Providing Safe Water through Business Incubation
Over a billion people lack access to safe water. This is a major cause of disease and child mortality in low income nations. This paper provides a novel solution. It shows how business incubators can be created at local schools to foster the formation of water purification and treatment businesses. This entails a creative partnership between schools, microfinance institutions, and a facilitating organization. The actual process is quite sophisticated, but here are the basic steps:
• Partner schools in low income nations will be given a locally relevant business curriculum and a curriculum on water purification and treatment. The water treatment curriculum will include labs about analyzing water quality, constructing filters, testing water treatment chemicals, and so forth. This training will be useful to all students.
o The business training materials will be helpful to students entering any career.
o The water treatment segment will help people learn about home health issues, as well as introducing them to scientific thinking.
• Graduates of these schools who plan to start businesses in water treatment and purification would be paired with local microfinance institutions, where they will receive the necessary coaching and financing.
This entrusts the necessary technology and business skills to the local people. They will have the ability to experiment and to build their own types of filters, or simply to market available solutions.
Keywords: Microfinance, Microcredit, Investment, Water, Education, Health, Business
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Dr. Timothy Mech
Professor, Business Department, Grove City College
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Prof. Mech’s research in market microstructure has been cited by the leading finance journals. He has been a guest speaker at Babson College, Bentley College, Boston College, Boston University, Harvard University, Indiana University, University of Massachusetts at Amherst, University of Rhode Island. Dr. Mech has presented or discussed papers at annual meetings of the AFA, FMA, NBER, and other professional organizations. His current research is about investments that create jobs in low income nations.
Ref: S07P0004