The desire to be a force for good in the world goes back decades in the personal lives of our founders and investors. For example as a college student, co-founder Ron Wilkinson helped build houses in Bangladesh and delivered water to drought-stricken Ethiopia. It was then that his eyes were opened to global needs, solidifying his life-long passion to make a difference.
It was years later, on a return trip to Ethiopia that the concept of turning bread into water took root. While there, Ron happened to meet Dr. Larry Thomas, a California physician and founder of the Tropical Health Alliance Foundation, and Blake Mycoskie, founder of TOMS, the shoe and eye-wear company. When starting TOMS, Mycoskie promised to give a pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair of shoes TOMS sold. To date TOMS has donated over one million pairs.
One evening at dusk, while eating dinner with Dr. Larry and Blake on a porch overlooking a beautiful Ethiopian valley, talk turned to what really matters in life, and how to start a business with a social conscience. Ron was inspired by their seriousness and commitment, and expressed his desire to make a similar impact with the Wilkinson Baking Company. Clearly, sending loaves of bread to Africa wasn't a feasible option, but as he listened to Blake and Dr. Larry that night, and personally visited communities over the next few days, Ron realized that the most urgent need in Africa was for clean, safe water.
Ron learned that in many African villages, women spend as many as four or more hours each day finding and transporting water. Unfortunately most of the water is filthy and unsafe to drink. They carry five- to seven-gallon containers for miles by foot, often causing permanent damage to their necks and spines. Rather than attending school, the young girls are often pressed into service. The future is endlessly compromised in the pursuit of life's most important substance--water.
