Rainmaker’s idea holds water
ADURBAN media expert turned “rainmaker” is making waves across the country supplying atmospheric water generators to drought-stricken areas, in particular Cape Town, which he is now having made locally to supply water-bottling plants.
Ray de Vries, well known in media and sports circles for building the Dusi Canoe Marathon’s media, marketing and sponsorship brand for almost 20 years and for working on media for the Durban Airshow, the Comrades Marathon and Amashovashova, “discovered” an opportunity in the water-making market just before the finish of one of the Dusi marathons.
“I built the Dusi brand for 19 years and writing all of the media releases and putting it all together the first question was always, ‘what is the water like? What yuck is in it and is it going to be okay?’ I learnt a lot about water,” De Vries said.
Then, on one hot summer’s day during the Dusi, De Vries was drinking an ice-cold cooldrink at a local shebeen when he had an epiphany, prompted by a question posed by a curious young boy.
“The helicopter was looking for me to take me to the finish and the water on the outside of the bottle fell all over my shirt which was supposed to be clean for the photoshoot. A boy came to me and asked ‘why is there water on the outside of the bottle, is the bottle leaking?’ I explained to him why there was water on the outside and it stuck in my mind and I thought: ‘this is the answer to man’s biggest problem’,” De Vries said.
He researched atmospheric water technology and bought his first small Chinese-made machine for personal use in his office. He realised that it signified a big step in changing the source of water – from dams and the municipality or a hired water cooler to obtaining it from the air. But the wonder was short-lived when the machine broke down eight months later and De Vries discovered there was no backup service.
“People are just selling appliances and I thought that is what is wrong, it has to be an alternative water source and it can’t be for just nine months.” That’s what prompted De Vries to get into the industry and he set up his first business with partners in 2008 importing atmospheric water generator machines from China. After several years, De Vries broke away to form the company, Airwater.
Today, he sources his Airwater Maker machines from China, and has an expert travel to the factory abroad to ensure they are made to his exact specifications and quality requirements for the local market.
The machine cools down air to dew point, causing condensation which drops into an ultra-violet bin and is then passed through a ninepoint filtration process as well as inline ultra-violet sterilisers, to produce soft, alkaline water.
De Vries, who describes himself as an “innovator and not an inventor”, recently started having larger machines manufactured locally in Johannesburg and has plans to roll out 30 water-bottling plants, called the African Rainmaker, across the country.
The plants can be built to run in a container or in a small factory.
He employs eight people directly, has created a further 25 indirect jobs and once the bottling plants have been rolled out over the next year – he got the first order from a business in drought-stricken Cape Town recently – the operation will have created 150 additional permanent jobs. He also plans to start manufacturing the smaller machines locally.
His bottling plants can generate enough water from the air to fill up to 3 000 500ml bottles per day.
“To put this into perspective, that is enough water for the needs of 30-40 restaurants. The company also supplies smaller machines that make enough water from the air to meet the tea, coffee, soda-stream and other needs of the restaurant,” De Vries said.
“This humidity harvester is the answer to the massive water crisis facing schools, hospitals, hotels, restaurants and other commercial operations that face closing down,” he said.
The plant is scalable upwards and additional machines can be added as demand grows.
“We are super proud that these machines are made in South Africa by South Africans and for South Africans. We have many entrepreneurs who see the enormous business opportunities that the Airwater Maker brings and are keen to get involved in a profitable win-win. The more entrepreneurs that come forward, the more jobs are created and the more people have water to drink,” he said.
De Vries also exports and supplies a water-generating company that services the Marriott Hotel in Thailand as well as firms in Dubai, the Seychelles and Mauritius. He is in talks with a hotel chain in Texas.
Locally, he said Cape Town was “going crazy” for the smaller water machines.
“This is the third drought my team and I have had the pleasure of providing solutions for, although, the Cape Town situation is by far the worst and is fast sliding from a crisis into a catastrophe. Restaurants in Cape Town are not serving jugs of water on their tables any more because everybody is trying to reduce consumption, car washes are closing down and have been closed down by the ‘water police’,” he said.
De Vries has also established an NPO, the African Rainmaker Foundation to supply schools and medical facilities that can’t afford to buy the machines.
He has big plans for the future of the business.
“We will be the biggest exporter of atmospheric water generators in the world and we will employ thousands of people. I might not be around to see it, but nothing else will give me greater pride,” he said.
One of most satisfying aspects of his business, De Vries said, was the fact that for every litre of water consumed from the air, a litre remained in the dams for others to use.