Lo Chay was born in the summer of 1976 in a small village in Cambodia. After recovering from a serious lung tumor and with the support of a French scholarship association, he graduated in Engineer of Rural engineering in 2003 at the Cambodian Institute of Technology. In the same year, Chay was offered a study grant from the French “Ecole Nationale du Génie Rural des Eaux et des Forêts” (ENGREF), the National Scholl for Rural Engineering of Water and Forests. He became one of the most educated persons in Cambodia.

During his years at ENGREF and working with two other people, Chay set up an international aid NGO, “1001 fontaines pour demain”, which seeks to enable small, isolated communities to fulfill their drinking water needs independently and without any specific infrastructure or skills.

To succeed, Chay had to face many strategic, technical, cultural, educational and financial challenges. After two successful projects with approximately 15,000 beneficiaries, Chay is now working on a deployment strategy to provide drinking water solutions throughout Cambodia with the aim of supplying at least 200 villages. He also plans to offer drinking water solutions to other countries.

Through his work, Chay contributes to fulfill an essential requirement of any human being living in a rural area: access drinking water. Through this water purification processes in small villages, Chay contributes to increasing life expectancy, reducing the water-related infant mortality rates, and creating employment opportunities.

Chay personally and his NGO have received numerous awards. In 2004, “1001 fontaines pour demain” won the Award of the National Competition for Aid in the Creation of Innovative Technology Enterprises. In 2005, he received the “Trophées Performance 2005” Prize, and “1001 fontaines pour demain” became Award winner of the European Competition of Innovative Enterprises organized by JCI France.