2022 was a quite a year for Saha! Our growth and expansion allowed us to welcome new teammates, open new offices, and launch new clean water businesses throughout Northern Ghana. Below, we share a few of our favorite highlights from the year. We are so proud of our hard-working team for making them possible!
- We opened 100 clean water businesses in 2022.
This year, Saha had its largest annual impact to date by opening 100 new clean water businesses…that’s more than eight businesses a month! We scouted geographic regions where local communities didn’t have safe drinking water sources and worked alongside community leaders and entrepreneurs to open a clean water business that met the communities’ needs while remaining sustainable. Thanks to our field team members—who provide ongoing education, technical support, and business advice to the entrepreneurs, and who monitor water quality and consumption—tens of thousands of people who didn’t have access to safe drinking water last year now have access. With the addition of these clean water businesses, this means Saha now works in 22 districts across three regions.
- We’re piloting a motorking program to make water delivery more reliable.
We’re always looking for new ways to make our systems more efficient and effective—and ensure clean water entrepreneurs and their customers are happy! Our R&D supervisor, Bangaham, is piloting a motorking program to increase the reliability of our water delivery to our treatment centers. It works like this: Saha purchases a motorking and works with a local driver to ensure water is delivered consistently, for free, to the treatment centers. The driver then uses the motorking to make money by transporting goods and people, paying Saha a weekly fee for use of the motorcycle. In addition to providing an important job opportunity for local drivers, this system makes clean water delivery more reliable and accessible to customers.
After piloting this program for three months in twelve communities, we are seeing that centers are more reliable, sales have increased, and entrepreneurs, drivers, and customers are happy with the results! We’re excited by this early success and are looking forward to expanding the program in 2023.
3. We hired more Saha staff, including our first-ever Development Associate, Eric Awini!
In addition to hiring more Saha staff for our implementation and customer care teams, we also hired Eric Awini to be Saha’s first-ever Development Associate. We’re thrilled to work with Eric again—he used to work as an Operations Manager for Saha from 2018 through July 2022! Below, we chatted with Eric to learn more about his role and what he loves about working with Saha.
Saha: What did you do in your previous role with Saha?
Eric: As Operations Manager, I worked with the Customer Care (CC) team to support entrepreneurs and customers in our partner communities. I lead the CC in setting objectives, achieving key results, and analyzing data to track our progress. I also worked alongside Jude (my co-Operations Manager at the time) to interview candidates for operation coordinator and front-line supervisor positions.
Saha: What are you doing in your new role with Saha?
Eric: I’ll oversee Saha’s fundraising so we can continue to deliver clean and affordable water to communities in Northern Ghana. That includes populating and maintaining Saha’s fundraising pipeline; maintaining relationships with existing funders and keeping them updated on projects and activities; and cultivating new funding prospects.
Saha: What do you like about working with Saha?
Saha Global envisions a world where everyone has access to clean and affordable drinking water and I have enjoyed every single day of trying to help make that possible. Senior leadership and the entire team is supportive, friendly, and energizing, and I can’t think of any other place I’d rather work! I am overwhelmingly thrilled to be back!
4. We ended the year with the entire team in Ghana!
We were so thrilled to end the year by getting the entire team together in Ghana this month. In addition to working together in-person for the first time in awhile, visiting our partner communities, and celebrating our successes from 2022, we also spent time work planning for 2023. Needless to say, Saha has some exciting things planned for 2023—and we can’t wait to share them with you!