WHAT WAS THE PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED?
3 billion people do not have access to clean drinking water. In low-income countries, over 80% of all treated water gets recontaminated on its way to the consumer.

WHAT WAS THE SOLUTION?
4Life Solutions based their approach on SODIS, a 25-year-old technology where water bottles are placed in the sun to be purified. 4Life Solutions optimized the plastic so that particularly UVB radiation, which damages DNA and is known to cause skin cancer, could destroy microorganisms in the water. With a background in design, 4Life Solutions shifted the focus from technology to the user, creating a product that is both effective, aesthetically pleasing, and with features that made users feel dignified. The result has so far been three products with different properties.

HOW DOES YOUR INNOVATION MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
450,000 products have been distributed, providing clean water to almost 1 million people. 4Life Solutions provides infrastructure where otherwise impossible. This means that 4Life Solutions contributes to the development of society, as water supply forms the basis for other parts of society to function, avoiding disease through healthcare and securing the workforce. Clean drinking water is absolutely fundamental for building society and improving the quality of life in Africa.

WHAT ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
Having a company that focuses on the user and recognizes that the local context is the most important. We were among the first to do real innovation in a developing country, where the user was the focus instead of the engineer behind the product. We still run our business with the user at the core of everything.