NIKA: Making Bottled Water Legit Again

The word “nika” means “to give” in Zulu. For the NIKA Water Company, this namesake is no coincidence; it’s the inspiration for the company’s overall objective.

NIKA, which Kara M. Kubarych ’13 co-founded in high school, donates 100 percent of its profits (currently $350,000, according to the company) to clean water projects in developing countries. A certified carbon neutral company, NIKA’s current ventures include reforestation and drilling water wells, among others.

“We’re not asking anyone to do anything earth-shattering,” said Kubarych. “If you’re going to buy a bottle of water, why not help benefit people who don’t have clean water?”

Kubarych, who created NIKA in her hometown of San Diego, said she is trying to bring the company to Boston and change its brand perception. “In San Diego, it was known as ‘that brand with the cute designs on the front,’” she said. But Kubarych said she feels that Harvard students appreciate NIKA’s mission, adding, “Harvard students have been very excited to see the merging of private and public sectors.”

In one form of support, several students have started up a consulting group on campus specifically to address the needs of NIKA. “[W]e want to establish NIKA teams in different campuses and get them in vending machines in major Boston schools,” NIKA consultant J. Sebastian Garcia ’13, who is also a Crimson business editor, wrote in an e-mail. “We really just want to feed off the energy of college students who are really receptive to NIKA’s mission and are willing to help out.”

However, Resource Efficiency Program Co-Captain Samantha L. Houston ’11 wrote in an e-mail that she has concerns about some of NIKA’s practices, such as potentially “perpetuating the prestige of bottled water in the US, which is on the whole bad for the environment.”

Yet despite her concerns, “I would opt for NIKA before other brands,” Houston wrote.