Introducing Maruwa
Water Supply in Enugu
The distribution of household water in Enugu metropolis lacks efficiency.
Due to the region's topography, it is much more difficult and expensive to drill boreholes (underground water) for homes. As a result, households and individuals get water in two ways:
- From wholesale water sellers (water tankers) who transport water to the city from farther distances (sub-urbs, outskirts) where boreholes have been successfully drilled.
- Buyers of wholesale water resell at retail to individuals or households who cannot afford to buy at wholesale (this is usually sold on a per gallon basis).
This current distribution model comes with three major difficulties:
- Absence of a mechanism for on-demand water supply to retail consumers:
Retail consumers do not have the facilities to purchase water at wholesale. However, those who usually buy at wholesale to resell at retail are sometimes unavailable or feel reluctant to make prompt purchases, leaving retail consumers stranded.
- Absence of a mechanism for doorstep water delivery to retail consumers:
Our concern is always with the retail or final consumer. The local man, woman or student who needs water — a basic life necessity.
Even when water is available for sale at retail, these consumers have to leave their residences to trek distances, stand on (long) queues and manually carry back (usually 25-30 litres) gallons of water after purchasing it. This is highly strenuous, time-consuming and unproductive.
Occasionally, there are individuals who help in delivering gallons of water to consumers for a fee. But this solution does not suffice either because: a.) They charge too high fees b.) It is inefficient as these persons are very few and cannot serve customers at scale and on-demand.
- Absence of a mechanism for seamless payments between buyers and sellers:
Let’s assume that the first two problems were not existent. The problem of payments will still subsist: Cash.
Both buyers and sellers mostly deal in cash. Especially with retail consumers who spend small amounts, usually N50-N100 per gallon, retail sellers would be very much uncomfortable accepting digital transfers for such amounts. For consumers, it may even prove counterproductive to do so considering transfer charges. It is just much easier to deal in cash when dealing with micro-payments.
More so, dealing in cash makes recurring payments, subscription payments and standing orders much more difficult to achieve and process.
Again, offering credit facilities to consumers or utilizing a buy-now-pay-later model becomes impracticable with cash transactions since cash and in-person transactions of this sort do not provide the trackability needed to make these services seamless.
Introducing Maruwa
Maruwa was created to provide a systematic solution to the problem of water distribution in Enugu (as our launchpad) and beyond. There are many other states in Nigeria (and perhaps in Africa) affected by this same distribution problem ravaging access to this life-critical resource: water.
The vision of Maruwa is simple: democratizing access to water supply through tech.
**a screenshot of a WhatsApp chat where two of the three co-founders first discuss the idea**
Maruwa represents a unique kind of startup based on pre-existing and successfully tested marketplace business models. It is an online mobility platform for water supply.
Subsequent posts will give insights on how Maruwa is solving the aforestated problems as well as releases on its activities and progress reports.
Follow Us on Twitter: @maruwawaters
Email Us: contactmaruwa@gmail.com
Please leave 50 claps, it gives the article more visibility.
Written by Christian Dike .
