MIT Solve

Solution overview

Our Solution

Aarashi Bathroom

Tagline

A trusted shared-service mobile app aiming to give every citizen access to water, sanitation and hygiene services through collaboration.

Pitch us on your solution

According to the UN, still 1 in 3 people ido not have to access to clean drinking water, and 1 in 6 people do not have access to safely managed sanitation facilities in the world. Aarashi bathroom app aims to collaborate with entities who can provide clean water and safe sanitation facilities to people who need these services, through an app.

We first plan to launch the Aarashi bathroom app in Dhaka, Bangladesh to help mitigate the bathroom crisis. In Dhaka, there is a lack of usable public bathrooms.

Aarashi Bathroom aims to collaborate with restaurants, hotels, cafes, hospitals, universities, colleges, schools, shopping malls, gym, hair salons, non profits, private homes, anyone who wants to share their bathroom to provide safe sanitation facilities and clean water to people who requires immediate access to it.

Film your elevator pitch

What is the problem you are solving?

In Dhaka, Bangladesh there is only 1 bathroom for every 215,000 people. According to a study by ActionAid Bangladesh, in association with UK Aid, on a “Gender Responsive City Structure” more than 90% of public toilets run by the city corporations are unusable. Most of these facilities are 96% insecure, 54% of them lack sanitation facilities and 91.5% of them are unhygienic and dirty. Mostly women suffer from getting access to safe sanitation facilities.

Who are you serving?

Aarashi Bathroom will serve everyone who needs immediate access to bathrooms wherever they are in Dhaka city.

We are talking to people everyday to find out about the necessity of proper bathrooms in Bangladesh.Through this app we want to change the mindset of people openly defecating in Bangladesh. At first, the app will mostly appeal to women in Bangladesh as they cannot find proper bathrooms in Dhaka. For men, it will also work, however, due to the problem of men openly defecating in Bangladesh, it might not appeal to men in the beginning. As we expand the app, we hope to change the bathroom culture of Bangladesh by creating a culture of using proper bathrooms.

What is your solution?

Aarashi Bathroom is a location-based mobile app to reserve on demand bathroom services.

Aarashi Bathroom app aims to collaborate with restaurants, hotels, cafes, hospitals, universities, colleges, schools, shopping malls, gym, hair salons, non-profits, private homes, anyone who wants to share their bathroom to provide safe sanitation facilities and clean water for everyone.
For Bathroom Users- Aarashi Bathroom is a convenient, inexpensive way to access clean, safe bathroom services wherever you are. The app aims to provide access to bathrooms near you within minutes. It will show directions to the nearest bathroom.

For Bathroom providers- Aarashi Bathroom app will provide reasonable pay for providing access to your bathroom for their users. It will enable bathroom service providers to take on customers whenever they wish also creating a platform to meet new people in your city from all walks of life.

Select only the most relevant.

Support communities in designing and determining solutions around critical services

Where is your solution team headquartered?

Dhaka, Bangladesh

Our solution's stage of development:

Prototype

More about your solution

Select one of the below:

New technology

Describe what makes your solution innovative.

Aarashi Bathroom app is the next Airbnb for bathrooms. It will connect bathroom providers and bathroom seekers through an app.

There are many other apps, which lets you find public bathrooms around.

However, Aarashi bathroom is different because it aims to tap into private bathrooms. Tapping into private bathrooms of restaurants, cafes, hospitals, universities, private home will overall increase the supply of bathrooms in the market and help people access bathrooms anywhere they want easily.

Describe the core technology that your solution utilizes.

Aarashi bathroom is trusted shared-service mobile app aiming to give every citizen access to water, sanitation and hygiene services through collaboration. Aarashi Bathroom is a location-based mobile app to reserve on demand bathroom services.

Aarashi bathroom is using a mobile based platform to connect bathroom providers to bathroom seekers.

Aarashi Bathroom app aims to collaborate with restaurants, hotels, cafes, hospitals, universities, colleges, schools, shopping malls, gym, hair salons, non-profits, private homes, anyone who wants to share their bathroom to provide safe sanitation facilities and clean water for everyone.
For Bathroom Users- Aarashi Bathroom is a convenient, inexpensive way to access clean, safe bathroom services wherever you are. The app aims to provide access to bathrooms near you within minutes. It will show directions to the nearest bathroom.

For Bathroom providers- Aarashi Bathroom app will provide reasonable pay for providing access to your bathroom for their users. It will enable bathroom service providers to take on customers whenever they wish also creating a platform to meet new people in your city from all walks of life.

Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

Social Networks

Why do you expect your solution to address the problem?

Aarashi bathroom will connect bathroom providers to bathroom seekers.Currently there is only 1 bathroom for 215000 people in Dhaka. This circumstance is highly affecting women's health. Women tend to drink less water due to the fear of not finding accessible bathrooms in Dhaka city.

Aarashi bathroom app aims to increase the supply of bathrooms by connecting with private bathrooms in Dhaka city. Overall, this will reduce the ratio of 1:215000 bathroom in Dhaka city and enable everyone to get on demand bathroom service wherever they are. As a result, this app will also help improve women's health by providing clean, safe bathrooms for them.

Select the key characteristics of the population your solution serves.

Women & Girls
Pregnant Women
LGBTQ+
Children and Adolescents
Infants
Elderly
Urban Residents
Low-Income
Middle-Income
Minorities/Previously Excluded Populations
Persons with Disabilities

In which countries do you currently operate?

Bangladesh

In which countries will you be operating within the next year?

Bangladesh

How many people are you currently serving with your solution? How many will you be serving in one year? How about in five years?

