Congratulations to our members Jack Hartpence and Ellie O’Neill, founders of Powwater who were recently named in this year’s 30 under 30 Forbes list in social impact.
Jack Hartpence and Ellie O’Neill co-founded Powwater to help address the water access problem in Africa via a technology-enabled vehicular delivery system.
The way the company operates is through an app where users can choose their location, get matched to a Powwater truck near them, choose their volume of water, and expect it on the same day.
The company, which has raised over $3 million from investors like The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Adam Draper, is currently scaling across Kenya and will be expanding across East Africa and Ghana in 2023.
The Social Impact Forbes List focuses on companies that are leveraging business smarts to save the world.
Forbes 30 Under 30 is a set of lists of people under 30 years old issued annually by Forbes magazine and some of its regional editions.
The list recognizes 600 business and industry figures, with 30 selected in twenty industries each. Asia and Europe also each have ten categories for a total of 300 each, while Africa has a single list of 30 people.
Forbes hosts associated conferences and a section of its website called 30 Under 30. The nomination process for Forbes 30 Under 30 is open to the public, and people may nominate themselves or another as long as the nominee is under 30 years of age
Forbes launched it’s 30 Under 30 list in 2011. By 2016, the nominations for the list had reached more than 15,000, with Forbes editors selecting 30 winners for each of the 20 categories.
Over time, Forbes has expanded the feature to establish continental lists for Asia,[4] Europe (launched in 2016), and Africa.
Powwater joined Nairobi Garage // Karen in 2022 and has so far distributed over 2 million liters of water and its vision is to be the most trusted water supplier in Africa.
Powwater is a founding member of the Off-Grid Water Alliance, a globally acting policy entity, showcasing, supporting and promoting solutions tackling water access challenges for rural and poor-urban communities.
From Nairobi Garage, it is a huge congratulations to #TeamPowwater.