Clean Drinking Water Access and Employment in Western Uganda

Anish’s Story

Anish with his clean water project through Jibu.

This month of July I’ve decided to support an entrepreneur from Uganda called Anish. He is working to bring clean water to his community through a small company called “Jibu.” As it is the case with all my Kiva-related posts, I hope you — the reader — join me in supporting some of these incredible people through this amazing platform.

Anish is from Indian decent and a father of three kids, currently living in Hoima, where he operates a spirits and wines shop.

His strong customer service, sales and marketing ethics have made him one of the largest distributors in Hoima town. This distribution channel will allow him to reach 2,500 liters per day over the next year. Hoima is where Anish has spent most of his adult life, and he is therefore very motivated to own a full-time Jibu production franchise while also expanding access to affordable drinking water in a community he cares deeply about.

This is by far the most ambitious loan I’ve supported since my first microloan back in 2016. At the time of writing this post, the loan is 30% funded. Backers from different groups and companies (like IBM, eBay, and PayPal) are joining forces to give Anish a shot at his project.

Jibu is a social enterprise pioneering a powerful new model that capitalizes and equips entrepreneurs in emerging market communities to own businesses that ensure access to basic human necessities, with water as an anchor product. Jibu has scaled a network of locally owned, financially independent and self-sustaining franchises that provide safe drinking water to their communities while offering life-changing training and employment.

Jibu’s vision is to train, finance, and grow a network of co-invested business owners like Anish (hence the social enterprise), who work towards dramatically changing the way critical resources are used to develop essential infrastructure in emerging markets.

This 2019 I’m stepping up my (microloans) game with Kiva, and I’ll evaluate the results at the end of the year to adjust, as I see fit, for 2020. I’ll also reach out to more people, old and new, in order to create awareness and hopefully connect with like-minded individuals looking forward to ignite the lending spark.

Thank for reading,

Juan.