At only 20 years old, the young Kenyan Joel Mwale heads the Skydrop companies. Founded in December 2009, Skydrop is a rainwater recovery and filtration company that produces purified water at low cost. The company produces and markets bottles of drinking water and dairy products across Kenya and Uganda.
It was at age 18, when he was undergoing treatment for dysentery caused by contaminated water in his village, that Mwale set himself the goal of finding a way to resolve this health problem. Once recovered, the young man armed with his knowledge of physics and with his meager means, dug a well on a farm. The well, which was used to supply more than 100 people, has significantly reduced the infection rate.
Given the proportions that this project was taking, he wanted to go further by providing drinking water to all Kenyans. However, he will face financial difficulties, first for his studies, then to help his mother. But one day, fate led him to the providential source. “I was walking in my village. It was raining, and I saw water gushing from the ground. So I figured it would be nice to find a way to get that water, store it in a tank and purify it for sale, “he said. Skydrop was born.
Having become famous, Mwale won the Anzisha Prize for African leaders aged 15-20 in 2011, an award that recognizes the innovation of young African entrepreneurs. He was recently cited among the best young African entrepreneurs under 30, according to the 2016 Forbes ranking.
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