Australian Army veteran, logistics engineer and entrepreneur Shannon Lemanski has won the Prince’s Trust Australia Enterprise Accelerate Award.

The Award recognises an individual who has developed their business through the Prince’s Trust Enterprise Accelerator Programme.

Shannon is the managing director of Aqua Ubique, the start-up he co-founded with friend and fellow veteran Andrew Warner in April 2023. Together, they’re on a mission to provide clean drinking water for anyone, anywhere.

Water scarcity is an issue Shannon witnessed firsthand during his time in the Australian Army. On deployment to Papua New Guinea in 2016, Shannon saw the impact that contaminated water had on the local community.

After conducting a rubbish run for his unit, the section was approached by locals who asked the troops not to dispose of the plastic water bottles they had collected. Although viewed as rubbish by the Australians, these bottles allowed the locals to collect and store rainwater, reducing their reliance on contaminated water from a nearby creek.

On return to Australia Shannon was shocked to discover not only how bad quality of water was in remote communities, but also several issues associated with regular tap water.

Shannon’s company is now introducing uses Atmospheric Water Generation to Australia with a view of providing premium water to health-conscious clients, as well as safe drinking water communities that need it most. Similar to an air conditioner, this remarkable technology condenses humidity from the air, purifies and mineralizes it, then dispenses safe, clean drinking water.

Currently a micro business in the start-up phase, Shannon has big plans and believes the business has the potential for high growth and scalability.

Launching their products in 2024, the company has two medium-term goals: to partner with a First Nations led not-for-profit to bring AWGs to remote communities suffering from water scarcity, and to build manufacturing capability in Australia.

‘“This Award has come at the perfect time" Shannon said when asked how the award would help propel the business. “ The prize will help us build our marketing and sales engines while we will allow us to expedite finalize importation and testing for our launch early next year.”

Check out the Aqua Ubique website here or follow Shannon's business journey on LinkedIn.‍