NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

After six years of operation, Belu has annouced it has reached a landmark figure – £2m of profit has now been handed over to WaterAid, which provides clean water and sanitation in developing countries. The announcement coincides with World Water Day.

The bottled water is one of the poster children for social enterprise. In London at least (where Pioneers Post is based) it’s increasingly common to spot Belu as the bottled water offering in bars and restaurants. Nationwide it is available in bigger chains such as Cafe Rouge and Zizzi.

Belu purposely targets the bars and restaurants market rather than general retail outlets. That a social enterprise’s product is becoming as established a brand as some of the major players is encouraging.

CEO Karen Lynch, who earlier this year was given the SE100 Social Business Awards Leadership Award, told us: “We have been successful at growing in the hotel and restaurant market – we estimate we have 5% market share which is no small feat for what was a small social enterprise.”

Lynch puts that market penetration down to the hard work and dedication of her team along with “focus” She adds: “We purposely wanted to work with restaurateurs and hoteliers who want to make ‘good’ the best choice for their customer.”