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Water Refilling Stations Picking Up Pace Rapidly
The water crisis prevailing throughout the country is bringing about a thriving new industry fitted for small to medium sized investors - water refilling stations or water stores. These newcomers to the economic stream come in the form of small, self-constrained often fully integrated water treatment plants, which refill customer-owned water containers with varying quantities of potable water. Their market bases are the neighborhoods in which they are situated. Most outlets are franchised operations equipped and supervised by parent companies that are increasing in number almost exponentially. A few folks set up shops independently for their own.
The increasing public awareness of safe drinking water has made the Water Store Industry as one of the fastest growing segment of franchising and profitable alternative for the Filipino Entrepreneur.
The latest World Health Organization (WHO) statistics reveal that 1.1 billion people in the world, roughly one-sixth of the world's population, do not have access to safe water. About 2.4 billion people suffer from inadequate sanitation while 2.2 million people in developing countries, most of them children, die every year from diseases associated with lack of access to drinking water.
In the Philippines alone, as of year 2000, there are still about 9 million Filipinos in the rural area alone (Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report) people who suffer from poor and unsafe sanitation. Most of them come from the marginalized sector of society. (Source: (WSSCC) Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council)
Jose Antonio Soler, President of Solerex Water Technologies, Inc. that first introduced the concept of making bottled water available on a "neighborhood basis" in the early 90's through units called Friendly Neighborhood Outlets, is optimistic that "the growth potential of the industry at this point is basically unlimited." SOLEREX outlets go by the name Crystal Clear Water Store and a tag line that pledges quality: "All drinking water should be crystal clear."
Water store are, in fact, already ubiquitous fixtures of the business landscape. They are sprouting in almost every dense residential or commercial area all over the country. Solerex Water Technologies, Inc. has over 300 Crystal Clear Water Stores franchised outlets nationwide.
In a recent statement, Soler stressed, "Considering the ever-growing demand of an ever-expanding population for an ever-decreasing essential commodity, selling drinking water especially through easily accessible refilling stations that offer safe drinking water at vastly lower prices than traditional bottled waters is just experiencing the beginning of a real boom."
SOLEREX started its franchising operations in 1997. From opening 14 Crystal Clear Water Store in the first 3 months the company was able to take over the industry's leadership with the opening of 300 Crystal Clear Water Stores. Its optimism is based on what it claims is "package that offers investors a technology others cannot equal and a product quality they cannot rival. This translates to prices others cannot match", according to Soler.
"Add to these the fact that SOLEREX is the oldest and most experienced company in the purified water industry among those involved in water store franchising and you get a situation where our franchisees are backed by a reputation others can only envy" Soler added
SOLEREX introduced to the Philippines the First Seawater Reverse Osmosis Desalination Systems that process seawater into a potable beverage with a quality that excels that of ordinary bottled waters. It has installed desalinators in several leading resorts including Amanpulo, El Nido, and Club Paradise in Palawan, Club Panoly and Friday's in Boracay and now Plantation Bay Resort in Cebu. It has installed more desalinators of this type than any other water treatment company in the country.
Reverse Osmosis units that are normally installed in water refilling stations are miniscule models in comparison to these sophisticated giants that can produce hundreds of tons of water everyday. In general, waters tore units produced 3,000-6,000 gallons per day from feed water supplied by water utilities or well water.
SOLEREX standard franchise packages, on the other hand, supply units that produced over 1,100 tons of purified water daily. Soler asserts that this advantage is due to their "larger, more efficient models, which have more than double the recovery rate of the smaller units but which are still sold at a lower package cost."
Solerex Water Technologies, Inc. / Crystal Clear recently received the award for the second time around as the Outstanding Filipino Franchise - Service Category for 2004 following last year and hailed as the Hall of Fame for the Service Category given by the Philippine Franchise Association (PFA) and the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).
Franchise Excellence Awards (FEA) is the first-ever seal of recognition and excellence given to the country's franchisers who have epitomized the model of a successful franchise both in terms of business growth and ethical practices.
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