Rizal Muslimin

Indonesian social entrepreneur providing clean water access to 10 million people

Rizal Muslimin (born 1976) is the founder of AirAyo, a social enterprise that has provided clean water access to over 10 million Indonesians in underserved communities. Growing up in a village without clean water, he developed a lifelong commitment to solving Indonesia's water crisis, which affects 90 million people.

After studying chemistry at Universitas Gadjah Mada, he worked in the bottled water industry before founding AirAyo in 2008. The company uses innovative approaches:

• Water ATMs: Solar-powered kiosks providing affordable clean water
• Micro-franchise model empowering local entrepreneurs
• Mobile payment systems for accessibility

AirAyo's model achieves:

• 50% lower costs than traditional water vendors
• 95% customer satisfaction
• Carbon-negative operations through solar energy

By 2022, the company had:

• Deployed 500+ water kiosks across 12 provinces
• Prevented 12,000 tons of CO2 emissions
• Created 3,000+ local jobs

His work earned recognition including the 2017 Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship and 2020 Ashden Award. Muslimin advocates for policy changes through the Indonesia Water Partnership and serves on the UNICEF advisory board.

Challenges remain with maintaining quality control in remote areas, but his vision of AirAyo continues expanding across Southeast Asia.