Princeton’s Circle of Women chapter has been working on creating a sustainable, revenue-generating venture to implement with Project Ullapara in Bangladesh. We have come up with a venture called “Skywater,” which uses a roof-collection technology to access rainwater to then be pasteurized, stored, and sold to local businesses. Skywater will use the Circle of Women school building to aid in the rainwater collection, and the water will be stored in water tanks on the facility’s property. In joining with Circle of Women, Skywater will serve a dual purpose in facilitating the accessibility of water and giving female students business acumen and training through vocational training associated with the project.
Skywater offers safe, healthy, local, and affordable water to buyers in the local area who are in desperate need for a reliable source of arsenic-free water. IN 1970, Bangladesh drilled millions of tube wells to provide villagers with clean water but many of these wells were dug into shallow layers of the ground containing naturally occurring arsenic. Since then, 77 million people, half of Bangladesh’s population, have been exposed to toxic levels of arsenic. Skywater addresses an urgent need in Bangladesh and will do more than just make drinking water more available to those consumers who desperately need it. Skywater will also empower the local community by easing the burdens that fall on them in times of low water supply by providing a reliable source of clean water.
Through our venture “Skywater,” Circle of Women aims to address the dual issues of arsenic contamination in the water sources of rural Bangladesh and women’s empowerment through education. We believe that investing in women and girls’ education and health is the most powerful force for positive change within a community and creates a ripple effect for future generations. We are dedicated to making a difference in the health and quality of the lives of many rural Bangladeshis through our 360-degree model of women’s empowerment.
Circle of Women entered Skywater in the Princeton 2011 Green Business Plan Competition and our venture has made it to the Semi-Final Round. We will present our venture to a panelist of judges on Saturday, February 26th at 10:30am at Princeton University and then will be notified if we move onto the final round, which will take place during the afternoon of the 26th. The winner of the competition receives $10,000 in start-up funds!
