Fund Business Revolutionizing Toilets in Ethiopia

My name is Terry McGoldrick, and I am a Theology Professor at Providence College. I am the former president of a non-profit that won a USAID and CRS project teaching Ethiopians to build a vermicomposting toilet called Microflush. The toilet won a Gates Foundation Challenge Award for $100,000 in 2013. They are off-grid, odorless, and cost under $300, they include handwashing and last as long as concrete lasts. These toilets have been in the field for a decade in Africa with excellent results; it's a proven technology. The challenge has been creating small businesses. With $20,000, you can help my tech experts start a small business in the Dire Dawa region of Ethiopia, where the project operated for two years before getting shut down due to war and new priorities for USAID and CRS.

The market in this region is ripe to begin a business after piloting two years. The money would be for small loan guarantees with a local bank to cover any defaults so we can offer the toilets to people with scarce resources to buy a household toilet over time. Involving a bank to service the loans will help the business to succeed. Other costs in the business plan include training youth to market the toilets with commissions. The remainder will cover government fees for startup costs, such as licensing, office, etc. which are relatively high in Ethiopia for a business. Apart from those costs, the business plan includes tools, travel costs, etc. I have made numerous bank-to-bank transfers to Ethiopia and Ghana over the course of our work there. They are $45 each, so I would send the funds in blocks from a personal account I set up for this fundraiser.

Ethiopia has one of the largest open defecation rates in the world, with all the resulting scourges to health, education, and dignity. If we can create a viable business, capitalizing on the 2-years already spent building Microflush toilets in schools and clinics during the piloting phase, we will make a significant dent in this problem. A good base of the community now knows the Microflush toilets. In focus groups, families called these toilets "a godsend." They felt that the most valuable reason to purchase a household toilet was for dignity: To no longer see their guests have to relieve themselves in the field, their wives risk going out at night, or their children dying in another toilet collapse, not to mention for hygienic reasons.

Who are these guys?

Wisdom Afenyo (Ghanaian) is one of the most skilled Microflush toilet makers in the world. He has been training others to build Microflush toilets in Ghana, Nigeria, and Ethiopia for ten years. He is married to an Ethiopian woman. He would be the crew chief to supervise construction and training.

Teshome Galena (Ethiopian) was the program manager for the CRS project with USAID. He would be the business manager.

They have saved $2000 of their own funds for this project, but need more to get this business off the ground. Together we can do this!

Galatoomaa! (Thank you) -Wisdom & Teshome