Democratizing safe drinking water, drop by drop
The availability of pure drinking water has been a critical issue for a long time and even after numerous efforts, hundreds of millions of people in India still don’t have access to safe water for drinking and domestic activities. Vikram Gulecha’s idea for OCEO Water was inspired by the efforts of his grandfather. In his home state of Rajasthan, where the problem of drinking water is significant, Vikram’s grandfather set up a system for the community, where people could access water from earthen pots which were supplied with drinking water and available to the public for free. Vikram wanted to follow his grandfather’s steps and carry forward his vision of safe drinking water for all in his own way, leading to the idea for OCEO Water. The four-people team comprises of Vikram Gulecha (Strategy & Alliance), Mahendra Kumar (Manufacturing & Engineering) and supported by Hasmukh Gulecha (Operations & Finance) and Rajeev Kumar (Technology Development). Coming from a non-technical background didn’t discourage Vikram, his uncle Mahendra and younger brother Hasmukh, who joined him in the venture. Together, they started a journey to disrupt water purifiers and packaged drinking water industries.
While the market is saturated by a plethora of purifiers, a sizable margin of the Indian households do not have water purifiers. OCEO’s product aims at penetrating this market with a unique value proposition that reaches across all the sections of the society: their water purifiers are installed at homes free of cost. It’s a pay-per-use model, where the user is charged for the purified water consumed and not for the machine. While most of its competitors are targeting only certain social sectors with sufficient income to pay for the equipment and installation, OCEO’s business model aims to reach, in the coming years, 10 million households from across different income levels.
For OCEO, low income does not mean low water quality. The purifier is equipped with IoT sensors and live display on the devices. The sensors helps the company keep track of the quality of water being dispensed as well as the condition of the filters installed in the machine. OCEO Water alerts the consumer when there is a need for changing the filter and the machine stops dispensing water, ensuring that the consumer does not receive water with impurities. Moreover, all that the user has to do is replace the filter in the purifier, which is sent directly by the start-up at least 15 days before the installed filter loses its function. The start-up and extended team have created a product that keeps track of all the data around the services provided, which helps the team in constantly improving the product and their working model. “Our high self-esteem is empowered by the way that we measure everything. It helps us to take calculated decisions and results in keeping our communication precise and fluff-free,” says Vikram Gulecha.
The start-up works with vendors spread across Korea, Taiwan, and China, but they intend to start manufacturing their purifiers in India upon reaching a sufficient scale. OCEO Water currently cater to 1500 families in Bangalore and has commenced field trials in Chennai and Hyderabad.
Being in the water business means helping everyone and fulfilling the fundamental need for safe drinking water for every human life. As the business expands, OCEO will continue to contribute in a meaningful way towards a sustainable future and creating safer and healthier households.
