WHITE COLLAR | ISSUE 010
systems. Because if you're able to even track a drop of water from source to final destination, that actually unlocks a lot of insights on where you actually need to put your money. Currently, it takes more than six months to even identify a water leakage. If that could be done tended to within a day or two, that is millions of litres of water made available to the consumer. The third thing is how we as consumers actually use water. Generally speaking, water consumption per individual has been reducing because of increased efficiency in the machines and the things that we use at our homes. If you could give consumers the power to understand their consumption, you unlock a lot of savings on water. HydroIQ aims to fill all these gaps, bring transparency in the water distribution networks by creating a smart water grids. The second aspect is to enable people to track their consumption, and make payments, and actually understand that “we are doing this because we consume this amount”. I get my water bill, even in his office, sometimes it comes to Kshs.9,000 and then the next month we get Kshs.1000. We want to end situations like these.
How does HydroIQ differ from other companies like Kamstrup (which has been around for over 25 years) that offer smart meters? The thing is, the fact that there's a lot of players is one of the biggest advantages. Our play is not to go into in the smart meters. I can actually attest that in the next 10, 20, 30 years smart meters are going to be their standard because of the efficiency. The only issue is the cost of introducing these technologies. That being said our play is not going into meter production like Kamstrup, Honeywell, Siemens who are all device makers have the products and they have their platforms for smart metering. But the issue is they're only approaching it from one side. For us, we are open; what we want is to be the guys who
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complete the loop. So when you bring a smart meter tool and install, it that is the one side of it. What completes it is the end user experience. How do I get my readings? How do I pay for the water? Is there transparency? Can these guys be trusted? Most people don't even remember that there is a meter somewhere. So if you come into the market selling the meter, you are not capturing the real problem for the consumers who the majority and the drivers of the market. We call ourselves the biggest virtual water network operator. We don't want to own the infrastructure, but we want to have the biggest platform that integrates to whoever is the player on the infrastructure part. The meter is just sending data. That is one side. The other side is: what you do with the data. Third, is the information and educational aspect of the consumers?
You have identified poor water infrastructure as one of the problem areas facing Africa and the world. In a country such as Kenya, our local governments manage water distribution. Are you collaborating with government institutions? Government is interesting! It’s always the biggest player in the room. The other aspect is; when you're starting off, don't feel like government plays a bigger role. But when you map out your business for the next 2, 5, 10 years you have to factor in the role of government. For now we just having those conversations at a very basic level, trying to link with what is highly regulated, from WRMA (Water Resources Management Authority) to WaSReB (Water Services Regulatory Board). There's a lot of players and county governments are the ones managing local water resource and this has been the case since we got a devolved government. Now that water is devolved, every county governments have a say. Governments don't want disruptions to an ecosystem that is somewhat working. They regulate everything to ensure as much stability as possible.
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