INTERVIEWS

ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT

Erika Yarrow talks to Adam Kingdon of i2O Water

Fifty-three year old Adam Kingdon is chief executive officer and co-founder of the water technology company i2O Water and was one of three entrepreneurs nominated for the ITC Entrepreneurs' Forum Enterprise Award 2011.

Founded in 2005, Adam Kingdon and i2O Water co-founder and chief technology officer, Andrew Burrows, felt strongly that the water industry needed innovative solutions to tackle the challenges of climate change and growing urban populations.  They decided to design a system that would manage pressure levels in water distribution networks, continually adjusting and controlling the pressure of water so that it is kept to the optimal level throughout the day. This significantly reduces leakage and the number of new bursts, and therefore saves significant volumes of water. In addition, the technology can be managed remotely so the disruption caused by roads being dug up to find leaks and repair burst mains can be reduced substantially, also reducing labour costs to water companies.

The environmental benefits of protecting vital natural resources and saving energy are significant. i2O customers in the UK and across the world save 44 million litres of water a day. Based on the European standard of 150 litres a day, this is enough to supply the water demand of a town the size of Coventry (300,000 inhabitants). This has been achieved by saving on leakage between treatment plants and consumers without extracting further water from rivers, underground or even desalinating water, which causes an impact to the environment.

Adam has an MBA from INSEAD in France and a mechanical engineering degree from Imperial College.  He is fluent in French and German.  Adam explains: 'I worked in Germany as an engineer and was given one year to learn German. So I didn't speak English for that year and avoided English people.  Having learnt German, the organisation found my English useful. They put me into the sales department selling power stations internationally.'

After studying at INSEAD Adam decided that he wanted to run his own company.  He says:  'My first attempt was a company making weight training equipment, which went bust after a year.  But I think I learnt more than I lost.'

Adam then worked as managing director of a company testing electrical equipment.  He says: 'It was heavily loss making, but I managed to turn it around.  That was the bit I found most exciting in business, so I decided to do more turnarounds in the UK and Europe, all in engineering and manufacturing technology based companies.  I would be in the company for about four years, sorting out the engineering, manufacturing and marketing.'

It was his work turning around a company specialising in leak detection equipment that Adam spotted the opportunity for i2O Water.

 i2O Water's technology is currently making improvements in Malaysia, helping SYABAS, the country's largest water utility company, to save 40 million litres of water per day in the state of Selangor - enough to provide water for 180,000 people. So far i2O Water has installed more than 200 of its innovative pressure management systems across SYABAS's water distribution network.  It has been working with SYABAS and its local partner, non revenue water specialist company Jalur Cahaya Sdn Bhd (JCSB), since 2010.

Adam says: 'We are delighted to be working with SYABAS and Jalur Cahaya, and very proud that our technology is making such a major contribution to Selangor's water resource issues. Not only that, the i2O pressure management system can be implemented within months, whereas building a new treatment plant would take years.'