SafeSip Founder Faith Kuya Named 2026 Echoing Green Fellow
Tanzanian social entrepreneur behind the WaterBank technology joins a global community of innovators building bold solutions to some of the world’s most urgent challenges
TANZANIA — September 1, 2026 — SafeSip is proud to announce that its Founder and CEO, Faith Kuya, has been selected as a 2026 Echoing Green Fellow, joining 17 other extraordinary social entrepreneurs from around the world who are developing bold new approaches to building a more equitable and sustainable future.
Selected from more than 4,000 applicants, the recognition marks an important milestone for SafeSip and its mission to transform access to safe drinking water in underserved and climate-vulnerable communities.
Echoing Green is a global organization that identifies and supports emerging social entrepreneurs working to address deeply rooted social and environmental challenges. Fellows become part of a lifelong community of innovators and receive resources, leadership development, and support to strengthen and scale their impact.
For SafeSip, the Fellowship represents global recognition of a solution that began with a challenge experienced by millions of families across Tanzania: reliable access to safe water.
“This Fellowship is an incredible honor, not only for me, but for the entire SafeSip team and the communities that have helped shape our work,” said Faith Kuya, Founder and CEO of SafeSip. “We started SafeSip because we believe where someone lives should never determine whether they can access safe drinking water. Being part of the Echoing Green community gives us an opportunity to learn from extraordinary social entrepreneurs around the world while accelerating our vision for water infrastructure that is reliable, inclusive, affordable, and built around the communities it serves.”
Building the Future of Community Water
At the center of SafeSip’s work is WaterBank, an off-grid, solar-powered community water system designed to provide reliable access to safe drinking water in areas where conventional infrastructure is limited or unreliable.
WaterBank combines advanced water purification with renewable energy, intelligent remote monitoring, and inclusive digital payment technology. The system operates independently of the electricity grid and uses AI-enabled monitoring to identify potential maintenance issues and improve system reliability.
Community members can access water through prepaid RFID cards, allowing people to collect water around the clock without requiring a smartphone. The technology is designed to make safe water infrastructure more reliable while creating a model that can operate sustainably beyond short-term aid interventions.
SafeSip’s approach is rooted in the belief that solving the water crisis requires more than installing equipment. It requires building systems that communities can depend on for years.
Through WaterBank, SafeSip is working toward a future in which rural and underserved communities have access to the same reliability, transparency, and quality of water service expected in more developed urban areas.
From Tanzania to a Global Community of Changemakers
Faith Kuya’s selection as an Echoing Green Fellow follows SafeSip’s earlier recognition as one of the finalists in the 2026 Echoing Green Fellowship selection process.
The Fellowship now connects SafeSip with a global network of social innovators working across areas including climate resilience, health, economic opportunity, education, human rights, and community development.
For SafeSip, joining this network comes at a critical stage as the organization works to expand the WaterBank model and deepen its impact across Tanzania and beyond.
“This moment strengthens our belief that African communities can be at the forefront of designing the technologies that solve our biggest challenges,” Kuya added. “Our ambition is not simply to deliver water. We want to build a new generation of community water infrastructure—powered by clean energy, strengthened by technology, and designed with dignity at its core.”
The Fellowship will support SafeSip as it continues developing its technology, strengthening its organization, expanding partnerships, and working toward bringing reliable safe water access to more communities.
About SafeSip
SafeSip is a Tanzanian social enterprise developing technology-driven solutions for safe and reliable water access. Its flagship innovation, WaterBank, is an autonomous, solar-powered community water utility that combines advanced purification, intelligent system monitoring, and inclusive prepaid access to provide safe water in off-grid and infrastructure-poor communities.
SafeSip is building a model for community water infrastructure that is resilient, scalable, environmentally sustainable, and designed around the needs of the people it serves.
For more information, visit safesip.co.tz.
About Echoing Green
Echoing Green identifies and invests in emerging social entrepreneurs with bold ideas for creating lasting social change. For nearly four decades, the organization has supported leaders tackling urgent challenges around the world through funding, leadership development, strategic support, and a lifelong global community of social innovators.
Learn more about the 2026 Fellows at egfellows.org.