About

Tetra is a social enterprise that creates access to safe drinking water for the underprivileged communities

Tetra originated in 2018 as a student endeavour by four undergraduate students from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). Stemming from a student initiative, this project based on a low-cost solar-powered water desalination filter won the Hult Prize at BUET, became a finalist in the Hult Prize Kuala Lumpur Regional Summit and became champion at the UNDP Safe Water Challenge, getting an initial grant to implementing the project. In 2019, with the initial funding, a primary prototype was made, and 15 devices were set up in low-income households in the coastal regions of Satkhira.

This small experiment provided insight into what kind of product could be the right market fit and what skill and connection the co-founders need to turn the idea into an impactful start-up. Drawing upon the insights gleaned from the project, the co-founders embarked on a journey to cultivate external connections and expertise. Two of the co-founders pursued and successfully attained their MBA degrees, while the remaining two secured their master’s degrees in engineering, studying in Canada and Germany respectively. Simultaneously, they harnessed professional experience across a diverse spectrum of industries, spanning academia, research, financial institutions, strategy consultancy firms, developmental organizations, and the realm of social innovation.

In 2021, with the improved idea, knowledge, and skill set, Tetra applied to two incubators and secured an equity-free grant from Aqua for All and Young Water Solutions. With that, Tetra ran an intensive door-to-door campaign across the districts of Khulna, Satkhira and Bagerhat, and collected data of more than 1,000 households. Simultaneously, they ran intensive R&D and came up with an improved water desalination filter capable of generating more than 200 Liters of water per day which is suitable for the lower-income communities living there. Tetra completed the MVP phase by testing their innovation in multiple regions across the coastal belt and found it to be a perfect product market fit. From that point, Tetra started commercially manufacturing their water desalination filters commercially and supporting lower-income households in the hard-to-reach villages along the coastal belt of Bangladesh with access to safe drinking water through an efficient micro-entrepreneur-based business model.

Tetra aims to ensure access to safe water for 1 million people by 2035. If you want to join or support the mission, please reach out at support@tetrabd.com or write to us on our Facebook or LinkedIn Page.