The National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) Water Quality team, is at the essential of the corporation’s operations, ensuring that water supplied meets local and international standards. This expertise, attained over years was extended to production of the in-house made hand sanitizer, K-SAN, which received the Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) mark of quality.
Launched last year, the teams started out with a production capacity of 300 liters meant to be used in Kampala Water branches during the pandemic. “With support from the General Manager Kampala Water, Eng. Mahmood Lutaaya, they ramped up production and rolled out the packaged 1, 5 and 20 liter bottles,” revealed Sharon Gubamwoyo, the Principal Quality Control Officer.
Staying true to their nature as innovators, K-SAN boasts of a unique formula that makes it smoother on the hands than other brands. “It started out as a thought, to a dream and finally reality,” said Gubamwoyo
“Sanitizers in general are nothing new at Ggaba”, said the Quality Assurance Manager- Kampala Water, Eng. Enos Malambala. The teams had been using them locally in their labs for a while before guidance from Management. From there, it’s been milestone after milestone leading up to the certification. This he acknowledged, had been a team effort and he was grateful to all who made it possible.
“The drive to innovate and improve is deeply embedded at Ggaba,” said Eng. Andrew Muhwezi, the Senior Manager Water Production. He added that, starting with a thought, one gets to learn a lot along the way. Using K-SAN as an example, many lessons have been learnt along the way such as; market research, UNBS audit preparations and more. “Don’t procrastinate over an idea that is placed before you, learn as you go,” he implored.
From inception, Eng. Lutaaya has been instrumental in the realization of K-SAN in its current form. He expressed gratitude to the teams for the production of the sanitizer, informing them that it eased operations in the branches.
This journey involved input from various teams which include; the Lab teams at Ggaba, KW Commercial, PR and Legal Departments, and to these he was thankful for the team work. Echoing the Senior Manager, he pointed out how it had been a learning process and one of the key lessons was team work. “You can’t do it alone, you need teamwork between different departments and you have demonstrated it” he said. With innovation a never ending process, he challenged the teams to think of what next for KSAN, urging them to write a proposal. This when completed, will join the list of innovations Ggaba has deployed including the Auto Garage.
NWSC remains committed to Water for All.
