This accolade highlights Tetra’s groundbreaking approach to governance and social enterprise, demonstrated through projects that deliver sustainable solutions to communities struggling with water scarcity and salinity. The climate tech social enterprise, Tetra, led by 4 young entrepreneurs, is constantly working and brainstorming solutions to provide safe desalinated drinking water at an affordable price to the last mile community of the coastal belt. In the last 3 years, Tetra has already reached 500 households with safe drinking water through their innovative solar powered household desalinated device and semi-automated solar powered customised water treatment plants. Tetra currently has 4 customized desalination plants in the Khulna and Mongla region with an aim to create 50 more desalination plants for the climate vulnerable community of the coastal belt in the coming 2 and a half years. This initiative ensures affordable access to desalinated water through solar-powered reverse osmosis (RO) water treatment plants and autonomous water ATMs. Households can access clean drinking water at an affordable rate of BDT 0.5 per liter, with plants conveniently located within a 5-10 minute walking distance which remains accessible 24/7.
Tetra introduced a community centric approach for the climate vulnerable coastal belt by bringing this innovative technology compatible with the community as well as enriching the community with required capacity building for maintaining the technology. In addition, Tetra provides full support from their team whenever the community needs assistance for any crucial operations and maintenance. Tetra chooses a woman micro-entrepreneur from the community who assists in the plant maintenance and water sales of the plants and gets a certain share of the water sold from the plant.
The idea of Tetra started back in 2018 when the team of 4 young brilliant minds Mubasshir Tahmid, Sabrina Rashid Sheonty, Asif Hossain Tamim and Sabbir Rudro participated in Hult Prize with the goal of solving a real life climate issue where they became campus winners and got the opportunity to present at the Hult Prize Regional Summit in Malaysia which drove them to work in the practical field and serve the climate vulnerable communities by developing a sustainable solution.
The recognition from IWA has encouraged Tetra to brainstorm and bring innovations for challenges faced due to climate issues emphasising in the water sector. Tetra dreams to be a global hub for innovations and impacting people’s lives across the globe by addressing climate and water issues and their solutions. “We want to be a global water solution hub. That’s our global mission. We want to address all sorts of water problems worldwide with our innovation, technology, and knowledge,” Sheonty, the director of Tetra concluded.This unique solution of Global South with locally led adaptation can be an inspiration for other climate enthusiasts to sustain in the long term for fighting climate change and vulnerabilities.