Lifebuoy introduces the Hulk of Handwashes

March 28, 2013 · 1 comment

THE HULK OF HANDWASHES | Source: Unilever, Mar 11, 2013 |

Lifebuoy has introduced a colour changing handwash to make handwashing fun for kids and reassure parents that their family’s hands are germ-free.

GREEN MEANS CLEAN 

The unique liquid handwash changes colour from white to green in just 10 seconds – the time it takes for Lifebuoy’s special formulation to deliver 99.9% germ protection.

It contains tiny bead particles that release their green colour when squished during handwashing. After about 10 seconds, the green coloured lather means that 99.9% of germs have been removed so it’s time to rinse them.

The new handwash campaign uses Marvel’s famous comic character ‘The Hulk’. It features a boy’s hands turning into powerful, germ-busting Hulk hands as the Lifebuoy foam changes colour.

HURRY WITHOUT WORRY

Most people spend around seven seconds washing their hands – and rarely more than 15 seconds. Kids are usually in even more of a hurry.

Srirup Mitra, Lifebuoy Global Brand Director, said: “For kids, washing hands is a chore, that’s why they tend to do so in a hurry. This new product will encourage them to keep washing until the colour changes. And by doing this, they get complete germ protection and, at the same time, mothers have visible proof that their children’s hands are totally germ free.”

The colour changing handwash has been launched in India and Indonesia before being rolled out across other markets in Asia and Africa in 2013.

This launch marks another step towards achieving Lifebuoy’s aim to change the handwashing behaviour of 1 billion people by 2015.

Disruptive Innovations Bring On ‘The Female Sanitary Revolution’

March 13, 2013 · 0 comments

Disruptive Innovations Bring On ‘The Female Sanitary Revolution’ | Source: Ecopreneurist, March 7, 2013 |

Every 28 days across the globe, half the world’s population menstruates. Yet despite this is one of life’s most natural occurrences, for millions of girls and women across Asia, Africa, Central and South America the high cost of sanitary napkins ensures menstruation is a significant challenge.

The inability to afford sanitary napkins during menstruation means that many of the world’s low-income women are forced to use primitive alternatives, such as newspaper, rags of cloth, bark, ashes, banana leaves, hay or mud, which are both ineffective and unhygienic. All to often these alternatives lead to long-term health risks such as Reproductive Tract Infections, Toxic Shock Syndrome or Cervical Cancer. 

The medical implications and unpredictability of alternative sanitation methods, coupled with the widespread societal taboo of menstruation, frequently results in girls skipping school and women missing work. Research indicates that girls in several developing countries miss up to 50 school days annually due to menstruation – in rural India alone a shocking 300 million girls and women are under monthly house arrest.

The problem
For the average woman living in poverty the lost work due to ineffective menstruation options amounts to five years of unearned wages over a lifetime – income that could otherwise be put towards much needed family healthcare, education or food expenses.

While new product, service and process innovations in a variety of sectors have resulted in lowered costs for many widely used healthcare products, the humble sanitary napkin continues to remain prohibitively priced.

India’s Menstrual Man
In a May 2012 TED talk, Arunachalam Muruganantham, also known as the ‘Menstrual Man’ in India, mentioned that there are limited innovations in menstrual products because the machinery necessary to convert fiber used in sanitary napkins into absorbent cellulose costs more than half a million U.S. dollars. For most entrepreneurs this is simply an unmanageable cost, despite the potential long-term social and commercial impact.

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USAID DIV Grant to Potential Energy for Cookstove Markets

March 13, 2013 · 0 comments

POTENTIAL ENERGY: FUELING THE COOKSTOVES MARKETS IN EAST AFRICA | Source: USAID Development Innovation Ventures, Feb 20, 2013 |

DIV Stage 2 | $1.5 million | Darfur & Ethiopia

Many models for high-efficiency stoves exist to replace traditional open fire methods, but few have achieved widespread use or commercial sustainability.

The Solution: Potential Energy’s high efficiency stove, developed as part of the Berkeley Darfur Stoves Project, is the product of extensive market-testing and end-user feedback. Using lessons learned from early work on cookstove adoption in Darfur, Potential Energy is pursuing a market creation strategy in Ethiopia. The organization will grow its distribution and marketing network and develop innovative pricing models and flexible financing options for consumers. With support from Development Innovation Ventures, Potential Energy and partners will assess the group’s impact and the relative effectiveness of the different marketing strategies it pursues. 

