Almost everyone is familiar with this company because if you buy water from a machine, then most likely, this machine is from Ecosoft. In 2020, the company's revenue was $37 million, or 1 billion hryvnias, showing a 28% increase from 30% of exports in the portfolio. In 2021, total exports will exceed $15 million. Andrii Mitchenko, CEO of the company, is targeting a $50 billion global market. To do this, in 2018, he merged with the Austrian holding BWT.
The drinking water market was formed in the United States in the '70s. In Ukraine, it is only growing: according to the State statistics service, from 2% in 2011 to 7% in 2020. But 50 years ago, America faced the same problem: providing water to growing cities? They developed rules, created regulatory institutions, developed sales methods: salespeople traveled to American homes, took water samples, and, depending on the results, companies offered individual solutions.
The market for bottled drinking water is $250 billion a year. According to the company's CEO, the market's annual growth is 5%, which is comparable in scale to two Red Bull companies. People drink a lot and make a lot of plastic for that.
The point is to create a new model of water consumption that does not require so many bottles, thought BWT owners Andreas Weissenbacher and Andrii Mitchenko. And for this, you need to offer the market a premium product for affordable money.
Combining Ecosoft science and BWT standards, an aqua box was created. The equipment connects to the water supply networks, water passes nine degrees of cleaning and falls into the buyer's capacity. In multiple bottles that promote, including a modern environmental society.
The Austrians set the standard: the water must meet the parameters of alpine mountain springs, so the aqua box, in addition to purification, mineralizes water. As a result, a liter of water it produces costs an average of 10 cents.
Now BWT aquaboxes is a project that is tested in Ukraine before the big start on the world market. Then it will become a separate enterprise.
The project is technically complex. Aquabox is automatic equipment that must work with any amount of spillage to cope with both cleaning and remineralization. In essence, it is a mini-plant for water purification.
Requires connection to existing water supply networks. At the same time, large retail chains, such as Silpo, are happy to install such vending machines on site. And it gives access to water to people who need clean water and want to be sure that this water is safe.
The company's management is not talking about the project's payback yet. For both Tatiana and Andrii, this case is a long game. For the first 30 years, they created a scientific and technical base, then grew up in Ukraine, and now, finally, they were born.
