History

The Just Water Story

The story of Just Water begins in October, 1987. As the stock-market crashed, a new company was born: Red Eagle.

Red Eagle was started by Tony Falkenstein - entrepreneur, company owner, businessman, and philanthropist. At the time, Red Eagle was in the business of rental fax machines, a field it grew to dominate. In 1989 Red Eagle hatched Just Water, pioneering the delivery of chilled drinking water to businesses throughout New Zealand. It grew rapidly, and in 2001 adopted fellow water delivery company Cool Water. Meanwhile, Red Eagle also established office chair wholesaler, Buro and acquired Bartercard, the cashless trading system, in 2001. In 2003, Falkenstein founded a business school at his former high school, Onehunga High. The business school has gone from strength to strength, with the University of Auckland reporting that the average Onehunga business student was 20 percent ahead of other students at the beginning of their tertiary education.

In 2004, Cool Water became Aqua-Cool, Just Water’s home delivery arm, and Just Water became a publicly listed company on the New Zealand Stock Exchange. In 2005, Just Water’s International’s Australian arm, Clearwater Filters, grew to become one of the biggest drinking water companies in the country, and Just Water appointed former Deputy Prime Minister and Commonwealth Secretary-General Sir Don McKinnon as chairman.

Just Water champions innovation in business and in the workplace, and was one of the first companies in New Zealand to recognise the need for women in leadership.