Hesi­ta­tion slows down development

Your slogan is: Stop boiling water. Why is that important?

Actually it’s Stop Global Boiling. It’s a play on words and I came to think of it as a wake-up call. When we say Stop Global Boiling, we mean two things at once: We must stop the over­hea­ting of our planet, and we must provide alter­na­ti­ves that can stop forcing people to burn fuel to make their water safe and hot. Our sun can help us do it and is for free. Energy is not only for power elec­tric grids but is also a source for the most basic human need: clean, warm water at home. There are over 2 billion people without safe water that boils water over open fires — that’s the problem we are about solving.

How did the idea for this approach come about?

It’s was through obser­va­tions of my mother Petra Wadström who is the inven­tor of the 10 litre Solvat­ten-kit and from her  feelings for the women parti­cu­larly in the global south that struggle in their daily life. She had a big frus­tra­tion that not enough was done to solve their problems. Inno­va­tion is a crea­tive process that takes a lot of decis­ion making. It is now 800 000 people using the kits so its a proven solu­tion solving problems every day 

What were the main chal­lenges during imple­men­ta­tion? Was it more about the tech­ni­cal deve­lo­p­ment itself, or about convin­cing people and orga­niza­ti­ons that it actually works?

The main chall­enge was never the fami­lies. Users trus­ted Solvat­ten imme­dia­tely. They could feel the heat with their hands and see that it worked. Adop­tion was quick and natu­ral. The harder part has been to convince the big inter­na­tio­nal orga­ni­sa­ti­ons that shape global deve­lo­p­ment policy and their hinking.

Convin­cing the inter­na­tio­nal orga­ni­sa­ti­ons remains the toug­hest part. 

_{David Wadström, Part­ner­ships & Brand Direc­tor, Solvatten}

There is a real big disso­nance between how these insti­tu­ti­ons and their think tanks define the problem, and the solu­ti­ons that house­holds would like have. The women and house­holds who owns the problem know exactly what they need: clean water and energy in their home. They judge a solu­tion by whether it works in daily life. But the large multi late­ral deve­lo­p­ment insti­tu­ti­ons often prio­ri­tise systems, reports and long proces­ses, which makes it diffi­cult for simple, human cent­red solu­ti­ons to break through.  The Solvat­ten solu­tion works and beha­vi­ors change. But convin­cing the inter­na­tio­nal orga­ni­sa­ti­ons remains the toug­hest part. That hesi­ta­tion slowed things down far more than the tech­ni­cal deve­lo­p­ment ever did.

The struc­ture of Solvat­ten AB consists of a social and purpose-driven company in Sweden, a foun­da­tion in Sweden, and a foun­da­tion in the U.S. – how do these enti­ties work together?

Solvat­ten is built as a mission-driven ecosys­tem and works through a mixed model. The company ensu­res strong tech­no­logy and relia­ble deli­very of impact from the projects we deve­lop, inclu­ding emis­sion reduc­tions (by Gold Stan­dard and SBTI stan­dards), while the foun­da­ti­ons connect us to phil­an­thropy, public funding and climate finance. By combi­ning these streams we can move faster, reach more fami­lies and make sure that every Solvat­ten kit produ­ces measura­ble health and climate results. It is a way to go beyond charity and create long-term value for people and for the planet.  Phil­an­thro­pic capi­tal allows us to reach the places markets and govern­ments do not reach. Each contri­bu­tion acce­le­ra­tes access for the most vulnerable house­holds and helps us bring safe hot water to commu­ni­ties that live enti­rely off-grid. Phil­an­thropy is  that bridge. The need is enorm­ous, but so is the poten­tial for change.

Reve­nue is a means to sustain the mission, not the mission itself. 

What is a purpose-driven company?

A purpose-driven company is a busi­ness that exists to solve a real problem, not just to make a profit. It uses commer­cial tools, but its main goal is social and envi­ron­men­tal impact. Reve­nue is a means to sustain the mission, not the mission itself.  In our case the purpose is clear: to make safe, hot water available to the people who need it most and to reduce climate impact. Every decis­ion, every part­ner­ship and every invest­ment is guided by that purpose.

Do you also work with orga­niza­ti­ons in Switzerland?

We work with Gold Stan­dard in Switz­er­land, one of the most trus­ted orga­ni­sa­ti­ons for measu­ring real climate and health impact. Their rigo­rous certi­fi­ca­tion helps ensure that every Solvat­ten kit deli­vers veri­fied bene­fits for fami­lies and for the planet. We are also proud to part­ner with SFS Group AG, a Swiss-based precis­ion engi­nee­ring company head­quar­te­red in Heer­brugg, St. Gallen. Their exper­tise in high-quality fastening systems and global manu­fac­tu­ring reach adds real value. 

What does this colla­bo­ra­tion look like? 

A good exam­ple is SFS Group support us in two ways. They provide high quality, opti­mi­sed fasten­ers that streng­then the dura­bi­lity of the Solvat­ten kits, and they also make an annual finan­cial contri­bu­tion to help fund projects. Our first joint initia­tive is in Uganda, where the part­ner­ship now helps around 640 fami­lies in refu­gee sett­le­ments get access to clean hot water and reduce CO₂ emis­si­ons. It is a part­ner­ship we value highly. 

SFS has many employees, and toge­ther we want to build a rela­ti­onship that can grow and evolve over the years. SFS support Solvat­ten with both tech­ni­cal compon­ents and project funding, but just as important is the human side. We want their teams to feel connec­ted to the impact. More stories from the field, more insight into how fami­lies use Solvat­ten every day, and more moments that make people proud of working for a company that commits to making the world better. It is engi­nee­ring meeting empa­thy. And that is the kind of part­ner­ship we want to grow with SFS over many years. Solvat­ten is one of the few proven solu­ti­ons that impro­ves health, redu­ces emis­si­ons and saves fami­lies money at the same time. We invite phil­an­thro­pists to join us in scaling a solu­tion that works and coun­ter­act the warm­ing effects of CO2 emis­si­ons on life on our planet.