MIT Solve

Solution Overview

Solution Name

Inarah

One-line solution summary.

Our project aims to solve the Open Defecation Crisis in Nigeria by creating toilets that generate money from urine/feces, which is then used to pay for the operation costs.

Elevator pitch

What is your solution?

In order to solve the root causes of the problem, we had to take a unique and novel approach to the problem. Our solution has to be economically scalable in order to be something that can truly be implemented. That's why we convert feces into charcoal, urine into ammonium sulfate, and sell both of those by-products for money. The feces to charcoal conversion happens via a process called carbonization. This carbonization happens in a kiln. To convert urine to ammonium sulfate, we utilize calcium hydroxide, sulfuric acid, and a ceramic diffuser to create the ammonium sulfate byproduct. A specific overview of how we do that is here.

In terms of economics, our solution generates enough money to pay for every ongoing cost of our supply chain while still having enough money to give $32 USD/family/month as an extra incentive because as mentioned below, one of the main reasons this problem exists is a lack of incentive. In the world, there is virtually no greater incentive than money, especially in third-world countries.

What specific problem are you trying to solve?

Sanitation is a basic human right. 47 million people in Nigeria are denied this right in the extreme context by open defecate on a daily basis. 100 million people (~50% of the population) lack access to basic sanitation services. ~45,000 children under age 5 die because of sanitation, access to water, and hygiene. This lack of sanitation not only leads to several lifestyle issues but also leads to the contamination of water (E.Coli is the biggest contaminant of water) as well as diseases like cholera, diarrhea, and dysentery which kill hundreds of thousands of people every year. Here are the following root causes that collectively exhaust the problem:

1. Lack Of Incentive From Open Defecators. The open defecators aren't educated on this problem and view this as the norm. As a result, they are fine with living with their current lifestyle.

2. Lack Of Quality of toilets. People essentially choose to open defecate because the toilet they could be using is of that poor quality.

3. Lack Of Governmental Support. The government could be working to solve this problem but corruption prevents this.

Who does your solution serve? In what ways will the solution impact their lives?

Our solution serves the citizens of Nigeria that either open defecate or generally have very limited access to Sanitation because of where they live, income status, or other reasons mentioned in the root cause analysis. While the target user suffers from the problem, they are also unaware that life should be any different. People die from diseases/illnesses that are caused by open defecation but because of their lack of exposure, they don't understand what open defecating is truly doing to them as well as their community.

By putting our waterproof toilets in their general residence and making them do essentially no work, it completely solves the lack of sanitation problem that they are currently facing. Instead of educating them, which in the past has been proven to be futile, we simply offer them money as the incentive which is generated from their own urine/feces. It's a sustainable loop that can operate for decades.

What steps have you taken to understand the needs of the population you want to serve?

We've talked to people from UNICEF, members of the Nigerian Government, CAWST, WaterAid, water.org, CBSA, and more organizations to further understand the problem from experienced people. A majority of the first few months working on this project were spent on purely the root cause analysis and understanding exactly what this problem is and why it is happening.

We've also got a 41 family pilot that we intend on beginning once the final details are sorted. The pilot list of families can be viewed here. We've made several iterations on the product by talking to both our users and advisors in the industry.

As a result, talking to all these organizations and having the opportunity to talk to our pilot families gave us a unique perspective that very few other companies have in the world.

Which aspects of the Challenge does your solution most closely address?

Improving healthcare access and health outcomes; and reducing and ultimately eliminating health disparities (Health)

Our solution's stage of development:

Pilot: An organization deploying a tested product, service, or business model in at least one community

Explain why you selected this stage of development for your solution—in other words, what have you accomplished to date?

Here's what we've done so far:
1.) Successfully in the lab turned urine into ammonium sulfate.
2.) Created our device that'll turn feces into charcoal and tested it out.
3.) Created our toilet that's successfully separated feces & urine to be completely odorless.
4.) Received $15k that we've used to create the prototype described above.
5.) Gotten government and religious leader and family approval to start our pilot with 41 families in Jos, Nigeria.
6.) Setup all the logistics with vendors & people in Nigeria who will be facilitating the parts of our process.

Team Lead:

Ayaan Esmail