Potential Cost-Effectiveness: Because the Berkeley Darfur Stove requires half as much firewood as traditional cooking methods, users save more than $300 per year in fuel costs, or half the labor time and effort gathering firewood. Over the five-year lifespan of the stove, this savings is approximately $1700 per household.

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Award-winning Students Find Sustainable Solution for Water Sanitation

March 12, 2013 · 0 comments

Award-winning Students Find Sustainable Solution for Water Sanitation | Source: Penn State News, Feb 22, 2013

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Worldwide, more than 780 million people lack access to potable drinking water and 2.5 billion live without proper sanitation. A team of Penn State graduate students are addressing this global health crisis with interdisciplinary solutions and innovative technologies.

In December 2012, Roland Cusick of civil and environmental engineering, Marta Hatzell of mechanical and nuclear engineering and Michael Parks and Emily Smith-Greenaway of sociology proposed a simple solution for disinfecting wastewater to make it fit for drinking. The team won the grand prize of $10,000 through the Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge Award (SISCA) at Penn State sponsored by the Dow Chemical Company.

The proposed technology is based on a microbial fuel cell (MFC) design. The cells process wastewater and generate an electrical current. Natural bacteria consume biodegradable material and electrons flow into a conductive surface (anode). Electrons flow out of the anode, through an external circuit and into a cathode where oxygen typically reacts to form water (H2O). The team’s winning design efficiently converts electricity recovered from the anode into hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) instead of water in a separate chamber. The hydrogen peroxide can then be used to disinfect wastewater.

The team hopes to use the technology to improve drinking water and sanitation in Africa and to help local communities become more healthy and sustainable. Dow’s SISCA program is designed precisely to promote this type of forward thinking in social and environmental responsibility. “If the world’s greatest challenges were easy to solve, they would already be solved,” said Neil Hawkins, vice president of global EH&S and sustainability at Dow.

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A Young African Entrepreneur And His Water Saving Business

March 4, 2013 · 0 comments

A Young African Entrepreneur And His Water Saving Business | Source: Ventures Africa, Mar 2, 2013 |

VENTURES AFRICA – 2013 is the United Nations International Year of Water Cooperation. To mark this year’s water celebration, attention will be placed on the importance of freshwater and sustainable management of freshwater resources.

Last year, I did a feature on Ludwick Marishane, the CEO of Headboy Industries. Ludwick is the brain behind DryBath™, the world’s first and only bath-substituting skin gel, which he invented in 2008 while he was still an undergraduate. His invention won him the Global Student Entrepreneurship Award (GSEA) at the Global Entrepreneur Week (GEW) for two consecutive years (2010 and 2011). To mark this year’s event; Marishane’s company, DryBath™, is organising a no-bath weekend to encourage water management (saving).

In this interview, Ludwick talks about his company role in marking the international year of water cooperation, the essence of saving water in this modern age, his business challenges, lesson learned, and his future plans. 

VA: Please tell us about yourself (aside being the CEO of Headboy Industries) – your background, hobby, fond memories?

LM: I’m a recent graduate from the University of Cape Town. I grew up in both rural Limpopo and Johannesburg, so I have experience on both sides of the income-level fence. My hobbies include critically analysing movies, hiking, and reading philosophy and psychology books. My fondest memory was when my baby brother was born. I had been an only child for 17 years, but nothing was more exciting than having him come into my life.

VA: 2013 is the international year of water cooperation, what is your company doing to mark this event?

LM: We were not aware of the theme given to the year, but we had already decided to launch our first DryBath™ No Bathing Weekend in July this year. While developing our campaign, we became aware of the year’s theme and realised the great possibility for synergies.

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Innovative Water Purification Tablet for Developing World

February 12, 2013 · 2 comments

Innovative Water Purification Tablet for Developing World | Source: Science Daily, Feb 8, 2013 |

PureMadi, a nonprofit University of Virginia organization, has invented a simple ceramic water purification tablet. Called MadiDrop, the tablet — developed and extensively tested at U.Va. — is impregnated with silver or copper nanoparticles. It can repeatedly disinfect water for up to six months simply by resting in a vessel where water is poured. It is being developed for use in communities in South Africa that have little or no access to clean water.

“Madi” is the Tshivenda South African word for water. PureMadi brings together U.Va. professors and students to improve water quality, human health, local enterprise and quality of life in the developing world. The organization includes students and faculty members from engineering, architecture, medicine, nursing, business, commerce, economics, anthropology and foreign affairs.

