Minhaj Chowdhury receives Ashoka Fellowship award

A Bangladeshi origin US graduate has been awarded the Ashoka Fellowship in recognition of his work to combat South Asia’s water crisis by blending nanotechnology with a franchise business model. Minhaj Chowdhury, an American-born Johns Hopkins University graduate, has been an instrumental force behind Drinkwell, a pioneering a social enterprise established in 2013. Drinkwell’s Hybrid Ion Exchange or “HIX” line of patented resins have been consistently removing arsenic and fluoride from groundwater to meet World Health Organization standards in the most challenging regions of South Asia. The patented technology requires little to no electricity, recovers 99% of input water, and generates only 2% of the waste created by current alternatives such as Reverse Osmosis. Abdullah Chowdhury, country director of Ashoka Innovators for the Public (Bangladesh), said it was “a privilege and an honour” to announce Minhaj’s Fellowship. “This award is a reflection of the tremendous work Minhaj has done to solve one of the most critical social problem in the world today,” he said. According to Ashoka’s official announcement, Minhaj uses a micro-enterprise model to provide an end-to-end filtration solution which is endorsed by public and local authorities, and managed by micro entrepreneurs from within the communities. The solution follows two decades of failed interventions by both the public and private sectors. Minhaj is an American-Bangladeshi, born and raised in the United States. Inspired by the works of his uncle, Minhaj was motivated to join the Public Health department in John Hopkins University. In 2009, as a sophomore student, he developed the Clean Water for Peace Project, which won the Davis Projects for Peace. After completing his undergraduate studies in Public Health, Minhaj came to Bangladesh as a Fulbright Scholar in 2012 to scale the project. He teamed up with Fellow Fullbright Scholar, Dr Arup SenGupta, to realise his vision of a more sustainable solution and founded Drinkwell in 2013. Drinkwell provides turnkey water solutions through both a community-based model where local entrepreneurs provide 200 – 800 households with safe water on a daily basis via Water ATMs where consumers use pay as you go smart cards to purchase water at a nominal fee. To date, the company’s technology has attracted $5 million in public, private, and philanthropic funding. The award-winning enterprise aims to reach 5 million people in the next 5 years. On October 2, Minhaj won the “Under 30 Impact Challenge” for his company at the Forbes Under 30 Summit in Boston, USA.