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What’s the Matter with WASH?: Why Struggling Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Businesses Need More than Just Investment
Despite limitless demand, most water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) businesses – particularly those serving the poorest customers – are struggling to find a market and attract investors. Annie Hall at Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor shares insights from a new report that explores where WASH businesses are going wrong – and how investors and development sector players can help.
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Kimberly-Clark, Kotex To Mentor Startups Focused on Women’s Health, Access To Sanitation
The Toilet Board Coalition (TBC), with the strategic support of Kimberly-Clark and its Kotex brand, has launched the Women in the Sanitation Economy Innovation Lab — which seeks to cultivate and catalyze early-stage ideas and businesses within the Sanitation Economy that are led by women and/or focused on women’s health.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Finance, Investing, WASH
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Healthcare Cannot Exist Without Clean Water: Why WASH is the Foundation of an Effective Pandemic Response
Hospital beds and masks are often seen as the basic elements of defense against COVID-19. Yet for many developing countries, the pandemic has exposed even more fundamental disease prevention needs – namely, clean water and sanitation. Nafisa Jiwani at U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) discusses the vital role WASH plays in combating the pandemic, and how DFC is supporting water and sanitation efforts around the world.
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- Coronavirus, Health Care, Investing, WASH
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For Billions Without Clean Water, ‘Wash Your Hands’ Is Complicated
Conservation News spoke with the director of Conservation International’s WASH in Watersheds program, Colleen Sorto, about how when it comes to water and human health, where your water comes from can be just as important as how you use it.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Education, Environment, Health Care, Investing, WASH
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Small Business and WASH in the Age of Coronavirus
Since the coronavirus began spreading throughout the world, few things have been unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our activities to develop markets for WASH products and services are no exception.
- Categories
- Coronavirus, Education, Health Care, WASH
- Tags
- coronavirus, electricity, emerging markets, hygiene, NGOs, USAID, WASH, water
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WASH Away Inequity: Lack of Access to Safe Water is the Most Crippling Obstacle Limiting Human Potential
On World Water Day, consider that 844 million people (nearly 1 in 9) lack a drinking water source that is accessible within a 30-minute round trip from their home. But though this problem can be solved by installing a tap or rain harvesting system, the upfront cost of up to $200 is often prohibitive for people living in poverty. Water.org co-founder and CEO Gary White highlights the power of the poor, when given affordable financing, to provide their own solution to the global water crisis.
- Categories
- Environment, Investing, WASH
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A Business Accelerator Puts India’s Urban WASH Challenges Front and Center
India's cities are plagued by multiple water, sanitation and hygiene challenges, from inadequate drinking water to low sewerage network coverage. Private sector innovators and entrepreneurs are tackling these challenges with new technologies, products, services and business models. But their successes are inconsequential compared with the scale of the problem. Niyatee Goyal and Aditya Tejas at Ennovent discuss a USAID-supported platform that's addressing these problems on several fronts – including through a business accelerator.
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- Entrepreneurship, Health Care, Technology, WASH
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Making WASH Sexy: An Often Neglected Sector Comes Into Its Own
In a social business landscape littered with apps and accelerators, WASH doesn’t come across as the sexiest of sectors. So when NextBillion launched its August focus on WASH, we editors weren’t expecting words like “hope” and “innovation” and “opportunity” to be thrown around a lot. But they were. And as the month ends, we’re feeling – dare we say it – excited about the long-term future of water, sanitation and hygiene, and about the businesses focused on improving them.
- Categories
- Health Care, NextBillion Originals, WASH
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