In conventional wisdom, one should not go into business with family members or good friends. However, it was a decade of friendship and their experience as water polo teammates that convinced the three 20something co-founders of EcoFlow they could stick it out for the long haul.
Chief Operating Officer Adriel Ng says, “Water polo is a team sport where we are very direct with each other in the pool as anything one person does can affect everyone else. Inculcating this culture in the company has allowed us to speak directly to each other without sugarcoating anything.”
By working together, they can identify issues and solve them quickly, so they can concentrate on growing the company, adds Ang Wan Loong, Chief Financial Officer.
When they were students at Singapore Management University, the trio became interested in water sustainability after talking to people in the water supply industry. “The water supply around the world is deteriorating quickly, so it was important to come up with new innovations to tackle this from the ground up,” says Ang, who was not able to attend the photoshoot with his co-founders.
Making waves in water conservation
Their Wave Valve innovation, launched just as Covid-19 struck in 2020, compresses accumulated air in the pipeline for more accurate water meter readings and can save between 15 and 30 per cent on water costs.
The timing for this was serendipitous. “We thought it would be difficult to enter the Singapore market, but the hotels, which didn’t have guests during this time, wanted to reduce costs and EcoFlow’s product did just that,” says Darren Cheng, the company’s CEO. “Consequently, we were able to scale the hotel industry and are now working with different hotel groups on their properties in South-east Asia.”
EcoFlow also provides clients with smart technology to monitor their water meters, leakages and water quality. As well as plumbing and sanitary services, it also instals rainwater harvesting systems and automatic irrigation systems.