Ecotact CEO David Kuria

In Kibera and other informal settlements around Kenya’s capital Nairobi, residents would relieve themselves in polythene bags and then dispose of them or use shallow communal pit latrines that release waste into the river during the rainy season.
It is this dire need for better sanitation that inspired architect David Kuria to create accessible, affordable and environmentally friendly toilets. When he started working in the city planning department 15 years ago, Kuria became aware of the challenges slum dwellers faced living in areas in which there were no sewer lines.
“Even in the CBD sanitation was extremely pathetic and almost all the city council toilets had been taken over by street boys,” says Kuria. “A few individuals were making an effort to collect garbage at a fee, but the problem of sanitation was not being addressed.”
Six years ago Kuria founded Ecotact, a social enterprise which provides affordable sanitation within urban areas in Kenya. Through a build-operate-transfer model of public private partnership, Ecotact enters into long-term contracts with municipalities to use public land where it builds and operates public pay-per-use toilet and shower facilities. Customers pay a fee of KSh. 10 (US$0.11) to use the facilities branded Iko Toilet which in Swahili means “there is a toilet”.

Ecotact has been recognised globally for its efforts in solving one of the biggest problems facing urban dwellers. The social enterprise operates 70 toilets malls across the country employing 200 people in jobs ranging from cleaners to cashiers and security officers. The toilet malls also serve as retail outlets selling airtime, snacks and shoe shining services, as well as offering mobile money transfer services.
The company initially took a $1m loan from the Acumen Fund and set up 15 toilets. Over the years, Ecotact has won numerous awards, some coming with cash prizes which it has used to scale its operations.
“I would say this has been a success especially when I see people queuing at our toilets with their laptops and phones with the confidence that they will go in and come out without being mugged as it used to be the case,” says Kuria.
The Ecotact Group CEO attributes the success of the company to commitment and focus.
“For the last six years I don’t think I have done much apart from toilets. I have been talking about toilets across the continent. I have almost become a toilet specialist. If I were doing toilets and architecture and other things, I don’t think we would have been this successful.”
Kuria has been acknowledged for his efforts, winning Regional Social Entrepreneur of the Year for Africa 2009 and the Change Makers competition and hall of fame in 2008 and being named Schwab Fellow 2009 and Ashoka Fellow 2007.
Still a long way to go
While the Iko Toilet has been successful in most urban centres, Kuria says solving sanitation challenges in informal settlements, particularly in Nairobi, remains a hurdle.
“The main reason has been the ownership of land. Who owns the slums? Every time we want to step in and do some interventions the next question is: on whose land? It makes things very complex and has slowed down many initiatives.”
Financing toilet malls and the lack of guarantee that they will not be demolished is also a constraint. But even more challenging is encouraging behavioural changes among slum dwellers, which Kuria says is an expensive and long-term campaign. It is for this reason that in 2010 Ecotact and Unilever Kenya entered the Guinness Book of World Records for mounting a campaign that culminated in bringing together 19,352 people to wash their hands with soap.
“In the slums you really need to invest heavily in behaviour change. It’s not like in the city where you put up an Iko Toilet, open the doors the next morning and business starts. In the slums it’s a process convincing people why they need to wash their hands [and] why they need to use soap. Now, who will invest in that?”
Last year Iko Toilet served 12m people in Kenya, but Kuria says there is still a long way to go in addressing sanitation issues in urban areas.
Water shortage
Moving forward, the company plans to roll out vacuum toilets which are commonly used in aircraft where flushing the toilet requires less than a glass of water. The company has been piloting its mobile Iko Toilet Plus, which uses vacuum technology, at corporate events and during emergency situations, such as for two months at the fire-damaged Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. In the next two years, Kuria says, Ecotact will have rolled out 45 such toilets.
“I think that is the direction we must go. It’s a bit expensive [but] we cannot afford the luxury of flushing water in this continent, especially in mainland cities like Nairobi, where already water for drinking is scarce.”
The company is also looking to diversify by combining waste it collects with that generated in informal settlements and converting it into electricity. In the last six years, Ecotact has operated small digesters which generated small quantities of biogas.

“What we now want to do is go full scale by putting up a small power plant that may produce 1.5 MW of energy,” he says. “Our target is to put up a 5,000m³ digester where we can process 20,000 litres of waste per day.”
Social entrepreneurship
According to Kuria, social enterprises play a critical role in Africa but face major challenges that threaten their existence. One challenge for Ecotact is the taxation regime.
“There is no [tax] relief at all… yet we are sacrificing and committing to addressing an issue that the government should have done. It is purely in the interest of the state that this country reaches more than 50% of sanitation coverage. It would reduce funding to illnesses caused by poor hygiene.”
He notes that while there are numerous opportunities for social entrepreneurship in Africa given the many challenges the continent faces, social entrepreneurs lack support and struggle to access finances.
“You always feel like you are sorting out the world’s problems on your own. The next thing? You are looking for formal employment and killing a great idea that would have solved major challenges in society.”
According to Kuria, a big opportunity lies in Africa fully embracing public private partnerships.
“Whereas government has been unable to deliver some services because of financial constraints, the private sector is holding a lot of money. There is need, even at a lower scale, to synchronise government priorities and funds available in the private sector.”
He advocates the same strategy of involving local people as African governments try to solve infrastructure challenges and boost economic growth.
“China is not our solution. It could be part of it but it is not really our solution. Our solution lies in our people owning the investments. Before borrowing money from China for infrastructure, have we borrowed locally? We need to think about how the local private sector and diaspora Africans can start owning government infrastructure projects.”–Howwemadeitinafrica