We are still experimenting with the app. We need funding to scale our project and serve people.

What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?

We first plan to launch the Aarashi bathroom app in Dhaka, Bangladesh to help mitigate the bathroom crisis. In Dhaka, there is a lack of usable public bathrooms. According to a study conducted by Water Aid, there is only one bathroom for every 215,000 people. Mostly women suffer more than men due to lack of usable bathrooms. A case study has also shown that women tend to hold their bladders and drink less water due to fear of not having accessible toilets around.

In the next 5 years, if the app is successful in Dhaka city, we plan to replicate the app in major cities for example in New Delhi, Kathmandu, New York, Washington DC, Karachi, etc.

What are the barriers that currently exist for you to accomplish your goals for the next year and for the next five years?

Our biggest barrier is funding at this moment. We need funding to scale our app.

Furthermore, in a country like Bangladesh it is difficult to ensure security of customers while they are using private bathrooms at private homes. We need to develop strict policies and take help from local police to ensure our customer's safety.

How are you planning to overcome these barriers?

We are applying for seed funding at other places, too!

To ensure security of customers, we are trying to replicate security policies of Uber and Airbnb.

Furthermore, we are also seeking help from MIT solve team to help us create policies, which can ensure customer's safety.

About your team

Select an option below:

For-Profit

If you selected Other for the organization question, please explain here.

N/A

How many people work on your solution team?

We have five people working on our team.

CEO: Full time staff.

CTO: Part-time staff.

Two Shareholders: Part-time staff.

One legal and compliance staff: Part-time

For how many years have you been working on your solution?

3 months

Why are you and your team best-placed to deliver this solution?

Fabia, CEO has 5 years work experience working with international development organizations and government agencies. She is from Bangladesh. She has strong knowledge of the Bangladesh population especially people from middle income and lower income population demography.

Arif, the CTO has 3 years experience working in the IT sector. He has developed apps such as Nirvor to find doctors in Bangladesh through an online platform.

Firoze, the Chairman of the organization has over 25 years of work experience in the education sector of Bangladesh.

Fawzia, one of the Directors of the organization has experience over 25 years in the legal sector of Bangladesh. She also heads the Bangladesh National Women Lawyers Association in Bangladesh. She is former member of the National Human Rights Commission, Bangladesh.

Together we have strong grasp of the Bangladesh market and the population we are serving through the Aarashi Bathroom app.

With what organizations are you currently partnering, if any? How are you working with them?

We have partnered with some gyms such as Amor and restaurants in Bangladesh.

We are seeking partnership with BRAC to help us provide Bathrooms all over Bangladesh.

Your business model & funding

Partnership potential

Why are you applying to Solve?

We want meet with like-minded people who can help us mitigate water, sanitation and hygiene problem all over the world.

What types of connections and partnerships would be most catalytic for your solution?

Business model
Technology
Distribution
Funding and revenue model
Talent or board members
Other

If you selected Other, please explain here.

We would like to partner with people who are in the trusted- shared services industry.

With what organizations would you like to partner, and how would you like to partner with them?

We would like to partner with for profit and non profit organizations, who can help us provide bathroom services to customers.

If you would like to apply for the AI Innovations Prize, describe how you and your team will utilize the prize to advance your solution. If you are not already using AI in your solution, explain why it is necessary for your solution to be successful and how you plan to incorporate it.

With the AI Innovation Prize we would be able to launch our bathroom app both on Android and IOS platform. This funding will help expand our project as well recruit more people who can help us make the solution more tangible.

There is a dire need of bathrooms in Bangladesh. There is one public bathroom for every 215000 people. Our solution can help mitigate this crisis by giving access to each other's bathroom in the community.

If you would like to apply for the GM Prize on Community-Driven Innovation, describe how you and your team will utilize the prize to advance your solution.

With the GM Prize we would be able to launch our bathroom app both on Android and IOS platform. This funding will help expand our project as well recruit more people who can help us make the solution more tangible.

There is a dire need of bathrooms in Bangladesh. There is one public bathroom for every 215000 people. Our solution can help mitigate this crisis by giving access to each other's bathroom in the community.

If you would like to apply for the Innovation for Women Prize, describe how you and your team will utilize the prize to advance your solution.

With the Innovation for Women Prize we would be able to launch our bathroom app both on Android and IOS platform. This funding will help expand our project as well recruit more people who can help us make the solution more tangible.

There is a dire need of bathrooms in Bangladesh. There is one public bathroom for every 215000 people. Our solution can help mitigate this crisis by giving access to each other's bathroom in the community.

If you would like to apply for the Prize for Innovation in Refugee Inclusion, describe how you and your team will utilize the prize to advance your solution.

Not at this time

If you would like to apply for the Innospark Ventures Prize, describe how you and your team will utilize the prize to advance your solution. If your solution utilizes data, describe how you will ensure that the data is sourced, maintained, and used ethically and responsibly.

Not at this time.

If you would like to apply for the Morgridge Family Foundation Community-Driven Innovation Prize, describe how you and your team will utilize the prize to advance your solution.

With the Morgridge Family Foundation Community Driven Prize we would be able to launch our bathroom app both on Android and IOS platform. This funding will help expand our project as well recruit more people who can help us make the solution more tangible.

There is a dire need of bathrooms in Bangladesh. There is one public bathroom for every 215000 people. Our solution can help mitigate this crisis by giving access to each other's bathroom in the community.

If you would like to apply for the Everytown for Gun Safety Prize, describe how you and your team will utilize the prize to advance your solution. If your solution utilizes data, describe how you will ensure that the data is sourced, maintained, and used ethically and responsibly.

Not at this time.