YOUR FIRST WATER BUSINESS
How to start
a water business.
Learn how to choose your starting stock, collect your pack and find customers for your water business.
Choose your starting packThree ways into the water business.
Every water business in South Africa is one of these three. The first two need capital, premises and compliance before you sell a single bottle. The third needs stock and customers.
Bottle your own brand
You build or rent a bottling plant, source packaging, design a label and get the product certified. Bottled water in South Africa is a regulated food product, so you need food safety systems and audits before you can sell. Designer Water took this route in 2013 and started bottling in 2015. It is a manufacturing business, not a side hustle.
Refill or vending machines
You buy filtration or vending equipment, find a site, and sell refills or single bottles from the machine. Your costs are the equipment, the site, maintenance and filter changes. Your product has no brand behind it, so you build trust from zero in each location.
Distribute an established brand
You buy stock at distributor pricing, sell it at retail and keep the margin. The brand carries the certification, the bottling and the reputation. You carry the stock and the customers. This is the Waterpreneur model, and it is the only one of the three you can start this week.
Three things. Nothing else.
Strip the water business down and it comes to this. Stock to sell, people to sell it to, and a product that can prove it is safe.
Stock
Water sells by the case, not the bottle. Your first pack is your working capital. Sell it, reorder at distributor pricing, and the business funds itself from the second batch.
Customers
Start where people know you: your workplace, street, church, gym or WhatsApp contacts. Ask which bottle sizes they buy and what they need before deciding how much stock to carry.
A certified product
Designer Water pH10 is SANBWA-accredited, ISO 22000 certified, Kosher, Halaal. You never have to defend the product. The certificates do it for you. See the SANBWA standard for what that means.
How to start a water business the Waterpreneur way.
Six steps. The same path 5 500+ active Waterpreneurs followed. One payment, no fine print.
Pick your pack
Starter Pack R539 (40 units of pH10), Growth Pack R829, or Business Pack R1,469 if you already have buyers waiting. One once-off payment. No monthly fees, no contracts, no recruiting required.
Collect your stock
Packs are collected, not delivered. Collect from head office in Midrand or from your closest Master Distributor. Find your nearest collection point here.
Do the training
Every pack includes training with a certificate and WhatsApp sales scripts. It covers pricing, how to sell, and how the brand's proof points work for you. Most people finish before they collect.
Sell at retail
Your starter stock has a retail value of R721. Sell where you already are. Let people taste it. 96.9% preferred Designer Water in our company-run, sighted survey of 390 non-customer respondents, so sampling does most of the convincing.
Reorder at 40% off current RRP on qualifying reorders
Complete your training to get 40% off current RRP on qualifying reorders. Your selling prices and costs determine your profit. Collect reorders from Midrand or a participating Master Distributor.
Repeat, then scale
Water is consumed and reordered. Your customers come back weekly. Consistent sellers grow into Master Distributors with their own territory and collection point.
Results may vary. Earnings depend on individual effort and market conditions.
Five places your first cases go.
You don't need a shop. You need to be where thirsty people already are. These are the places Waterpreneurs sell from, in the order most of them start.
Taxi ranks
High foot traffic, hot days, cash in hand. Single bottles move fast. Bring a cooler box.
Offices
Sell cases to the kitchen or the reception. Offices reorder on a schedule, which is how you build a regular round.
Homes
Families buy 5L and 1L cases for the house. Your street and your WhatsApp groups are your first delivery round.
Events
Church gatherings, school sports days, funerals, weddings and stokvel meetings. One event can clear a full pack.
Gyms
People who train pay for premium water. Speak to the front desk about a case for the fridge and see who asks for it by name.
What R539 turns into.
This is the Starter Pack, sold at recommended retail. No projections, no "potential monthly income". Just your first pack.
R721.00 current shop case value minus R539.00 Starter pack price.
One case each of 500ml, 1L and 5L. Assumes all stock sells at current shop case prices. Deduct transport, selling costs and discounts. Sales and profit are not guaranteed.
Results may vary. Earnings depend on individual effort and market conditions.
Starter
40 units of pH10. Retail value R721. Enough to test your market in a week.
- Training with certificate
- WhatsApp sales scripts
- 40% off current RRP on qualifying reorders after training
Growth
More stock in one collection. For people who already have a round in mind.
- Training with certificate
- WhatsApp sales scripts
- 40% off current RRP on qualifying reorders after training
Business
The biggest first collection. For people with buyers waiting or an event booked.
- Training with certificate
- WhatsApp sales scripts
- 40% off current RRP on qualifying reorders after training
All packs are collected from head office in Midrand or your nearest Master Distributor. Zero monthly fees, zero contracts, zero recruiting required. Results may vary. Earnings depend on individual effort and market conditions.
People who started with one pack.
"I got my 5 Cases last week Saturday which sold out within a week."
"We were both unemployed but now with this water we are fully employed."
Verbatim Waterpreneur testimonials from Designer Water's records. Results may vary. Earnings depend on individual effort and market conditions.
Bigger plans? Read these next.
The Starter Pack is the door. These three pages are what is on the other side of it.
Everything you need to succeed
A certified product customers reorder, sales training and WhatsApp scripts in every pack, real margins and no monthly fees.
Not a theory
Not a course. A water business you can start this week. Pick a pack, sell a brand South Africans trust, keep the margin.
Master Distributor territory
Be the listed Master Distributor for your area on our map, reorder at 50% off and build a regional water business with Waterpreneurs collecting from you.
Starting a water business. Your questions, answered.
Still unsure? WhatsApp us on +27 68 628 4427 and a real person replies during business hours.
How much does it cost to start a water business with Designer Water?
Do I need a licence or a company to sell bottled water?
Is the stock delivered to me?
How much can I make from my first pack?
Is this a franchise or an MLM?
Where do I sell the water?
Can I just buy water to drink, not to sell?
Results may vary. Earnings depend on individual effort and market conditions.
Your first customers. Your first pack.
Pick your pack, collect your stock, do the training, sell where you are. Or WhatsApp us first and ask anything.
Results may vary. Earnings depend on individual effort and market conditions.
© 2026 Designer Water SA (Pty) Ltd · CIPC 2013/180542/07 · VAT 4350262590 · Bottled in Midrand, South Africa since 2015.
Dietary certification applies to the products listed in the current certificate register. SANHA lists pH10 still water in 330ml, 500ml, 750ml, 1L and 5L, and PureSafe in 500ml and 1.5L. The Kosher certificate covers pH10 alkaline ionized water and PureSafe still water; not Kosher for Passover.