An agreement has recently been signed between Impact Water, a social enterprise, and National Bank, a commercial bank owned by Kenya's state. The latter will support Impact Water to provide drinking water in schools in this East African country.
Access to safe drinking water in schools in Kenya will soon be improved. This is thanks to a partnership that has recently been signed between National Bank, a financial institution owned by the Kenyan central bank, and Impact Water, a social enterprise specialising in the supply of water treatment systems. In Kenya, it wants to provide drinking water to 5,000 schools. The project is supported by the Kenyan Ministry of Education.
In schools, Impact Water installs systems that make it possible to make water drinkable using UV (ultraviolet) treatment and chlorine. The company offers Aquatab technology that enables “much faster processing”. The agreement between National Bank and Impact Water now stipulates that the bank will provide financing, distribution and, more broadly, logistics. National Bank will only act in schools that have opened an account at it. “Water scarcity affects more than 40% of the world’s population, and this figure is expected to increase. In Kenya, we want to have an impact on people’s lives, and we strongly believe that access to safe drinking water and sanitation can solve many of the problems related to community empowerment,” said Wilfred Musau, National Bank’s Managing Director after signing the partnership with Impact Water.
The alliance is expected to benefit 4 million students in 36 counties of Kenya. Impact Water is not in its infancy in this East African country. The company already provides drinking water to 4,000 schools, serving more than 2 million students. Although the project to supply drinking water systems ends on December 31, 2019, the two partners plan to continue their collaboration.
Following its momentum, National Bank plans to grant micro-credits to schools that will open an account in 2019, or at the beginning of 2020. A bank branch should also provide replacement cartridges for Impact Water’s drinking water systems. The company also operates in Uganda and Nigeria.
Jean Marie Takouleu
