Transforming Access to Life-Changing Products in Rural Communities
The Impact-Linked Fund for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (ILF for WASH) is driving change by supporting WASH-focused enterprises across Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Middle East & North Africa (MENA). We’re thrilled to spotlight Bidhaa Sasa, one of the pioneering enterprises selected to receive an Impact-Linked Loan (ILL).
Empowering Rural Communities: Bidhaa Sasa’s Mission for Climate-Resilient Solutions
Bidhaa Sasa started with solar and cooking products and later added offerings in the water and food space. They are on a mission to make life-improving climate adaptation and mitigation products accessible to low-income rural customers—whether it’s providing water tanks that enable households to collect and store clean rainwater or reducing exposure to hazardous cooking fuels with efficient cookstoves. Their direct-to-consumer model ensures affordability and accessibility where it’s needed most.
Breaking Barriers in Last-Mile WASH Solutions: Insights from Bidhaa Sasa’s Co-Founder & Director
In this interview, Rocio Perez-Ochoa, Co-Founder & Director of Bidhaa Sasa, shares her insights: “Aqua for All was the first-ever funder to recognise the value of our water tanks—when no other capital provider had cared about our WASH solution before. Typically, investors look only at large utility models such as ATMs or piped water infrastructure, but these don’t work in our last-mile context. Even before co-founding Bidhaa Sasa, I believed that typical Western-based approaches wouldn’t work for last-mile distribution in developing countries. You need to go to your client.
We have received an Impact-Linked Loan, and I appreciate that the interest rate and the incentives are linked and aligned. Usually, it’s the exact opposite: Investors want the full triple bottom line performance but are not ready to sacrifice any returns. Their motto is “no trade-offs, please”. With ILF, however, both sides win, the entrepreneur and the investor”.
Traditional investors often focus on large-scale infrastructure, but Bidhaa Sasa is proving that last-mile solutions can make a world of difference.
Read the entire interview here and find out more about Bidhaa Sasa’s background and profile by checking out their Transaction snapshot