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Empowering South African urban and peri-urban communities to spot and stop water leaks
Water leaks are everywhere — but invisible to most. Sibonise is a citizen-powered platform that helps uncover hidden leaks and turn awareness into action.
About us
Nancy Alanís
Nancy is a Senior Engineer at Whirlpool Corporation, specialized in New Product Development. She holds a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and a Master’s in Innovation for Business Development. With experience optimizing mechanical designs and processes, Nancy excels at leading complex technical projects and applying continuous improvement methods. Her systematic, data-driven approach ensures reliability and efficiency—key strengths for developing and scaling Sibonise’s PWA and AI validation framework.
Saul Pineda
Saul is a Digital Marketing Lead specialized in Rare Diseases & Neurology and a Master’s student in Innovation. A DE&I advocate with strong digital strategy skills, he excels at raising awareness for social causes. His expertise in narrative-driven campaigns, community mobilisation, and UX makes him ideal to shape Sibonise’s storytelling, engagement roadmap, and cross-sector partnerships.
Julieta López
Julieta is a Master’s graduate in Innovation and Entrepreneurship with expertise in International Business, Continuous Improvement, Project Management, and Customer Service. Her cross-functional background bridges technical problem-solving with stakeholder collaboration. Julieta’s experience managing innovation projects and facilitating community engagement makes her well-suited to lead Sibonise’s citizen campaigns, user research, and inclusive design strategy.
The Problem We Saw
In many urban areas of South Africa, water loss is a persistent and costly issue. Municipalities lose up to 40% of their water supply due to unnoticed leaks, delayed responses, and inefficient reporting channels.
But the real issue isn’t just infrastructure — it’s visibility.
This reminded us of a critical pattern we’ve seen in the healthcare sector, especially in rare diseases: the solution exists, but the challenge is finding the case. In rare disease care, patients often go undiagnosed for years not because treatment is unavailable, but because no one sees them.
In water management, it’s the same: leaks are everywhere — invisible, unreported, and quietly draining resources.
Our Solution
Sibonise (isiZulu for “Show us”) is a citizen-powered digital platform designed to uncover hidden water leaks in South African cities and turn awareness into coordinated action.
Here’s how it works:
Sibonise doesn’t replace existing infrastructure — it empowers it, by making the invisible, visible.
Value Proposition
- Progressive Web App as an inclusive solution that works on low-end phones and offline.
- A smart rewards program that recognizes the first verified report of each leak.
- A citizen engagement campaign that mobilizes communities to care and participate. Both digitaly (social media) and in public spaces (inverted graffiti as a low-cost, long-lasting form of advertising).
- An AI validation system to ensure reports are accurate and not duplicated.
- An inclusive design that supports multiple South African languages and it is easy to use.
- Real-time visibility for governments and utilities
- Actionable data for urban planning and sustainability
Impact
Sibonise is a civic-tech platform designed to tackle one of South Africa’s most overlooked challenges: hidden water loss. By empowering everyday citizens to report small leaks using their phones, Sibonise transforms passive observation into actionable insight.
Its impact is threefold:
- For citizens, it builds a culture of environmental awareness, collective responsibility, and community pride — especially in areas most affected by infrastructure gaps.
- For municipalities, it provides real-time, geolocated data on leaks, accelerating response times and optimizing water conservation efforts without new infrastructure.
- For partners and NGOs, it offers a scalable, inclusive model for climate adaptation — aligned with SDG 6 — that can be replicated in other water-stressed regions.
Using AI for validation, a fair point-based incentive system, and multilingual, offline-accessible design, Sibonise bridges the gap between visibility and action.
It doesn’t replace the system — it activates it.
For Citizens:
- Empowerment through visibility and action.
- Transparent, gamified recognition.
- A stronger sense of community and shared responsibility.
For Governments and Utilities:
- Faster detection and response to leaks.
- Real-time, geo-tagged data from users.
- Cost savings and improved service delivery.
For NGOs and Partners:
- Scalable civic engagement infrastructure.
- Local empowerment that aligns with SDGs.
- A replicable model for climate adaptation.
🌱 Positive Externalities:
Roadmap
Business Model Canvas
Show us!
Sibonise is ready to grow — and we’re looking for bold partners to make it happen.
We are currently seeking:
Want to connect or collaborate?
✉️ Email us at: [email protected]
Or fill out our contact form here.