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Published on: 04/07/2008

During the 1990s, IWADCO (then known as Inpart Engineering) invested US$350,000 over a 5-year period in low-income communities. Raising this amount, which enabled IWADCO to deliver water to 125,000 people either through piped connections or hose connections from storage tanks, wasn't easy. Commercial banks refused to give loans, forcing Ms. Mejia to lend from relatives and other nonbank lenders, often at usurious rates of 5%-15% interest per month.

Ms. Mejia took this risk knowing that IWADCO can recover its costs and even earn profits because people were willing to pay for water. With its US$100,000 investment (around US$30-40 per household), IWADCO sold 30,000 cubic meters (m3) of water in a month, serving over 3,000 households.

Since then, governments have shown increasing interest in partnering with small enterprises for water supply provision. With its extensive experience, IWADCO stands out as one of the most viable and trustworthy partners in the water sector.

In August 2007, Ms Mejia became president of the National Water and Sanitation Association of the Philippines (NAWASA), a new organization of small-scale private water providers (SSPWPs) in the country.

When asked what where the most important lessons she had learned, Ms Meija mentioned:

  • the need to create a strong relationship with partners (local government and other SSPWPs),
  • the need to work together to be able to appeal more strongly to donors, the government, and big private companies for support, especially for greater access to cheaper and accessible financing, and
  • the need to learn from collective experience, use better technologies, and become more efficient and sustainable water providers.

Source: Cezar Tigno, Water Champion: Elsa Mejia - Small Private Providers at the Water Front, ADB, June 2008

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