Student enterprise has a lotta bottle for charity

CHARITIES are to receive 10c per unit sold of a new bottled water called Aquaid, the creation of 19-year-old UCD Civil Engineering student Eoin Dunlevy.

Currently on Supervalu shelves in Dunlevy’s native South Donegal, the plan is to distribute the water via students’ union outlets nationwide, and eventually from general retail outlets. Aquaid has made a modest start, but the company is not short of ambition.

Dunlevy said: “I heard an entrepreneur on TV saying his one regret was not starting earlier. I have about 10,000 bottles stored in my father’s shed. He is a wholesaler in Donegal, importing and exporting. I wanted to create a small business, and give some money to a good cause.

“I think students will go for this water. Why would you buy from some big corporate company when you could buy this and give some money to a charity? Consumers can go to the Aquaid.ie site and nominate a local charity. I launched three weeks ago and I’ve sold 20 cases, with 24 bottles per case.”

Aquaid is available in four coloured bottles, each colour denoting a different charity. Aquaid donates 10c from each orange bottle sold to Enable Ireland and Dunlevy is in talks with three leading charities about the other colours.

Donations from each pink bottle sold will to go to cancer research, blue to a children’s charity and green to an environmental charity. The idea is for the donation to stay in its own locality. If successful, other colours and charities will follow.

Aquaid’s stock was bottled by a leading Irish firm to global manufacturing standards. Dunlevy is the founder and sole director but friends at UCD help with distribution.