EAE News
Jibu H2.0: An alternative to consuming bottled water
10 de November de 2020
“There are now 10 million bottled drinks sold on the market every day".
Founded with two classmates by Diego Figueroa, a graduate of EAE Business School’s Master in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Jibu H2.O proposes a new more convenient and environmentally friendly way of consuming water.
Jibu H2.O originated as the Master’s Thesis presented by Diego Figueroa in the Master in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at EAE Business School in the 2018-2019 academic year, with his classmates Juan José Márquez Turanzas and Juan Miguel Da Silva Perfecto. They have been working on the project since then and it has now been selected for the entrepreneurial program EAE Lab. As Figueroa puts it, "the project originated as a response to the global problem of pollution resulting from the consumption of bottled water".
As the entrepreneur emphasized, this problem is growing in Spain, “to the extent that there are now 10 million bottled drinks sold on the market every day". The situation is just getting worse "because of the rise in the consumption of bottled water in the lockdown for Covid-19. In some supermarkets, sales of bottled water rose by up to 70%".
With his background in commercial management, customer service and leading teams and over eight years’ experience in the banking sector, Diego and his two partners decided to offer an alternative solution, through which water is consumed without plastic bottles but rather using refilling stations connected to the mains.
"The bottled water market invests a great a deal in marketing its image, while tap water is not seen as so attractive for consumers. We have to remember that things are accepted more widely when they are visually attractive ", explained Diego.
"We know that tap water is not sexy and that, in some places, there is a certain amount of distrust in terms of drinking it, so we have adopted a strategy that grabs the consumers’ attention. To achieve this, we have focused on the design of our refilling stations, visually highlighting the spaces the places where they are located, inspiring confidence through a premium design with certified filters to provide a quality product at an affordable price". He also explained that they are striving to generate a positive impact by conveying the message that “here, we drink water without any plastic”.
Through this system, the three founders offer their customers (companies and end users) what they refer to as triple satisfaction when they choose Jibu water: hydration, protecting the environment and helping communities without drinking water. To do so, they have two business models in place, one purely B2B and the other B2B2C: "In the former, the business bears the cost of implementing the refilling station and the maintenance through a monthly fee, while, in the second hybrid model, the business bears a lower cost and the end user pays a low price for the water".
Covid-19 has put the brakes in all the activities that they had scheduled. However, as Diego explained, “the circumstances have also given us the chance to reorganize ourselves and define strategies to implement in the future". Despite the uncertainty, the project team plans to end the year having installed 10 machines with 900 users, thereby avoiding the use of 57,000 plastic bottles.
Moreover, they are working with over 100 families without access to drinking water. Figueroa is convinced that sustainability will become an increasingly essential aspect for companies. "A feature that forms part of our team’s DNA is the mission that our business has to have a positive impact on society. He emphasized that “this generates a sense of pride throughout the organization at all levels, knowing that they are doing something positive for the planet".
The Jibu H2.0 project has recently been selected to take part in the second edition of Col·lab, the public accelerator of the Las Naves innovation centre of the Valencia City Council, along with fourteen other innovative ventures. This edition focuses on accelerating consolidated projects to enable them to gain traction and scale their business models. It will therefore provide great support for Jibu H2.0 and its team of founders.