Who we work with
Our Partners
Working with quality partners
We choose our partners carefully, focusing on those with first class management, proven capacity, a clear growth path and a commitment to affordability and quality.
Delivering safe, reliable water at household level
Water Service Providers
4Ward builds market-based water businesses under its NUMA brand across Sierra Leone, Ghana, Uganda and Zambia. They have invested $80 million over 10 years and aim to reach 10 million people by 2033.
Why we invested: We provide grants and concessional loans to support the growth of their modular piped water systems and test whether their model can scale sustainably through debt financing.
KWSH is a Cambodian holding company acquiring and improving underperforming water stations to deliver sustainable rural water services at scale.
Why we invested: We fund KWSH to extend existing networks and acquire new stations, creating a financially attractive and scalable model for investors.
Safe Water Network operates locally managed water systems for underserved communities too small for utilities but too large for hand pumps. They have connected 1.7 million people globally.
Why we invested: We supported a $5 million pilot in Ghana to test the viability of the household-connection model. Following the success of this pilot, we made a further grant of $4.5 million to facilitate 11,000 new connections across 28 communities.
Water for Water is a Swiss non-profit founded in 2012 promoting the fair and sustainable use of water. They currently operate locally managed water systems for three towns in Zambia, improving household connections and operation and maintenance cost recovery at each station since their interventions started (in 2016 in Linda, 2023 in Pemba and Batoka).
Why we invested: We are supporting WfW to become a licensed operator in Southern Zambia where they aim to take on delegated management responsibilities for a cluster of seven towns, delivering clean, safe Water to the Home to over 8,000 households by 2027 through a solarised, sustainable model.
Uduma operates financially sustainable rural water systems, including piped networks, solar stations and hand pumps. They serve 1.5 million people across West Africa through private public partnerships contracts.
Why we invested: With our support Uduma is piloting household connection models in 2025, addressing adoption barriers and preparing for larger-scale expansion.
Sonic Fresh began as an agricultural business in Kenya and expanded into water provision after drilling a borehole for their farm. What started as a single kiosk has grown into a network of five kiosks and over 150 household connections.
Why we invested: We provided initial grants and concessional loans to test how local entrepreneurs can expand into delivering professional water services and repay loans through household connections.
Jibu franchises safe water businesses marketing bottled water in urban and peri-urban areas, equipping entrepreneurs with purification technology and business support.
Why we invested: We made an equity investment in Jibu under our previous strategy to fund the growth of its franchise model, proving that locally owned, commercial businesses can transform access to clean water.
Building the systems and skills behind sustainable water services
Technical Service Providers
CEWAS is a global organisation supporting innovation and entrepreneurship in WASH. They help SMEs through accelerators and training programmes and play a role in developing the market ecosystems in which they sit.
Why we invested: We have supported them to run accelerators in West and East Africa and they also developed Majifund (which we also invest in) and the Small Utilities Programme in Kenya.
Cova Agua works in Central America, training “circuit riders” to support rural water service providers with chlorination systems, monitoring and capacity building.
Why we invested: We support Cova Agua to prove this community-led model at scale, showing that rural providers can sustain high service levels with light-touch ongoing support.
Elphrods provides digital financing in Kenya to help households and businesses afford water connections, sanitation facilities and pit latrine upgrades.
Why we invested: We first supported Elphrods to digitise operations. We now provide debt funding to scale its WASH financing product, demonstrating how households can sustainably invest in their own water and sanitation needs.
Rural Water Management Solutions is a Kenyan enterprise professionalising small and medium-sized water utilities. Services include digital billing, delegated management and water mini-grid operations.
Why we invested: Our hybrid grant and loan support their scale-up strategy to reach 200 utilities, serving nearly 1 million people in rural Kenya.
Wonderkid digitises operations for water utilities with its SaaS platform Utility Master, improving billing, revenue collection and customer service for over 30 utilities in four countries.
Why we invested: Our funding helps Wonderkid scale its platform to meet demand and drive efficiency, transparency and performance in the water sector.
Working with institutions to unlock capital & enable system change
Partners and Programmes
The 300 Water Leaders initiative aims to accelerate the performance of 300 utilities in emerging markets to ensure 300 million additional people have access to water and sanitation services by 2030. Set up by Global Water Intelligence, it builds management capacity through a peer-to-peer network and in-person training programme for utility CEOs, recognising that leadership quality is a critical but underestimated driver of utility success.
Why we funded: We believe management quality is undervalued and underfunded as a driver of utility performance. Strengthening CEO and management capacity can deliver long-term sustainable improvements that outlast infrastructure investments and other forms of technical assistance.
Azure Source Capital is a technical assistance and financing facility for water service providers (WSPs) set up by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and the Inter-American Development Bank Lab (IDB Lab) in Central America. Its goal is to improve access and quality of services through affordable debt financing alongside technical assistance to professionalise WSPs.
