In Kenya, where access to safe drinking water remains a daily challenge for millions, Purefresh is driving change with an affordable solution. The water distribution company serves low- and middle-income households by providing clean, potable water through a network of over 150 vending outlets, at prices more accessible than many other water service providers.
How Purefresh Delivers Clean Water to Kenya’s Underserved
Purefresh’s model is simple but powerful: raw water is sourced from boreholes and purified through a rigorous four-step process to eliminate all organic and inorganic contaminants. The water is then trucked to outlets across underserved areas, helping bridge the gap in a country where only 65% of the population had access to water services in 2022/2023, and just 62% of providers met quality benchmarks.
To expand its impact, Purefresh has partnered with the Impact-Linked Fund for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (ILF for WASH), an innovative financing programme co-designed by Aqua for All and Roots of Impact.
The company was selected to receive a Simple Agreement for Future Impact (SAFI), an innovative loan designed to reward impact creation. Under this model, both the principal repayment and the yearly interest rate are directly linked to the impact the enterprise achieves. Repayment takes the form of a revenue-sharing agreement, allowing entrepreneurs to grow their solutions while repaying gradually in line with their revenue and demonstrated impact.
Piloting for Impact: Purefresh’s Path to Scalable Water Solutions
Purefresh’s goal is to reach more households in regions with high fluoride levels in groundwater, areas where safe water is not just a need, but a health imperative. With SAFI support, Purefresh plans to roll out at least 15 new cashless water outlets in more impactful regions, building the evidence base needed to scale sustainably.
Scaling Impact, Sharing Innovation
We spoke with Antony Kamotho, Managing Director of Purefresh, about his experience with SAFI:
“We always felt something was missing in the market—a model that supports evolving ideas. ILF for WASH gave us the space to experiment and rewarded us for success. It is a well-thought-through approach that rewards your progress, is patient, and gives you the flexibility to scale an impactful solution”.
Kamotho also praised the Impact-Linked Finance Readiness Bootcamp, which helped his team navigate the metrics system and align their goals with measurable outcomes. With nearly 15 years in the water and sanitation sector, he sees SAFI as a game-changer, not just for Purefresh, but for the broader ecosystem of impact-driven enterprises.
“I would like Purefresh to be an affordable, accessible, and convenient place for all communities to access safe drinking water. To achieve this, our model has to be easily replicable across different geographic areas. My dream is to work on converting these technologies and make them open source. Then I can help other entrepreneurs to refine and scale them across the continent much faster than we at Purefresh can do alone”.
A Blueprint for Water Innovation in Kenya
As Kenya continues to tackle water access challenges, Purefresh’s journey offers a promising blueprint for how innovation, partnership, and smart finance can transform the sector—one outlet at a time.
Read the interview with Purefresh about their experience with SAFI here and check out the transaction snapshot here.
SAFI is a powerful tool to support agile entrepreneurial innovators. Curious to learn more?
Dive into the details on SAFI explained by Roots of Impact.