Growing up in Limuru, Kenya, 2023 Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate and entrepreneur Beth Koigi was surrounded by lush greenery. With the fresh wetland Manguo swamp and rain-blessed hills nearby, clean water was ever-present. So, when she attended university in the dry region of Tharaka County, Kenya, Koigi was taken aback. “Coming from a place where you drink as much as you want, you do whatever you want with water, to a region where even the rivers have dried up was a culture shock.” Koigi says. There, her tap water was pumped directly from a river or borehole and contained soil and other debris. In response, Koigi took it upon herself to design a simple and affordable filtration system that removed particles and bacteria. Seeing the need that others had for the device, she began to sell it.

Travelling around the country with her filtration system, Koigi discovered a deeper issue. Many people did not have access to any water, let alone water that could be cleaned. In Kenya, an estimated 50 per cent of the population does not have access to clean drinking water. Urban populations face regular rationing, and women and children in rural areas are often forced to walk vast distances to find it. Without safe water resources, people are at risk of deadly diseases like cholera, diarrhoea and typhoid.

Koigi knew more had to be done. In 2017, alongside Canadian environmental scientist Anastasia Kaschenko and Oxford economist Clare Sewell, she co-founded Majik Water, a social enterprise which instals solar-powered devices that extract water from the air and make it drinkable. Today, Majik Water has deployed 20 high volume and 10 small scale machines that produce over 200,000 litres of water a month.

The atmosphere has a surprising potential for providing freshwater, and is estimated to contain six times as much water as all the Earth’s rivers combined. Koigi’s atmospheric water generators (AWG) take advantage of this. The machines pull in air and pass it over a very cold surface. Like a cool glass of lemonade sat outside on a hot day, water droplets condense on the surface. These are collected and stored. When the water is required for drinking, it is run through a filtration system. “When you get water from the atmosphere,” Koigi explains, “it’s basically water with nothing, it’s identical to distilled water.” To make it drinkable, the machines also add healthy minerals like calcium and magnesium to the water. Although the technology works best in higher humidity, Majik Water is deploying its machines in semi-arid and arid regions where the water is needed the most. “There’s always some level of humidity in the air, it’s just that it varies,” Koigi points out. Even at 30 per cent humidity, they can collect water for people to drink.

Koigi’s next venture is establishing a series of water kiosks in the heart of one of the largest refugee camps in Africa; Kakuma Refugee Camp and Kalobeyei Integrated Settlement, located in the extremely arid region of Turkana, Kenya. With support from the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, Majik Water has already set up the first water kiosk in the camp by installing an AWG in an existing shop so customers can buy water at a reasonable price along with their usual items. The system pays for its own operating costs, “and at the same time, pays the shopkeeper”, explains Koigi. As well as partnering with a local shopkeeper and solar energy providers in the region, the team have trained two electricians on the ground on how to do the basic maintenance.

As a 2023 Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate, Koigi will receive support from the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative in scaling up Majik Water in Kakuma and Kalobeye. Following the first water kiosk, the team plans to install 10 solar-powered AGWs, each with the capacity to produce 500 litres of water every day.

Ultimately, Koigi hopes to help communities become self-sufficient and resilient against the warming climate. Koigi also recognizes that the time is now to develop and accelerate her technology, having seen the lush Manguo swamp of her hometown dry up during a recent drought. Creating a future where people can adapt is a key part of Koigi’s work, and there is no resource more needed than clean water.

ABOUT THE PERPETUAL PLANET INITIATIVE

For nearly a century, Rolex has supported pioneering explorers pushing back the boundaries of human endeavour. The company has moved from championing exploration for the sake of discovery to protecting the planet, committing for the long term to support individuals and organizations using science to understand and devise solutions to today’s environmental challenges.

This engagement was reinforced with the launch of the Perpetual Planet Initiative in 2019, which includes the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, as well as long-standing partnerships such as Mission Blue and the National Geographic Society, or younger organizations such as Coral Gardeners, among a pool of over 30 partners.

As one of the pillars of the Perpetual Planet Initiative, the Rolex Awards continue to expand their portfolio, which includes projects from Grégoire Courtine’s groundbreaking technologies to treat spinal cord injury, to Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim’s work with indigenous people to map natural resources and prevent climate conflicts in the Sahel.

Rolex also supports organizations and initiatives fostering the next generations of explorers, scientists and conservationists through scholarships and grants, such as Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society and The Rolex Explorers Club Grants.