“Most people think that it’s impossible to start up a business and a charity at the same time. We always think it’s one or the other. In our case, we thought outside the box and combined business to social entrepreneurship.”

This is how Janika Portelli described the initiative she and her husband started back in 2013. Contribute Ltd is the fruit of an idea by Janika and Karl Wijkmark. Basically, the company distributes water labelled with the ‘Contribute’ brand. The company owners are committing to give money to charity for every bottle they sell. “When you think about it, it’s a no brainer really. We are donating money for every single bottle we sell.”

But the money they donate, does not go to any charity. The money collected through the sale of every single bottle goes to a clean water source project in Malawi.

“800 million people live without access to clean water. When, four years ago, we wanted to start the business while helping someone out, we kept this in mind and came up with Contribute Water.”

Janika and Karl explained that through their initiative, they are making it possible for people to contribute to charity every day, from restaurants owners who sell their water, to offices who use this water for board meetings.

To make their dream becomes possible, the couple had to team up with Pump Aid, an international NGO which operates, among other countries, in Malawi. “We chose Pump Aid as our partner because we needed a reliable organisation to channel funds and get the project underway, and because it operates in a country which is facing clean water shortage,”Janika explained.

“We would have liked to go for a voluntary experience for a couple of months, but we wanted to work on something more long-term.

For the much anticipated moment of glory, holes which were eventually going to be transformed into fully functional wells were dug up in two villages in Malawi. Hundreds of people are today benefitting from access to clean water thanks to a little social-corporate initiative. Following a series of talks, the water is being bottled and distributed by Farsons.

Contribute Water was just the beginning.

Janika and Karl will soon announce another milestone in their project. The concept is to use the ‘contribute brand’ on everyday items. The price of the donation will vary according to the product on sale. Karl and Janika are currently holding talks with major companies in Malta to kick start the idea.