EAE News
-
Start Today - Voces EAE
In Life and in Business: "Be Water, My Friend"
28 de May de 2021
There’s nothing as malleable as water: it takes the form of its container — be it an infinite pool or a crystal bottle. There’s nothing as vital as water: without it, we wouldn't even be here.
This liquid element can teach us many things in every aspect of life and, of course, in the world of business. The way it can flow freely or channeled. There’s no crack it won’t filter through, bringing life to every corner it spreads to. In these times, where creativity and adaptation become more necessary than ever, water can be an infinite source of inspiration for entrepreneurs. In fact, it can inspire people to solve the problem of water itself. According to the UN, more than 700 million people don’t have access to drinkable water and, every year, approximately 3.5 million people die in the world due to this problem or to water-related problems.
For Diego A. Figueroa, Juan Miguel da Silva and Juan José Márquez —founders of Jibu h2o, the launching of their brand was met with all sorts of challenges. They’ve had to find that inspiration we were talking about in order to adapt to the context in which they found themselves. Each of these “creative affluents” came from a different country: Peru, Philippines and Mexico. Their lives, like rivers, converged in Barcelona. They met in 2018, at EAE Business School, where Juanjo and Diego were studying the Máster de Innovación y Emprendimiento and Miguel was doing his IMBA.
Before water, they were having coffees and beers after their meals together — ”more beers than coffee”, they recall. That’s how they forged their friendship and came up with ideas for future projects. And it was also in this way that they got their ambitious and avant-garde idea: changing the world by changing the way in which we consume water. Jibu’s ambition is to bring quality, filtered and aiding water everywhere while reducing the use of plastic. We had a virtual coffee with Diego Figueroa and talked about this business challenge that’s also a social and personal challenge.
They say these are not good times for entrepreneurship...
I can name the challenges we’ve had to face: being in a different country, having a team that starts from scratch, limited economic resources, the Covid-19 pandemic, the lockdowns… However, we’ve been able to hold it together and bounce back from every single challenge thanks to how driven our team was.
What is it like to take that leap of faith in a foreign country where you have been for a relatively short time? Since 2018, to be precise.
Undertaking a project without a contact network is a real challenge. In our respective countries, it may have been easier to know who to go to, which supplier is more convenient, what’s the fastest way. That’s why it took us a while to develop our business strategy and implement our actions in a lean way to finally get to the point where things run on their own.
Let’s talk about water. I mean, its value and principles.
We’ve been betting on sustainability and social responsibility from the start. They are part of the company’s DNA. In this way, since then, every decision that we make is done in an organic way, taking more things into account rather than just numbers.
So much so, that you address social issues as well.
From the very beginning, one of the issues we wanted to address was how to embark on a venture that had a triple impact. As every other business, we seek profitability, but we also want to contribute to reduce climate change by being a sustainable alternative and, finally, we want to have a social impact through different actions in certain communities.
Therefore, we set out to donate water filters to communities that don’t have access to drinkable water, organise awareness sessions for young people and children in order to strengthen the values of the “citizens of the future”, take part in beach cleaning activities and many others that address the environmental and social issues — and all of this comes from a percentage of the company’s profits.
Water doesn’t discriminate.
Social responsibility, which is engrained in the company’s DNA, has led them to put themselves in the shoes of all sorts of people and made them adapt to the different needs. For example, during the water dispensers prototype design phase, they’ve had to face a variety of aesthetic and ergonomic challenges. Juanjo, who is responsible for design and innovation, led the changes in the model in order to leave no one out of the game. “Water doesn't discriminate”, he told his partners. And, with this in mind, they remodeled Jibu’s Refilling Stations in order to make it accessible for people with reduced mobility. “We are very focused on generating positive impact. We focus on the user and we want to improve people’s quality of life by playing our part”.
When we think of water, the plastic bottle is the first thought that comes to most people’s mind.
Regarding this, for us, the question was: “Why is it that such an essential and fundamental resource must be inevitably linked to such a harmful element as the plastic bottle?” That’s the reason for which we keep on putting in the effort every day, in order to have a positive impact and offer a more responsible, sustainable and convenient alternative to drink water. When Jibu h2o came up, in a Master’s final assignment, the idea was different. The thing that has been there since the beginning is the problem we want to address: pollution caused by the massive consumption of plastic bottles. We are seeing a slow but increasing amount of actions being taken to reduce the use of such bottles. However, there’s still a very long way to go. We’re lucky enough to have come across organisations that are very aware of this and that value initiatives like the one put forward by Jibu h2o: turning all their spaces into “plastic free”. But we understand that the current context makes everything move more slowly. Anyways, we keep exploring and trying to find different organisations in Barcelona and Valencia that are willing to push forward social responsibility policies and that seek to contribute to SDGs. We like to think that a big wave is starting to form and that, at Jibu h2o, we are swimming hard to catch it and surf it.
Changing the way we think is crucial.
No doubt about it. And in order to do it, we must communicate good practices — transmit the message in a positive way so that people can empathise. It’s not the same to say “don’t use plastic bottles because its wrong!” than saying “you can use a reusable bottle, refill it in the Refilling Stations and you’d be doing your part”. Nowadays, people are more aware of what they consume and the big problem we face with pollution. However, even if we come up with a very good solution, it won’t become a habit if it’s not of easy access. People just won’t pay attention to it. In this sense, working with local governments is crucial in order to create a network and be closer to the users. Currently, for example, the concept of mobility is in everyone’s mouth. The more electric charging stations across the city, the more chances there are of people using and charging electric cars. Well, the Refilling Stations are the same, instead of providing cars with energy, they provide people with fresh water, reducing the consumption of bottled water. To achieve this, we need the help of local governments.
Geolocation and Traceability of Consumption.
Let’s do an exercise: let’s imagine that, in order to reduce pollution, you decide to get a reusable bottle and stop buying plastic water bottles. One morning, you’re about to go out and walk around your city but, first, you fill your bottle at home: that’s one less plastic bottle you use. After a couple of hours, your bottle is empty. If you had the chance to locate a water source, one that you know has filtered water you can trust and that you know tastes good and is fresh, you’d walk up to it and refill your bottle: second plastic bottle you are not using. Later that day, you go to the gym to do some cardio and... Surprise! Another Jibu Refilling Station! Perfect to stay hydrated while you do your exercises: third plastic bottle you are not using. That’s three less plastic bottles in one day! Consumption traceability is important for this little achievement to start taking shape. Not just at an individual level, but also in organisations and communities. In this way, those 3 bottles, in one day, can turn into 600 bottles per office per month or 35,000 bottles in one year. And, why not? 3 million bottles in one town.
From those beers after their meals, this idea was born — an idea that Jibu’s creators have turned into a reality and have taken the time to explain to us in this “virtual coffee”. With sustainability and social responsibility as their guiding light, they make it very clear that a business in the 21st century can't look the other way when it comes to the problems that society is facing. Their fundamental purpose is to solve them. And what bigger challenge than climate change?
