When refugees escape war and persecution, one of their first needs is water. The United Nations trucks in emergency supplies, then digs wells. That’s expensive. Enter Kori Chilibeck and his revolutionary bottled water company. Chilibeck, 28, is the president and CEO of Earth Water International. Based in Edmonton, the company launched on October 29, 2004, and its product is available at more than 250 retailers across Canada – and counting.
What led you into selling bottled water? It was an evolutionary process that started when I was still a student. I’d go to school for a semester and then take a semester off and travel. I went to 32 different countries and realized there’s a huge issue with lack of safe drinking water worldwide. In fact, the UN just released new numbers showing that 5,000 children a day die from lack of safe drinking water.
Your company is structured as a for-profit but operates as a non-profit, giving all profits to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. How does that work? We redefined the traditional business model with what we’ve done. We’re incorporated in Canada as a for-profit business, but we have a legal document with the UNHCR – which is quite long and complicated – that states we agree to donate 100% of our net profits back to their organization. They then distribute the funds according to where they see a need.
Do you have any say in how or where the funding is spent? We have a say, but the ultimate decision-making comes down to the UN. They have a better understanding of exactly where the funding is needed the most. We’ll have more of a say with the more money we donate.
What kind of impact do you foresee Earth Water having, both as a business and a means of addressing what some call a global crisis? Right now the “Big Three” water distributors – Pepsi, Coke and Nestle – have about 85% of a $46 billion bottled water industry. If we can garner even a small fraction of that market, it’ll make a huge difference in money for aid. Our ultimate goal is to eliminate the water shortage in the world. Even though that might be a complicated process, water is simple. There’s enough for everyone, it’s just a matter of making it accessible. Last year the UNHCR distributed about $10 million in aid money. Our goal has been to be able to supply $1.2 million by 2010 and now we know we’re going to exceed that; in fact, we expect to triple that goal. Ultimately, we want 5% of the world market-share of bottled water. That way we can provide $1.2 billion in aid money. That’s enough to supply every man, woman and child on the planet with clean drinking water. U
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