Sowlis, Inc.

Sowlis, Inc. provides clean energy and water to communities through a modular box unit. We are currently in rural Rwanda but are applicable in any community with a need for clean water. Each unit provides Tier-1 electricity and 27 liters of purified water to 232 families for $0.12/family/day.

In Rwanda, 8.5 million people struggle to access clean water and are forced to rely on hand-dug holes polluted by contaminants. Additionally, USAID estimates that as of 2017, over 7 million individuals lack access to electricity, forcing the use of polluting energy sources such as kerosene stoves, gasoline/diesel generators and biomass. The result is that the majority of people suffer from waterborne illnesses and remain heavily restricted from developing. While efforts to improve electric grids are in place, these methods have the potential to raise the already high lighting cost of $0.43/day to even higher rates

Powered by solar energy, OffGridBox is a single-unit system that serves 1,160 people (~232 families) on a daily basis. Each box provides tier-1 renewable electricity in the form of a 40Wh battery pack and 27 liters of purified water to each family where none currently exists. The World Bank estimates an average monetary lighting cost (i.e. including neither travel time nor negative externalities) of $0.43/day, where we can provide the same service in addition to sanitary water for just $0.12/day - eliminating water- and foodborne disease, providing connectivity and incentivizing community inclusiveness

OffGridBox strives to bring renewable electricity and purified water to Sub-Saharan Africans who do not have proper access to clean water or electricity. Our entry market will be the 8.5 million Rwandans who fall into this under-served population, with a goal to impact 20% (1.7 million) by 2021. Installed in community centers, the OffGridBox charges battery packs which can power 3 LED-bulbs, charge 2 mobile phones and filters sufficient water for daily use. Our modular design allows for innumerable applications, as there will always be a need for sustainable, reliable energy services.

Ensure proper installation of first 15 boxes in August 2017 by having an on-ground team oversee deployments and remotely track the number of daily users, incentivizing box-staffers to bring in more customers through commission + base salaries - Supply 17,000 underprivileged Rwandans with adequate amounts of sanitary drinking, cooking and hygiene water

Track growth of users of each box via remote monitoring system and carefully manage future deployments to ensure proper launch of each system

- Serve 20% of the in-need population of Rwanda by 2021

Keep records of new employees and oversee training programs; record growth rates of customers per box and track daily usage stats - Successfully train and hire 2-3 local women per unit

OffGridBox is the first and only system that combats three significant issues plaguing developing countries, lack of sanitary water, sustainable and reliable electricity and women employment, in a self-contained unit. We have made our solution human-centric and focus on community inclusiveness and women empowerment in order to have the greatest possible impact. Moreover, unlike our niche market competitors, our product incorporates modular capabilities that can be applied to innumerable solutions. For example, a desalination component makes the OffGridBox an ideal candidate for coastal cities, and our drip irrigation mod can be used to combat desertification in isolated, drought-stricken countries.

Through NGO partnerships, we hire 2 - 3 women directly from the local communities we serve to act as “shopkeepers” for our boxes by managing services and handling daily wire transfers of revenues to our office. Other shopkeeper responsibilities will include teaching communities about the benefits of sustainable living and training for using mobile payment services. Our product is a shared device that serves communities at-large; all who partake gain valuable knowledge in producing and consuming energy sustainably and drink from the same source.This practice ensures that the communities remain in touch with the developing technology and are ultimately self-sufficient.

We have based our business model on a Pay-As-You-Go (PAYG) system rather than selling a $15,000 product upfront to a community, burdening them with long-term debt. For a daily fee of $0.12 (100 RWF), up to 232 families (1,160 people total) may receive a fully charged battery pack plus the additional 27 liters of purified water for no extra cost. Because any inability to pay the $0.12 fee is simply faced with a restriction of services for that particular day, OffGridBox enacts no forcible seizures and can continue to service its communities throughout economic hardships.

Thus far, OffGridBox has distributed 28 boxes in 8 countries, 14 of which were supplied to NGO’s and 14 to private owners, in addition to a pilot program in Bugesera, Rwanda, generating a total of approximately $500k in revenues. We have also raised an additional $800,000 in funding from angel investors and revenue sharing agreements that has given us runway for the next 7 months. In February 2018, OffGridBox will undergo its Series A round targeting VCs with a pre-money valuation of $10-$15 million. Continuing to be successful in our goal of deploying 1,500 boxes for 1.7 million people by 2021, we will achieve revenues in July 2018 of $321,217. Our longer projections indicate that we will generate $6.5 million in revenues by 2019 and $14 million by 2020 while applying for grants and awards in the meantime as additional sources of funds

The largest limiting factor to growing our technology remains our dependency on an initial water source to filter from. However, that being said, we are well-equipped to handle even the most polluted sources of water - whether it be dirty ocean water or sedimentary-heavy lagoons. Our primary filters are capable of filtering turbidity and organic pollution, and we have interchangeable filters that we can employ for heavy metals (mercury, lead, etc.), hydrocarbons (gasoline, diesel) and chemical pollutants (chlorine, organohalides, etc.). Furthermore, communities are nearly always built around an existing water source, leaving us confident in our systems’ continued success.

http://www.venturefizz.com/blog/offgridbox-boston-startup-providing-renewable-energy-and-clean-water-developing-countries

http://bostinno.streetwise.co/2017/05/03/top-startups-at-techstars-boston-demo-day-2017-funding-news/

http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2017/04/27/fourteen-local-startups-that-could-make-life-better/tL9dIVjnSq3wC2x2x5o8bN/story.html

We are applying to Solve to tackle the issue of sanitary water access in developing urban cities and beyond - and we see this group of experienced and well-connected professionals offers an ideal platform to engage our ambitions. We want to achieve a dynamic shift in the way the world views solutions for water and electricity supply, and we strive to educate communities on the paramount importance of consuming and producing sustainably in everyday life. Through Solve, we hope to gain further partnerships instrumental in the continued success of our goals into the far future.

Innotech, Komera, Women for Women, Progetto Rwanda, Unyax Eco, Elerai,

Sustainable Harvest, Tembo and Oxfam.

Juabar, True Solar USA, Renewit, Greenlight Planet, D.light, OffGrid Electric, BBOXX