Why we funded: The facility bridges a critical technical and financing gap for water systems in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. Our investment catalyses local bank lending through an innovative blended finance structure to WSPs that can improve creditworthiness through targeted technical assistance.
DayLipa are an energy asset financing organisation in Sub Saharan Africa set up by 4R Digital and Davis & Shirtliff, a leading water and energy equipment supplier. During the initial launch, DayLipa focused on financing solar irrigation pumps for smallholder farmers in Kenya, enabling the solarisation of agriculture sector on a pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) basis.
Why we funded: We are providing loan capital to DayLipa to pilot an expansion of their solar financing to 30 water service providers in Kenya. This will test the ability for WSPs to pay for solar interventions on a PAYGO basis and will improve operational costs for WSPs across Kenya. If successful, DayLipa can expand the pilot, attract additional capital and serve WSPs with solar financing products in the long term.
Epicenter partners with community Water Service Providers (WSPs) in Kenya to reduce operating costs and improve service reliability through solarisation, data collection and digitalisation. Working with its financial partner, InfoCap, Epicenter supports WSPs to install solar-powered systems and repay investments through the savings and revenue these upgrades generate.
Why we funded: High energy costs and unreliable grid access remain major barriers for water providers in Kenya. Our support helps Epicenter demonstrate how solar technology and blended finance can make water systems more viable — cutting costs, improving reliability and unlocking new funding to scale.
Under the Delegated Management Model (DMM) KIWASCO, the water utility of Kisumu, Kenya, delegates responsibility for water service delivery in low-income areas to private operators. We are supporting a pilot in Kisumu to test whether the DMM can be a viable and replicable service delivery model in Kenya. Our support included digitalisation of operators, reducing non-revenue water, formalisation of the operating framework with the utility and defining what is needed to effectively scale-up.
Why we funded: Improving access and service quality in low-income areas is a challenge across Africa and elsewhere in the world. The DMM model has shown early promise but needs further testing to understand how it can become financially sustainable and replicable in other Kenyan utilities.
The Small Utilities Programme is a proof of concept initiative to apply a business entrepreneurship methodology to improve the performance and creditworthiness of small utilities in Kenya. Implemented by CEWAS, it aims to show that a package of targeted, low-cost technical assistance can deliver actionable results for a cohort of utilities.
Why we funded: Small and medium-sized utilities serve a significant portion of Kenya’s population but are often overlooked by traditional utility support programmes. This pilot tests a replicable model for building utility creditworthiness and operational capacity with potential for strategic scale-up if successful.
Set up by Aqua for All, the Challenge Fund addresses barriers faced by small water service providers in Kenya when attempting to access commercial finance. It provides technical assistance, fintech tools and incentives for banks.
Why we funded: We support this results-based grant platform to help 150 small-scale providers access to €2.5 million in finance, improving services for around 200,000 people.
UWCI is a utility turnaround programme that has been set up to demonstrate how high-performing utilities can access commercial financing. The 5-year programme aims to bridge the technical assistance and financing gap that utilities face to become bankable.
Why we funded: This facility complements our work with the World Bank to unlock commercial capital for utilities. We want to test whether the right package of support combined with stakeholder buy-in and guarantees can enable utilities to access significant commercial financing. We also want to help UWCI broaden its funder base.
The Water Revenue Financing Facility (WRFF) is a blended finance vehicle designed to expand access to long-term, affordable loans for private water operators in Cambodia. It helps small providers overcome the twin barriers of limited finance and technical capacity that have constrained rural piped water expansion.
Why we funded: Through WRFF we are demonstrating how flexible, revenue-linked lending can make rural water systems both bankable and sustainable. Technical support is provided by our partner Aquabridge to enable operators to access capital, strengthen performance and deliver reliable water to tens of thousands of households building a model that can attract commercial investors and be replicated.
The World Bank provides global leadership in strengthening water utilities and promoting private sector participation in water service delivery. Through technical assistance and sector reform, it helps governments and operators improve performance, enhance regulation and unlock commercial finance for sustainable water services.
Why we funded: We partner with the World Bank to advance private sector participation in water delivery across five countries — Cambodia, Indonesia, Kenya, the Philippines and Uganda. Our support helps develop stronger business planning, performance improvement and regulatory frameworks that make utilities more creditworthy and capable of attracting private investment.
Case studies
Our case studies show our strategy in action
Water to the Home
Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) solar for water service providers
We are partnering with Epicenter to understand what incentives are needed to bring PAYG solar, non-revenue water and digitalisation projects to WSPs.
Water to the Home
Facilitating private sector participation in the water sector
We worked with the World Bank to build up the foundations needed to attract private sector investment in the water sector.
Water to the Home
Addressing the financing gap for private operators in Cambodia
In Cambodia, over 400 private water operators deliver piped water to rural communities under 20-year licenses. Our Water Revenue Financing Facility provides the financing and support these entrepreneurs need to increase access and quality.