How the filter works: Water is poured into the PureMadi filter. As it seeps through, contaminants are removed. The purified water is accessed through a spigot. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Virginia)

During the past year, PureMadi has established a water filter factory in Limpopo province, South Africa, employing local workers. The factory produced several hundred flowerpot-like water filters, according to James Smith, a U.Va. civil and environmental engineer who co-leads the project with Dr. Rebecca Dillingham, director of U.Va.’s Center for Global Health.

“Eventually that factory will be capable of producing about 500 to 1,000 filters per month, and our 10-year plan is to build 10 to 12 factories in South Africa and other countries,” Smith said. “Each filter can serve a family of five or six for two to five years, so we plan to eventually serve at least 500,000 people per year with new filters.”

The idea is to create sustainable businesses that serve their communities and employ local workers. A small percentage of the profits go back to PureMadi and will be used to help establish more factories.

The filters produced at the factory are made of a ceramic design refined and extensively tested at U.Va. The filters are made of local clay, sawdust and water. Those materials are mixed and pressed into a mold. The result is a flowerpot-shaped filter, which is then fired in a kiln. The firing burns off the sawdust, leaving a ceramic with very fine pores. The filter is then painted with a thin solution of silver or copper nanoparticles that serve as a highly effective disinfectant for waterborne pathogens, the type of which can cause severe diarrhea, vomiting and dehydration.

The design allows a user to pour water from an untreated source, such as a river or well, into the pot and allow it to filter through into a five-gallon bucket underneath. The pot has a flow rate of one to three liters per hour, enough for drinking and cooking. The filtered water is accessed through a spigot in the bucket.

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Why Sanitation Business Is Good Business

February 7, 2013 · 1 comment

Why Sanitation Business Is Good Business | Source: Forbes, Jan 28, 2013 |

“Sanitation is more important than independence,” Mahatma Gandhi said in 1925. In 2006, Ashoka Fellow David Kuria decided Gandhi was right—improving sanitation by thinking beyond the toilet became his chosen mission. In this post, Nikki and Rob Wilson explore why David’s innovation has been so successful in urban settings.

Going to the toilet while you’re traveling in Africa is not an experience you look forward to. To be totally frank, it can be so bad that invariably it makes you gag. But in Kenya, ask anyone for the nearest “Ikotoilet” and all your dreams come true. For just five shillings (pennies on the dollar) you get to do your business in a spick-and-span public loo. What’s more, once you’re done you can top up your phone, buy a cold Coke or get your shoes shined.

David Kuria, an Ashoka Fellow since 2007, launched the social business Ecotact to challenge toilet taboos and make sanitation sexy. Sound a bit crazy? Not one bit. Poor sanitation kills millions every year and David’s “toilet talk” strategy is saving lives. “I wanted to re-invent the whole sphere,” David told us, totally disenchanted by tokenistic toilet-building.

After hours of hard graft and research, the Ikotoilet concept was born, and with it, three core objectives that have guided widespread shifts in health and hygiene:

Objective 1: Transform the architecture of the toilet

An architect by training, David believes all buildings should be beautiful. “No one has given any thought to the toilet as a piece of art,” he said to us, not even breaking into a smile. Determined to prove that with beauty comes respect, David purposefully designed every block of toilets to be a striking landmark. Using funky shapes and bright colors, it’s fair to say the Ikotoilet isn’t easily missed. What’s more, both the staff and the customers take time to keep the loos in great condition, proving David’s mantra that if you build something beautiful, people will want to take care of it. 

Objective 2: Implement a business model that disrupts the status quo

For just five schillings, an affordable price for all, the general public can go to an Ikotoilet and access clean, safe and hygienic sanitation facilities—services that before Ikotoilet simply didn’t exist. This might not sound revolutionary but here’s the twist. The Ikotoilet block is also known as a “Toilet Mall.” The space surrounding the loo block is rented to local businesses that provide a range of services like hair cutting, shoe shining and money transfer. Drawn in by the opportunity to advertise to a captive audience, bigger businesses also pay for wall space to promote their brands.

Income from entry fees, rent revenue and advertising deals covers all the overheads of each Ikotoilet and leaves enough left over to repay David’s investment loan. In fact, within five years, each Toilet Mall will be turning a tidy profit. Aside from being a nice little money-making scheme, the beauty of this model is that it removes the stigma around stinky toilets, creating instead a space where communities can convene. In turn, this places important pressure on the Ikotoilet staff to keep their standards high and their facilities 100 percent stench free!

