WHO ARE WE.
Aqua Africa is an emerging leader in the development of climate-smart, social-impact projects which utilise solar power to provide safe, clean water to areas of the greatest need, reducing the plight of daily water poverty across Africa. Set up in 2014, our projects support the delivery of key UN Sustainable Development Goals for Clean Water & Sanitation (SDG6) and for Climate Action (SDG13).
The relationship with Africa started in 2010 when Philip Foster (Zimbabwe born) was asked to conduct an investment review of an agriculture project in Togo. The company under review also had interests in neighbouring Ghana.
After his review, he was retained to manage a substantial Agri-investment project in the Volta district of Ghana. Under his management over a 3-year period, the Volta operation became the principal exporter of red and green chillies from Ghana to the UK and Europe.
Living on the farm, valuable experience was gained in understanding the many demands of the agriculture sector, how Africa works, how to operate in Africa and what it takes to survive in off-grid, rural communities – the most important factor being the need for potable water.
Every morning and evening he saw villagers gathering at the gate to access the pumped water from the Volta River 5km away. This dirty water was “cleaned” by the villagers by boiling the water on a charcoal stove in their huts, which in summer got to an average temperature of 38C with 95% humidity.
The Realisation
On one of many visits to the capital Accra in 2013, Philip watched a CNN news clip showing a revolutionary new water product manufactured in the UK by Lifesaver Systems, primarily for humanitarian purposes, which used Nano-filtration technology to remove 99.999% of the bacteria and other impurities from dirty water.
This was the beginning of the Aqua Africa business, as Philip subsequently met Lifesaver in the UK in early 2014 and negotiated the exclusive product distribution agreement for Ghana and West Africa with the intention to sell Lifesaver equipment to the Government of Ghana.
This was also the start of the African learning curve!
The Outcome
The First Green Financed Project in Africa
Fast forward 8 years, our first project, a contract with the Government of Ghana, has a value of €30million and will be fully delivered in 2023. This project will alleviate 280,000 people from daily water poverty and is funded by UKEF & HSBC as a LMA accredited Green Loan: the first green financing by UKEF & HSBC in Africa.
This project will be the largest commercial delivery of a rural water and revenue capture solution ever undertaken in Africa and will form the blueprint for Aqua Africa to deliver further projects in Ghana and across Sub-Sahara Africa.
Ghana is only the start for our business in Africa.