Our design oraganization designed a social enterprise combining the sale of pure drinking water with wellness products in low-income communities in Nairobi, Kenya. The result of this project ultimately comprised of creating a strong brand identity, called SmartLife, coupled with a high touch subscription service for clean water, hygiene and nutrition products such as vitamins for children.

With nearly 3.5 million people dying each year from water-related disease and an estimated 1.7 million children under the age of five dying, annually, from diarrheal disease, communities all across the world are in the midst of a global water, hygiene and nutrition crisis. To tackle this crisis, we used a human-centered design approach aimed at creating a unified and market-based solution. Through interviews and in-depth contextual understanding, we were able to see firsthand the core issues and rapidly iterate on possible solutions.

Following extensive prototyping, SmartLife was launched in two different Nairobi neighborhoods. We can gauge the success of this social enterprise from quantitatively monitoring the number of households reached and qualitatively hearing customer testimonials.

Read the full case study with juror comments here: [http://www.aiga.org/case-study-smartlife/]

“People matter and giving them control over their own situation is powerful. SmartLife integrates a community by solving their problems in a way that offers not only clean water, but also a system and business in which they all participate.” —Cameron Campbell