.
“The biggest danger is that [residents] can’t get to medical care in their villages,” says CEO Jodie Wu, who joined OffGridBox in 2019. “If [they] can’t get transportation to the nearest medical center, then the only end is death. What should be a simple injury becomes a big problem if there isn’t access to [adequate medical] services.”
Ndayambaje personally feels the ripple effect of these changes as well. “It excites me when people come [up to me] and say that they’re better because of the services I’m able to offer them,” he explains. “They’re very happy about it.”
New beginnings in Nyamirama
Those fortunate enough to live in communities where clean drinking water and electricity are a given may not immediately grasp the full extent of what life is like without those two things. But for the residents of Nyamirama—a rural East African village where most families live below the poverty line and in mudbrick or concrete houses—OffGridBox has been a revelation.
“Energy is ultimately a solution that addresses so many different issues,” Wu notes. “When you look at poverty, it is ultimately the result of many factors. People already have very few possibilities to generate revenue from economic activities, and this is exacerbated by the high costs of running diesel generators, for example. Or it can result from not having lighting in your home to conduct your business operations or for your kids to study at night,” she says.
Not only has OffGridBox brought power and water to Nyamirama—it has also created work that was otherwise scarce, outside of farming and cultivation. Gideon Bimenyimana, who works as a village welder, knows this firsthand. “We used to walk many miles to reach electricity,” he says. “But now, OffGridBox gives me electricity to weld people’s doors, broken bicycles, and cars. It gives me water to use at home, and [it provides] light, so my children can study in the evening. It has an important role here,” explains Bimenyimana
OffGridBox has also created job opportunities for women. “When you look at the challenges of water, the people who always carry the biggest burden are women,” notes Wu. “The people fetching water are women, and the people who need extra hours of light to carry out their household duties are women. There are simply not enough hours of sunlight in the day due to cover the domestic responsibilities they carry for their families. So, we found it really important that they’re the ones running the boxes.”
To recruit boxkeepers, the company first talks to village and faith leaders to see who in the community is interested in being a candidate. After passing an initial test consisting of basic math and smartphone savviness, a boxkeeper is trained on how to run their daily and weekly accounts, how to manage their inventory tracking, and how to report their sales. “They’re responsible for so much,” says Wu. “And they’re our face in the communities—they’re how we build our relationships with people and how we maintain a high level of service.”
Sarah Nzayituriki is one such boxkeeper who got involved in December 2020, when OffGridBox first came to Nyamirama. “[As a boxkeeper,] I offer three kinds of services,” she says. “The first is to provide electricity to the community, the second is to give [the community] clean drinking water, and the third is to give electricity to the health center. I enjoy seeing [people] leave happy after the services I’ve provided them.”
For those who already had work, consistent access to electricity and water has still been a boon. “Before OffGridBox, we used another electricity source,” says Diane Nunuwe, a receptionist at the Nyamirama health center. “But it wasn’t good. It would go off at night and always cut out during the rainy season.” OffGridBox, on the other hand, has allowed the health center employees to work at night, to perform lab tests with an electrical microscope, and to provide their clients with clean drinking water. An added bonus? “Our patients are happy because they can watch the news and sports in the lobby,” notes Nunuwe.
Nassan Gatsinzi, Nyamirama’s village chief, says the change in his community is noticeable. “When [OffGridBox] brought electricity [to our village], people were able to have portable batteries that they can now charge at the [Box.]
While he hopes electricity access can continue to expand in the village, Gatsinzi stressed how vital the access to safe drinking water is. “We didn’t have safe drinking water,” he explains. “We used to have to go and buy a liter, which was expensive. Now, we use this water for drinking, cooking, and washing clothes. When I drink it, I feel that it helps my health, and I’m not the only one [benefitting from this]. In short, OffGridBox rescued us.”
To recruit boxkeepers, the company first talks to village and faith leaders to see who in the community is interested in being a candidate. After passing an initial test consisting of basic math and smartphone savviness, a boxkeeper is trained on how to run their daily and weekly accounts, how to manage their inventory tracking, and how to report their sales. “They’re responsible for so much,” says Wu. “And they’re our face in the communities—they’re how we build our relationships with people and how we maintain a high level of service.”
Sarah Nzayituriki is one such boxkeeper who got involved in December 2020, when OffGridBox first came to Nyamirama. “[As a boxkeeper,] I offer three kinds of services,” she says. “The first is to provide electricity to the community, the second is to give [the community] clean drinking water, and the third is to give electricity to the health center. I enjoy seeing [people] leave happy after the services I’ve provided them.”
For those who already had work, consistent access to electricity and water has still been a boon. “Before OffGridBox, we used another electricity source,” says Diane Nunuwe, a receptionist at the Nyamirama health center. “But it wasn’t good. It would go off at night and always cut out during the rainy season.” OffGridBox, on the other hand, has allowed the health center employees to work at night, to perform lab tests with an electrical microscope, and to provide their clients with clean drinking water. An added bonus? “Our patients are happy because they can watch the news and sports in the lobby,” notes Nunuwe.
Nassan Gatsinzi, Nyamirama’s village chief, says the change in his community is noticeable. “When [OffGridBox] brought electricity [to our village], people were able to have portable batteries that they can now charge at the [Box.]
While he hopes electricity access can continue to expand in the village, Gatsinzi stressed how vital the access to safe drinking water is. “We didn’t have safe drinking water,” he explains. “We used to have to go and buy a liter, which was expensive. Now, we use this water for drinking, cooking, and washing clothes. When I drink it, I feel that it helps my health, and I’m not the only one [benefitting from this]. In short, OffGridBox rescued us.”
Read More
EXPLAINER: See why OffGridBox built a portable disaster relief hub
Powering Access