20-foot container · 100 m³/day of safe drinking water · zero grid · 3 revenue streams in one box.
2 billion people lack safely managed drinking water. Africa captures 2% of its carbon credit potential. A 20 L bottle sells for $4 on Mombasa streets while real production cost is €0.50/m³. 400× arbitrage.
| Player | Tech | Geography | Price/unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boreal Light (DE) | Pure solar RO | Coastal Kenya | ~€100k |
| 1001 Fontaines (FR) | UV + filter, NGO | SE Asia (NOT Africa) | NGO, $0.01/L consumer |
| Genesis Water Tech (US) | Modular EC | US gov / muni | premium $$$ |
LORD whitespace: Francophone Africa (Senegal, Burkina, Madagascar, Côte d'Ivoire, Cameroon) + energy bundle. No one on this exact segment with cost + carbon stack.
| Component | Source | $ |
|---|---|---|
| RO 5 m³/h container 20FT | Xinshengtai (China) | 12,000 |
| PV 10 kWp + LiFePO4 40 kWh + inverter | LONGi/CATL | 11,700 |
| EC modular pre-treatment | KHN (China) | 3,500 |
| UV polish + container retrofit | local + China | 5,000 |
| Shipping + customs + commissioning | — | 9,000 |
| TOTAL landed | — | ~$41,200 ≈ €38k |
Triple revenue stream per unit: (1) WaaS water sales, (2) carbon credits, (3) energy bundling to mini-grids. See slide 4 — paired waste hub adds 2 more streams.
Same site, same crew, same financing. The only model demonstrably scaling waste in Africa is container + franchise + PPP municipal — Sanergy/Regen Organics, Sanivation, Sistema.bio. We mirror that for water+waste paired hubs.
| Stream | Source | €/year |
|---|---|---|
| WaaS water sales (existing) | €5/m³ × 36,500 m³ | 182,500 |
| Energy bundling (existing) | Surplus PV to mini-grid | 5,000 |
| Tipping fees | 100 t/mo × €8/t (PROMOGED-equiv tariffs) | ~10,000 |
| Biogas + digestate + PET bales | Local + Asia export buyers | ~12-18,000 |
| Article 6.2 ITMO premium (Senegal–Switzerland KliK Foundation) | 600-900 tCO₂e × $35-50/t | ~22-35,000 |
| Cluster gross add-on (waste-side only) | — | ~45-65,000 |
Reality check on carbon: VCM avoidance is structurally impaired post-Berkeley/ICVCM 2024-25 (cookstove credits over-credited 10×, 32% of methodologies failed CCP). The only credible carbon path is Switzerland-Senegal Article 6.2 KliK MOPA at $30-60/t — biogas/waste explicitly listed in the bilateral. Carbon = 5-10% of project economics, not the core.
| Module | Source | € |
|---|---|---|
| Anaerobic digesters 3× 6m³ tubular | Sistema.bio (active Senegal) / OSS ARTI / creativenergie | 8-15k |
| H₂S scrubber + pressure stack | Biogasclean / iron-sponge OSS | 3-8k |
| Plastic line (shredder + extruder + sheetpress) | Precious Plastic v4 Bazar (CC0) — proof-tier | 8-12k |
| PET flake mill + baler (export-grade) | Wisdom Ring / Nantong Jiabao (CN OEM) | 10-25k |
| IoT sensors + LoRa gateway + Grafana | OSS — yenthusiastic/EMRP19, henri98/LoRaWAN-Bin-Sensor, Home Assistant | 1-2k |
| Solar + LiFePO₄ battery (reuse LORD water spec) | LONGi/CATL | 12-20k |
| Container retrofit + HVAC + sorting bay | Local fab + Donaldson cartridge | 8-12k |
| MRV cert yr 1 — Verra AMS-III.F + Gold Standard audit | Verra / GS | 15-25k |
| TOTAL waste container landed | — | ~65-120k |
Payback waste-side standalone: 18-30 months at midpoint, fully aligned with existing water-unit 18-24 mo profile.
| Source | Assumption | €/year |
|---|---|---|
| WaaS water sales | €5/m³ (vs $200/m³ street) × 36,500 m³ | 182,500 |
| Carbon credits | 300 t CO₂ × €50/t (Verra VMR0015) | 15,000 |
| Surplus PV energy | Sale to mini-grid | 5,000 |
| Gross revenue | — | 202,500 |
| Maintenance (membrane, electrodes, UV) | — | 9,000 |
| Village operator (€200/mo) | — | 2,400 |
| Distribution + breakage + admin | — | 15,000 |
| Carbon certification (annual audit) | — | 3,000 |
| Total OPEX | — | 29,400 |
In B2B (unit sale at Boreal -35% = €65k): gross margin €25k/unit, no recurring. Hybrid model retained: 60% B2B (cash flow), 40% LORD-operated WaaS (recurring + carbon).
Reference Gold Standard project to duplicate — window opened by South Pole's reputation crisis (Kariba 2023-24).
| South Pole Cambodia metric | LORD Africa target |
|---|---|
| 179 solar UV devices installed | 3 RO/EC pilot units (Q1 2027) |
| 220,000 beneficiaries | 9,000 → 100,000 over 3 years |
| 1,600 people / device / month | 3,000+ per 100 m³/day container |
| Standard: Gold Standard + UNFCCC CDM | Verra VMR0015 + Gold Standard TPDDTEC |
| Micro-entrepreneur model (1001F-style) | Same — village operators |
| Geo: Cambodia, 19 / 24 provinces targeted | Senegal + Burkina + Madagascar (Francophone Africa whitespace) |
LORD edge vs South Pole: more advanced hardware (RO+EC vs UV alone) treats brackish + heavy metals + fluoride — where UV fails. Fresh brand vs tarnished South Pole.
| Channel | Type | Ticket / status |
|---|---|---|
| GCF SAP via CSE Sénégal direct access | Climate fund (multi-sector) | ≤ $25M · pre-screening 27 May 2026 |
| KliK Foundation MOPA — Article 6.2 ITMO Sénégal-Suisse | Pre-financing carbon | $30-60/tCO₂e · 30-50% upfront standard |
| EU LIFE Circular Economy SAP 2026 | EU grant (waste/circular) | €79M envelope · deadline 22 Sept 2026 · need EU partner |
| FFEM — pollution / One Health thematic | FR co-finance up to 50% | €0.5-2M · rolling thematic call |
| AFD / Proparco Choose Africa | Private DFI | €1-7.5M equity/debt · rolling |
| AfDB Climate Action Window (CfP4 expected Q3-Q4 2026) | DFI mitigation | $3-5M · concept window opening |
| AfDB ACEF — Africa Circular Economy Facility | Grants + TA | Route via AfDB direct (skip Coca-Cola Foundation) |
| Aqua for All — Making Water Count 2026-2030 | Acceleration program (water-side) | €50-500k |
| Conrad N. Hilton Foundation — Safe Water | CSR grant (Africa water specialist) | $500k - $2M |
| Sub-contract on PROMOGED Sénégal / WB Kinshasa | Public-procurement piggyback | via UCG / Dakar municipality / PROMOGED unit |
| UNGM (UNICEF/UNDP) LTA | UN public procurement | Level 1: $40-500k per contract |
Seed €350-500k for 3 pilots (3 × €38k hardware + field team + Verra certification + marketing).
Use of funds: 40% hardware, 25% team (1 water engineer, 1 BD Africa), 20% certification & monitoring, 15% reserve.
Pre-money valuation: to discuss on full financial deck under NDA.