Startup distributes water filters in brewery pilot program

Startup Água Camelo, which distributes water filter and storage kits, expanded its operation at the end of last year to Aldeia Mutum, in Acre, and Morro da Providência, in Rio de Janeiro, in a pilot project that takes place at Ambev’s Accelerator 100+.

The innovation company was one of those selected last year by the brewery program, alongside Afroimpacto, Aterra, Diversidade.io, Inspectral, IQX, Recigases, TRC Sustentável and Via Floresta. In addition to training and mentoring, participating startups have the chance to receive contributions throughout the program.

The locations were chosen because of their discrepancies and are undergoing methodology reviews. It is the third group contemplated by the initiative, at a time when the ESG agenda (the acronym in English for the environmental, social and governance principles) is gaining strength.

Founded in August 2020, the startup distributes kits that carry a portable water filter, a wall bracket and a use and maintenance manual for people in vulnerable situations. According to the founders, the filter is valid for 10 years: to clean it, simply pass the water through the opposite flow.

“Many times, to change the filter candle, a person has to make such a large displacement that he ends up leaving it aside and drinking water that is not fit to be consumed”, says one of the founders of the startup, Rodrigo Belli.

Each kit is offered for R$500 —in which the company’s profit is already embedded—, but the end consumer always receives it for free. In the beginning, individuals and companies sponsored beneficiaries, but today the startup has changed its business model.

“There are a lot of companies looking at this as a service they want to hire,” says Belli. Therefore, the focus is currently on offering this solution to large companies, usually those that want to promote some social impact.

Reaching the Amazon was a goal for the group, especially for João Manuel Piedrafita, an Acre who grew up in contact with indigenous communities under the influence of his parents — his mother works with extractivists and his father is an anthropologist.

The company has remunerated strategic partners at the sites, such as leaders and social workers, to ensure the arrival and use of the kit.

“We understood that, to scale our business, we would need to have people at the end who already had a fixed exchange with the community”, says Piedrafita.

The startup idea began at the design faculty at PUC-Rio, where the three childhood friends met again, and took shape in 2020, when they distributed more than 500 kits. Today the number exceeds 800.

“We understand that it could be a way to mitigate the effects of the pandemic. There was a lot of talk about washing their hands, but there were people who didn’t have water at home”, says Belli. The third founder of the brand is Daniel Ilg Leite.

The choice of structuring a company, and not an NGO, was also considered.

“Profit makes us able to put gasoline into this gear. With money we can revert even more money to the company, grow and generate more impact. We don’t want to depend on donations or external money, we want to generate our own money”, says Belli.