What if the answer to solving one of the world’s biggest crises wasn’t charity, but better business?

In this episode of The Uptick, Matt Hangen, CEO of Water4, shares his remarkable journey from a rural Alabama upbringing to becoming a pioneering social entrepreneur tackling Africa's water crisis. Listen in to learn how he revolutionized the traditional nonprofit model by creating a sustainable business approach that treats communities as customers rather than charity recipients.

His groundbreaking work has evolved into a hybrid financing model that blends grants with debt financing, creating over 1,300 jobs and completing more than 20,000 clean water projects. With ambitious goals to reach nearly a billion people in rural Africa by 2050, Matt reveals the secret to how entrepreneurship can be a powerful vehicle for addressing global humanitarian challenges while restoring dignity and economic opportunity to underserved communities.

About the guest: As CEO, Matt designed and led Water4 through a massive transition in operational strategy and scale, set a new long-term vision, led an organizational rebranding, navigated multinational acquisitions and saw a doubling of the organization’s revenue in his first four years of leadership. Matt is passionate about championing people who are overlooked and helping maximize unrealized potential.

Episode highlights:

• Charity as startup capital, not perpetual capital: Discover how to merge profit with purpose, creating sustainable businesses that solve big problems while providing employment and economic growth.
• Challenges and pivots: Get hard-won tips for overcoming difficulties in scaling operations, changing mindsets and professionalizing businesses.
• Entrepreneurship as a tool for global impact: Learn about the importance of understanding customer needs, humanizing business relationships and the role of entrepreneurship in solving global problems.

Want to learn more about our guest?

• Check out Water4 online
• Follow them on Instagram

If you liked this episode:

• See it in action on YouTube
• You can also find us on Apple
• Follow us on Instagram and Facebook
• Visit The Uptick blog

Catch new episodes of The Uptick Podcast every Tuesday.

Credits:

The Uptick is sponsored by Global Payments: helping businesses move faster, sell smarter and scale stronger. From the start-ups to the been-there-done-thats, our commerce platform helps millions of businesses around the world stay ahead, knowing we spent yesterday thinking of what customers need tomorrow. Because if it has anything to do with commerce, we’re already on it.