As countries reemerge from a pandemic that has claimed the lives of far too many, we’ve witnessed an array of global responses, ranging from passive to urgent. Aqua Clara Kenya (ACK), a social enterprise producing water purification tech for rural communities, decided on the latter. 

In January, before the pandemic reached critical levels, ACK’s leadership saw an opportunity to apply to the Acumen and IKEA Social Entrepreneurship, East Africa Accelerator — a program designed to support social entrepreneurs in building scalable business models, combining hands-on guidance from IKEA’s professional coaches and expertise from Acumen advisors.

In a country where 40% of the population has no access to clean water, ACK CEO and Acumen Fellow, John Nyagwencha stood at a crossroads — equipped with the technology to protect thousands but fearful of the funds needed to wield it. It was then that ACK decided to turn their Accelerator experience into an opportunity to reimagine a business model sympathetic to the financial stresses customers were facing due to COVID-19. 

As infection rates soared, ACK pivoted their programming to focus on prevention, but once proven methods of spreading health information — through word of mouth — became nearly impossible. In the Accelerator, John’s team learned about the value of designing and running customer experiments — an important way to gain insight into the challenges customers experienced.

Leveraging their partnerships with Kenyan county governments, schools, and hospitals, ACK looked to test the ability of their WASHiriki program to diffuse vital health training to local communities, while reducing human contact and costs. Through the use of mobile technology, ACK’s team tapped into their contact database, gathered across 9,000 household visits, to launch a series of public health advocacy campaigns, catalysing their reach.