DOB Equity, a Dutch impact investment firm, has made a new investment in Irrisol Engineering, an IAP-supported business providing solar-powered water systems to rural and peri-urban communities in Uganda. The investment amount has not been disclosed. It will support Irrisol’s expansion into new districts beyond its current areas of operation.

 The deal marks a milestone IAP was designed to help create: an early-stage inclusive business moving from catalytic grant funding into commercial investment.

Crossing the Missing Middle

Companies like Irrisol often fall into what’s known as the “missing middle”— too large for microfinance, but too small and unproven to attract impact investors or commercial banks on their own. Globally, businesses in this gap face an estimated $930 billion financing shortfall, even when their models are commercially sound and reaching underserved markets at scale.

 IAP exists to close that gap. Through catalytic grant funding paired with hands-on technical assistance — from financial management to investment readiness — IAP helps inclusive businesses build the track record and operational systems investors look for, de-risking them to the point where commercial capital is willing to engage. Irrisol’s journey from IAP grantee to DOB Equity investee is exactly that model in practice.

 In addition to providing a grant of EUR 162,665, IAP delivered comprehensive technical assistance to enhance the company’s operational capacity and attractiveness to investors. This support covered investment readiness and matchmaking activities, including financial modelling, validation of business assumptions, pitch deck preparation, and review of investment term sheets. Further assistance strengthened business development and impact management through sales and marketing strategy development, ESMP preparation for eight new water systems in Kasese, and improvements to monitoring, reporting, learning, and data quality systems.

About Irrisol Engineering

Uganda’s national water utility primarily serves urban and peri-urban areas, leaving millions of rural households without reliable access to safe water. Founded by Joash Bwambale in 2017, Irrisol addresses this gap by designing and operating solar-powered water mini-grids and household connections, billing customers through a consumption-based, mobile-money pay-as-you-go model — treating water as a commercial utility service rather than a one-off infrastructure project. Since 2017, Irrisol has installed 14 community mini-grids and over 330 household systems, reaching more than 410,000 people with 123 million litres of clean water. It is a profitable business, generating $790,000 in revenue in 2024. Serving low-income communities is not a mission alongside commercial operations—it is what makes the business work.

The Investment

The new capital will help Irrisol strengthen its operations and extend its water network to new communities across Uganda. Bwambale said the investment reflects a broader case for treating water access as a commercial, not just humanitarian challenge:

“Access to reliable water should not depend on where someone lives or how much they earn. Irrisol’s journey has been about proving that sustainable, financially viable rural water systems are possible.”

For DOB Equity, the deal fits a strategy of backing locally led, commercially viable businesses with measurable development impact.

Cikü Mugambi, Investment Director at DOB Equity, said:

 “Joash is exactly the type of founder we back: a local entrepreneur solving a problem he lived himself. He’s paired water mini-grids and standalone systems embedded in rural communities with pay-as-you-go plans that make clean water genuinely accessible.”

 

Looking Ahead

With DOB Equity’s backing, Irrisol plans to extend its model to new regions across Uganda in the coming years. For IAP, the investment is also a proof point for the broader model: that catalytic grants and technical assistance, targeted at the missing middle, can help inclusive businesses become investable — and that commercial investors are willing to follow once they do.

Irrisol Engineering has been supported by Innovations Against Poverty (IAP), a challenge fund that provides grants and technical assistance to inclusive businesses.