How EcoFlow's founders turned a love for water polo into a water sustainability business

Play

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.

Related: Corporate sustainability has never looked so sexy

Proving that friendship can make a business flow

Adriel Ng & Darren Cheng, Co-founders, EcoFlow. (Photo: Athirah Annissa)

1/1

Related: How Singita is designing the sustainable safari experience of the future



The company recently participated in Capitaland's Sustainability X Challenge, placing among the top 10 and winning $50,000 to pilot a water conservation project at three of Capitaland’s real estate properties.



Because of their long friendship, the co-founders have been able to assume complementary roles in the business fairly effortlessly. A hands-on guy, Ng often visits the sites; Ang, the meticulous one, pays attention to the finer details; and Cheng keeps an eye on the big picture and works on expanding and scaling their business.



“Our different traits complement one another. If we had tried to do this alone, we would not succeed,” says Ang.



They laugh as they admit that despite spending most of their working hours together, they are so close-knit that they still play tennis and water polo on weekends and hang out in a group that includes their partners.



Their ultimate goal is to not just grow their business, but to foster a community of like-minded companies in this industry, too. In the beginning, businesses often face a lot of pushbacks when adopting new technologies, says Cheng. “We hope to eventually serve as a springboard for other companies to contribute to the entire water technology scene as well.”



This is all for the greater good, after all. Ang says, “Water is not an infinite resource, and we will likely face a shortage in the future due to rapid population growth. We want to inspire the industry to be more accountable and take more responsibility for water consumption.”



Related: Sustainability in fashion: A to Z