Lieselotte Heederik, co-founder and Director of Nazava Water Filters, is a Development Expert in Micro Finance and Women Empowerment. She spent her childhood growing up in Bolivia, Kenya and Yemen and studied at the University of Wageningen and Radboud University in the Netherlands.

Whilst living in Indonesia in 2007 she experienced difficulty in obtaining safe drinking water and realized the enormous need for affordable purification solutions. Hence, she co-founded Nazava Water Filters. Nazava’s mission is to empower women to purify their water to make their families healthier. To date, Nazava has impacted over 600,000 people with improved health and access to safe, affordable drinking water. Besides, Nazava replaces the need for single-use plastic water bottles and by replacing the need for boiling water, they also reduce Co2 emissions.

By 2030 Nazava aims to be the Nr 1 Leader in Household water filters for the Base of the Pyramid, impacting 10 million people. Nazava has operations in Indonesia, Kenya and Ethiopia and works with global distributors such as Unicef. Recently Nazava has started production of water filters in Ukraine, to provide the war victims with access to safe water. Lieselotte has been recognized as Dutch Student of the Year 2004, Winner of the Tech Awards, Ashden Winner and Sankalp Finalist.  In her free time, she likes to explore nature and she enjoys triathlons and trail runs.