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Sanitation Markets: Using Economics to Improve the Delivery of Services Along the Sanitation Value Chain

January 18, 2013 · 0 comments

Sanitation Markets: Using Economics to Improve the Delivery of Services Along the Sanitation Value Chain | Source: Tremolet, S., Shareresearch.org, Dec 2012.

This Pathfinder Paper has been commissioned by the SHARE Research Consortium to provide a basis for future research with respect to sanitation economics, defined as the application of economic concepts, approaches and tools to the sanitation sector.

The objectives of this paper are to identify how market failures affect the ability to extend appropriate and sustainable sanitation services alongside the entire sanitation value chain. We examine how economic analysis has mostly been used so far to assess the economic case for investing in sanitation overall, i.e. where ‘sanitation’ is considered as a single
market. We argue that, although this type of analysis can be useful to shift mind-sets and public attitudes, its usefulness is limited by a number of uncertainties affecting such economic valuation and by a fundamental difference between the evaluation of economic costs and benefits and the financial incentives that drive actual investment decisions (from
both public and private actors) across the entire spectrum of sanitation markets along the value chain. Based on this finding, we investigate how economic analysis can help identify market failures in sanitation markets and potential interventions to make these sanitation markets work better. The paper examines in turn three main market segments alongside the sanitation value chain, starting with markets for providing ‘access’ to sanitation (collection
services), markets for transport and treatment activities and finally, markets for reuse services.

The paper concludes with recommendations to policy-makers on what to do based on what we know and to researchers on areas for future research in the developing area of ‘sanitation economics’.

Innovative Cookstove Business Secures Support from the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre

January 18, 2013 · 0 comments

Innovative Cookstove Business Secures Support from the Kenya Climate Innovation Centre | Source: In2EastAfrica, Jan 18, 2012.

Nairobi, 18 January 2013 – The Kenya Climate Innovation Centre (CIC) provides incubation, capacity building and financing to entrepreneurs and SMEs which are developing innovative climate change solutions.

Since its launch in September 2012, the centre has accepted fourteen entrepreneurs into its programme. One of the successful applicants is Kenneth Ndua, who has designed and developed an energy efficient cookstove that simultaneously boils water. 

Kenneth has been working with women’s groups in Kibera, Kawangware and Ruiru since 2002. Through his work, he observed that many local residents were suffering from illnesses related to smoke inhalation and contaminated water: “poor families [were] suffering from common water borne diseases such as diarrhoea just because they could not afford to boil water for drinking or were not in a position to afford the water purification chemicals. Many women would also speak of a lack of time to boil water.”

In response to this challenge, Kenneth designed and fabricated a multipurpose fuel efficient cookstove called EARS (Energy All Round Stove). The stove is compatible with different types of biomass, and features an inner jacket that can be filled with 7 litres of water. This unique design feature both improves heat transfer efficiency, and allows for water to be boiled simultaneously whilst cooking. Once boiled, the water is 95% free from bacteria and contaminants.

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D.LIGHT II: Market Research and Prototyping in Remote Regions

January 10, 2013 · 0 comments

D.LIGHT II: Market Research and Prototyping in Remote Regions. Global Health Innovation Insights Series, Feb 2012.

d.light was founded by a group of four students attending Stanford University. Two MBA candidates, Ned Tozun and Sam Goldman, teamed up with two engineering students, Erica Estrada and Xianyi Wu, in a course called Entrepreneurial Design for Extreme Affordability, to address the need for safe, affordable lighting designed to fulfill the specific requirements of users in the developing world. Over the span of the two-quarter course, they developed prototypes of portable, solar-powered LED lights fit for use in low-resource settings. 

Within a couple of months, they started field testing their designs in Myanmar and found that the potential demand was not only strong, but overwhelming. “People would actually weep as they talked about how the lights had transformed their lives,” Tozun remembered.5 In one village, the police even confiscated the prototypes for their own use—they needed light too.6 After taking the summer off to complete their respective internships, the team members reunited at Stanford in the Fall and decided to form a company to develop their ideas into a real product.

d.light developed a strategy for market research and prototype testing that balanced fieldwork supervised remotely with primary research personally conducted by team members on the ground. This model enabled the team to save money and remain productive in market research and product development even while based in the U.S.

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