The lack of clean water is a severe health hazard, causing an estimated 1 million deaths annually due to contaminated water. Young children are especially vulnerable, as waterborne diseases can be fatal and lead to stunting, leaving them with underdeveloped brains and lifelong disadvantages. Women are also heavily affected, spending significant time and effort fetching water or gathering firewood to boil it, further burdening their daily lives and perpetuating the cycle of poverty. To make things worse, water subsidies globally are badly targeted and benefit the rich, with only 6% (!) of subsidies going to the poorest 20%.
Starting a purpose-driven company was not the plan when Lieselotte (Lisa) Heederik and Guido van Hofwegen first moved to Indonesia in 2007. When they realized the lack of access to safe drinking water, they started importing water filters for their personal use. Only when friends and neighbours began requesting filters as well, the idea for Nazava emerged — a company committed to providing safe and affordable water filtration systems for low-income households.
Nazava operates as a for-profit company, believing that if people willingly buy their filters, it proves they meet a real need. Their approach prioritizes both affordability and quality, ensuring that low-income customers aren’t given inferior products.
Initially, Nazava tried selling through resellers, but rising prices conflicted with their mission to offer affordable water filters to low-income households. After several trials, they shifted to working with microfinance institutions (MFIs), which provided loans to groups of women who could purchase the filters and repay over time. Nazava also partnered with Kiva to support entrepreneurs selling filters in their communities.
Today, Nazava has transformed the lives of over 600,000 people across more than 30 countries. The water filters are sold not only to households but also to NGOs operating in disaster-stricken areas. Currently, Nazava is setting up a second production site in Kenya. If you want to get involved, get in contact with Lisa at Lisa@Nazava.com. You can also read in more detail about Nazava in a recent article in Forbes.
- “WASH sector” stands for water, sanitation and hygiene sector