Various approaches to the problem have been tried out with varying degrees of success in addressing the needs of the poor. ‘Making Markets Work for the Poor’, an approach for engaging private sector in creating wealth for the poor has been strongly advocated by Urs Heierli, economist and development practitioner. Other researchers refer to it as an emerging market model of "Doing good by doing good business". Taking inspiration from the "market based approach to development", TARA has designed a solution to the problem of providing safe drinking water to the BoP households.

To design and implement a sustainable solution, it is critically important to first understand the consumer mindset and the prevalent market conditions. Even though the BoP segment is not homogenous (rural v/s urban, cultural differences etc.) there are more similarities than differences. This community generally has low levels of literacy/education. There is also gender imbalance as it is primarily a male dominated society. The average monthly income of these households is about Rs. 4000 – Rs 6000. As a result, these families have low disposable incomes and very little risk taking ability. They have a stronger focus on water availability issues than on water safety. However, with the exposure to the television and radio, these communities, too, have become aspirational.

Under these conditions, providing appropriate water purification solutions to the BoP is a hard nut to crack. The available solutions (low-cost water purifiers, boiling) are not affordable and the affordable solutions (chlorine tablets provided by the government) are not reliable. TARA, in partnership with IPSOS Research Pvt Ltd and Antenna Technologies, has developed a framework to design and implement a really sustainable solution. It deals with 3 aspects that need to be taken into consideration simultaneously:

Based on this framework, TARA has developed Aqua+. It is a 50ml bottle of Sodium Hypochlorite solution (liquid chlorine) that provides safe drinking water to a BoP household at Re. 1 per day. It is also very easy to use (add 2 drops per litre; wait for 30 mins; water is now safe to drink). It is an aspirational product as it provides the BoP households with "filter-like" water in a cost-effective manner.

Our 2-fold go-to-market strategy is to tap into existing delivery channels that have already been trusted by the community thus making it easier for the entry level acquisition of customers. On one hand, we tie-up with Social Enterprises and use their network as a starting point, with the aim to stock the product at every chemist, grocery shop etc. On the other hand, we tap into the government distribution network of ASHA and Angawadi workers for the dissemination of information on Aqua+. Trust is the key to establish reliability. Our solution is sustainable because of the value proposition it offers to the consumers and the channel partners. For the consumer, the solution is affordable, easy-to-use, readily available and aspirational. For the channel partner, it is an opportunity to create social impact in a risk-free and profitable manner (40% margin). TARA is also developing a Social Marketing Toolkit to create demand for Aqua+. This toolkit includes a message to convince people to use Aqua+ to purify their drinking water.

TARA is now implementing this framework to scale-up Aqua+ as it aims to provide 1 million people with safe drinking water over the next 3 years. q