Jibu, a social enterprise pioneering a powerful franchising model to supply safe drinking water across 7 African countries, has won the Transformational Business Award for Transformational Solutions in Urban Infrastructure.
The Financial Times and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, gathered senior investors, innovators, social entrepreneurs and other thought leaders for its 15th annual Transformational Business Awards ceremony that announced the winners of the FT/IFC Transformational Business Awards on 08 October 2020.
The awards honor organizations whose capital, technology and ideas are contributing to substantive progress in developing low-carbon urban infrastructure, delivering healthcare and education, assuring food and water security, boosting inclusion, and generally transforming the development landscape.
What the award stands for
Pearl Bank Celebrates Customers in Festive Campaign Dubbed Pearl SantaJibu has won the top prize in the category of Urban Infrastructure. This award highlights the project that addresses the most crucial infrastructure needs in the fast-growing cities of the developing world, with long-term socio-economic impact. This category is open to private sector businesses only, but recognizes the importance of public-private partnerships in infrastructure. Jibu was one of 5 international organizations competing for the prize.
Jibu addresses the lack of safe drinking water and business ownership opportunities in emerging markets in Africa. The company trains and finances entrepreneurs to produce and distribute affordable and safe drinking water and other essential services to their local communities. An environmentally-conscious approach is incorporated through the elimination of single-use plastics and the use of ultrafiltration water technology that requires less energy and water than traditional technologies. The franchise network has sold more than 160 million litres of safe drinking water.
However, according to Jibu, its vision has always been bigger than water distribution. The organization is building a decentralized network of locally owned production franchises that can both generate local wealth and improve access and affordability to essential utilities like drinking water and clean energy.
