A couple have turned an idea born on a surfing safari into a successful business that has also supplied clean water to 50,000 people in poor communities around the world.
Dylan Rowe and Ellie McGovern established Project Pargo five years ago, changing lives by selling premium, double-insulated drink bottles and cups.
Pargo products are now sold online and by 400 retailers in Australia and New Zealand, and 5 per cent of the business’ revenue funds clean water projects in communities that do not have safe water to drink.
So far, Project Pargo has provided clean water projects in 18 locations in Indonesia, Fiji, northern Uganda and the Philippines.
The Sunshine Coast locals, who are based in Mudjimba, say they are proud but every project is motivation do to more.
‘“We believe we’re still scratching the surface. I know when we leave the villages that there’s still people even in that village who could be helped, so the job’s a big one and I’m excited at the fact we’re able to help people,” Dylan said.
“The bigger the brand gets, the more we get to help.”
They realised the need many people had for clean, safe water while travelling for three years in Asia and the Americas.
“I’ve been travelling to go surfing since I was 18 years old, always going to remote locations, but in 2015, we left Australia with no end in sight. We went on a bit of a sabbatical,” he said.
“We spent the majority of the year in Indonesia and Asia, whether it was the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Indonesia, and then we actually flew to the States and bought a truck and travelled through Central America.
“So, we were away for three years but 95 per cent of pretty much all of the places we went to, we couldn’t drink their water out of the tap.”
The couple bought water for three years and realised that they were contributing to plastic pollution with bottled water.
“We could see that being a huge problem everywhere and a huge problem was the locals were not being able to afford that bottled water, so they were having to drink whatever water they had, which was filled with bacteria and all kinds of nasties which you don’t want to be drinking but they boil it and whatever and still get sick,” Dylan said.
During their trip, Dylan and Ellie worked out they did not want to return to their previous jobs as an electrician and commercial real estate agent.
“Having had enough time away from it, I think we realised we were on a bit of a mission to change our direction,” he said.
“We always wanted to work for ourselves, run our own business. Ellie studied business at school, university, and I’ve always wanted to be on my own program and work for myself.”
While in the US, they came across insulated water bottles and cups. They also found out about the Sawyer 0.1 micron filter, an inexpensive, simple water filter capable of screening out contaminants such as viruses, heavy metals and chemicals from water. And they heard about Waves for Water, a clean water charity rooted in surfing culture.
They realised there was a gap in the Australian market at the time for premium reusable drinkware products and that they could help provide clean water projects around the world if they could turn their bottle idea into a successful business.
They began researching, manufacturing and testing bottles – filling them with iced water and sitting them in hot black sand in Mexico – before returning to Australia to start the business, launching with a reusable cup and bottle in two different colours.
They filled Dylan’s mother’s garage with their first shipment of products and began spreading the word about their reusable products by visiting up to three cafes, as customers, with their Pargo cups every day.
“Once we did start getting some accounts on board, I would do all the deliveries on the Sunshine Coast from Noosa to Caloundra,” Dylan said.
“I would drive in and every time I’d get offered a coffee and I was really bad at saying no, so the amount of coffee anxiety I got was pretty mind-blowing.”
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Four months after Project Pargo launched, Dylan and Ellie returned to Sumbawa, an area of Indonesia they had travelled to at least a dozen times, to install Sawyer 0.1 water filters in three villages.
“We put aside 5 per cent of our revenue every single month in our Clean Water Fund and as soon as we accumulate enough funds, we can go and do a project,” Ellie said.
“It really isn’t a model about just giving our charity partner 5 per cent of revenue and ‘here, see what you can do’. We’re across every project, we’re on the ground as much as we possibly can when it’s feasible.”
They take Pargo team members to help if need be and research and develop each clean water project before they go to see what is needed.
“We need to go and check the water source they already have, the need for clean water, what they’re living conditions are, how many people are in the village, are they sharing homes, how many people per household and things like that. That’s how we work out how many filters need to go into that area,” Ellie said.
The simple filtration systems are gravity-fed and can filter at least four million litres of water with only occasional backwashing required for maintenance.
“We always say, and we still believe, we’re just scratching the surface with what’s possible.
“Were super proud to be there and we’re just stoked that people also resonate with the fact that it’s not just at making money for us.
“(The) number one focus is helping others – that is definitely the top of the pile for us and the team and everyone that’s involved, even when we bring in a new retailer, we explain.
“Basically, the more we sell, the more we help, that’s the bottom line.”
In partnership with a charity on the ground in northern Uganda, Love Mercy, Project Pargo was able to provide a clean water well to villagers who had to walk three or four hours for clean water or drink what lay on the ground after rain.
Dylan said seeing videos of locals laying in the water, rejoicing in it, had been amazing.
“Being able to do those things, and having that purely because so many people have purchased Pargo products, is just unbelievable, and we’re super excited to be able to help hopefully millions of people,” he said.
“We want to keep traveling to these places to help and we also want to travel there to enjoy what those place have. Those places that we, and I, have been to have given us so much and they’ve given everything to me.
“Getting to see the world in my late teens and early 20s in a way of what the true the world really is really opened my eyes.
“I was close to 30 before this business started and we didn’t know we were going to do this business but it all just really made sense.
“We came up with the idea and everything just had such a positive and true feeling.
“We’re going to go to these places for the rest of our lives with or without filters so we want to make it an opportunity for us to bring filters along on those trips every time.”
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