Red Button Design

By designing instantly effective interim solutions to some of the worlds biggest problems, they hope to mobilise the resources of international aid agencies away from ‘fire fighting' missions long enough to implement truly sustainable infrastructure.

It is inevitably a "why didn't I think of that?" moment when you first hear of the water transport, sanitation and storage unit nicknamed "ROSS" by it's inventors.  The 3-in-1 device (pictured) is designed to provide safe drinking water for users in the developing world. When taken to any dubious water source, the user can fill the unit with up to 50 litres of water to purify during the return journey. The device uses an internal filter system powered by the rotation of the wheels to transform harmful water to drinkable water, on-the-go.

ROSS has attracted support from The Red Cross and The World Health Organisation, received column inches in the likes of The Wall Street Journal and New Scientist Magazine and, more recently, landed on the desk of consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble. Despite this, Red Button's founders, Amanda Jones and James Brown, admit that they are still best known for their 2007 appearance on BBC 2's hit business show "The Dragons' Den". Although later interviews revealed that, off-air, the record breaking deal was never completed.

Two years down the line progress towards the distribution of the product is taking place as planned and Red Button's two directors have been commended widely for both the patent pending design and for the philanthrocapitalist spirit that inspired it.

Part of their ambitious new development plan realises a UK-headquartered global design and manufacturing cooperative, constructed to harness the extraordinary spirit of entrepreneurialism and innovation in their target markets. The co-op, Amanda explains, will "provide a platform for drawing innovation out of isolated communities and sharing it with the wider world. It will, in effect, allow a multidirectional transfer of knowledge from the likes of innovators in rural Ghana, design studios in London and manufacturers in Northern India"

According to James, for-profit status brings distinct benefits: "from a design perspective running a successful business in the humanitarian sector will stimulate the competition necessary to lead to the reliable development of more effective product and service offerings"

Whether you agree with their brave stance on the matter or not, it certainly hasn't provided any significant barriers to their continued success. Requests for the life-saving unit are mounting up and work is progressing with Non-Government Organisations throughout India and Sub-Saharan Africa to build the manufacturing and distribution networks required to allow the innovation to reach it's potential.

With the right support Red Button Design predict they could fulfill these orders within 9 months and as many as 250,000 people could be drinking safe water from the unit by 2010.

James says, "We have come a long way in a short time but as a young company we are, absolutely, still looking for further support. Some of that needs to be financial and some needs to be the sharing of skills and experience. When it comes to building a network, anyone with enthusiasm can find a place to add value."

If you are interested in contributing or finding out more about Red Button Design please visit www.redbuttondesign.co.uk

“It is a real honour to be one of Striding Out’s ‘Future 100 Ethical Entrepreneurs’ . The support and training I’ve received as a result of the award has been tremendous and it is a pleasure to be involved with an organisation with such a strong commitment to green and social enterprise.”