CANTON, Ohio — Joe Knopp has always had a passion to give back and share his gifts.
"In high school, I was 100 hours of volunteer service every single year. I have a little brother who I help coach him and all his friends in baseball, basketball, football," said Knopp, the CEO of Ripple.
Knopp, a senior finance major at Walsh University, wanted to find a way to use his entrepreneurial background to create a business that's meaningful.
"I was sitting in my dorm room bed talking to my roommate Chip and I asked him, I said, 'what are the odds we can solve the world water crisis?' And he said, 'you're crazy!' So my competitive side came out a little bit in me and I was like, 'no I'm going to figure this out,'" said Knopp.
So Knopp got to work. After doing some research, he learned wells can be built in Africa for $8,000-$10,000. He decided that's what he wanted to do, but had to figure out a way to raise the money.
"So what we decided on was like a Ripple bottle, thinking that the water bottle correlates to the water crisis," said Knopp.
So he started a business called Ripple selling high-quality water bottles.
"The idea is our efforts here in the United States will have the ripple effect to impact thousands of lives on the other side of the world," said Knopp.
Knopp determined selling 2,000 water bottles would build one well, so he sold 2,000 and the first well was built in Uganda, but he wasn't done. He was inspired to do more.
"We decided to take more money out of our pockets to be able to build a well faster. So, it's just going to be 1,000 bottles to build a well," said Knop.
Now that the hard work Knopp and his roommate put into building the wells is paying off, he's finally getting a chance to go to Uganda himself and see the well in person.
"What I'm really looking forward to is going and seeing all these little kids. Like I've been sent videos and being told like these kids walk past the well every day. Like as it was being drilled and they're just so excited. Like it's like Christmas for them and I think that's just the craziest thing in the world that getting access to fresh clean water is like Christmas for them," said Knopp.
Knopp said this is just the beginning for him and his business.
"I literally want to solve the world water crisis. I want to do this until the day I die," said Knopp.
Knopp said a second well is being built. He has a goal of building four to five more this year.