Joining Ibu Rukinah in the “Wonder Woman” ranks is Ibu Nur’aini (ibu means mother or Mrs.). She is a little soft spoken, but when it comes to determination and devotion to PEKKA’s mission in Indonesia to empower single women heads of households, she is anything but soft.

Ibu Nur’aini is Anggota PEKKA Luar Biasa, which literally means “extraordinary member of PEKKA”. For new readers, PEKKA is the local partner with whom Kopernik works in West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara to implement our technology agent program, in which women sell technologies on consignment and earn commission from each sale.

Ibu Nur’aini is a member extraordinaire because although she doesn’t fit the criteria to be a PEKKA member (she is happily married to a husband with whom she raises a daughter), her level of involvement with the organization’s public activities is so impressive that the organization has granted her this special “extraordinary” status. She has not been involved for as long as some members have--only a little over a year--but her accomplishments measure up to PEKKA’s more veteran members.

I am highlighting her in my Wonder Woman series because she is Kopernik’s driving force in spreading awareness about safe, drinking water and promoting the Nazava Bening Satu water filter. When this project started both the Nazava water filter and the UB.03-1 biomass stove were introduced, but it was clear which product was the people’s favorite: whereas 200+ stoves were sold in a short time period of a couple of months, the first shipment of 30 water filters on consignment took four months to sell out. Guess who sold 26 out of those 30 filters!

Her secret to success is that she quickly found a niche among consumers. She targets socialization to better-educated people who are in contact with many people through their jobs (for example, office managers and kiosk shop owners). Because they are better educated and generally more aware, they immediately recognize the health benefits (and money savings!) of the water filter once the product is introduced to them. They would then set up the water filter in an office or food kiosk, employees and customers will see that usage of the water filter in individual households also makes sense. They’ll further inquire the office manager or the kiosk owner about the product and where they got it from, and you get the picture. Ibu Nur’aini never forgets to leave behind her mobile phone number with every person who has purchased from her.  

Ibu Nur’aini is now acting as the product manager for Nazava water filter in the PEKKA technology agent program in West Nusa Tenggara. We will soon be sending another 40 filters on consignment for her and her team to promote and sell. In addition, we are looking to work with the local community’s health agency to conduct some tests of the water sources around the villages and of water filtered with the Nazava Bening Satu to equip our agents with a “Before and After” test result (nothing works better than seeing it with your own eyes!). I can promise you that this won't be the last time you'll be hearing about Ibu Nur'aini!