Shitty Businesses in Nairobi, Kenya

The topic of water and sanitation brings together not only in theory but also in practice people from both private and public sectors. Urban sanitation and its challenges are extremely complex. Poor and inadequate sanitation causes an annual economic loss between 1 percent and 2.5 percent of GDP for 18 African countries (World Bank, 2022). This shows governments that these costs must be addressed for the country to grow sustainably, hence, it proves how inextricably tied water and sanitation challenges are to political and socio-economic factors.

Poo power & Sani-preneurs

'Flying toilets' are bags of human feces that fill the streets of Nairobi's slums. They are the products of a serious shortage of sanitation services and proper sewage systems. In recent years, these sanitation problems have gained attention in private sectors attracting entrepreneurial approaches to solutions and birthed 'sani-preneur' initiatives (EY, 2020).

Dealing with Kibera's flying toilets


'Shit is a big business!' (Wall, 2022). According to CNN, poop can be turned into profit in Kenya's slums, and here we will look at a few examples. Kibera is the largest slum in Nairobi with about one million people. On average, an individual creates 300g of human waste every day, and 60% which is 2,4 million out of the 4 million people in Nairobi live in informal settlements like slums. That equates to 720,000kg of shit which can be turned into biogas and provide energy to sustain the economy (The Guardian, 2014). Several companies have developed decentralized business models, each with its own strengths.

Fig 1. Bio-Centers: Providing Better Sanitation, Income for Kibera Residents

One of the most successful sanitation initiatives is the Bio Centre model developed by Umande Trust, and the Stara biocentre is a good example of why. It is run together with an orphan school by women. Poo is turned into biogases in these biocentres, and this allows the orphanage to make earnings to fund the children's studies (Umande Trust, 2014). Another sani-preneur initiative, Sanivation, works by partnering with local governments to meet the growing sanitation service demands. They design and build container-based toilets in urban communities that charge a small service fee and produce biomass fuels from the fecal sludge collected. Similarly, The Sanergy Collaborative operates by building low-cost sanitation centers consisting of modular toilets for residents of informal settlements. However, they franchise out the sanitation centers to local entrepreneurs who collect and treat the waste at the central facility to produce fuel and fertilizer and charge a fee for their service instead of operating it themselves, taking on a more participatory approach.

What have we learned?

Looking at all these 'sani-preneur' initiatives, better answers to the global water and sanitation crisis already exists (EY, 2020). We realize that by recognizing there are many ways to 'close the loop' as shown by the different business models of Umande, Sanergy, and Sanivation, solutions to sanitation challenges are varied and flexible across different spaces.

To continue these improvements, business models need to be clear, well-structured and conducted in a collaborative manner to achieve the goals of SDG 6.


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