K I T C H E N
Upon finding that we have a
common vision and passion,
Transite and EnviroLead
agreed to join hands under
the umbrella name Ahote
Sanitation Project. Justice
0 8
How is Ahote sanitation
different from other public
toilet projects embarked on
by Gov't? what is your
competitive advantage?
|
L I F E S T Y L E
Our major challenge has been
our high manufacturing and
operational cost that has not
allowed us to competitively
price our toilets since the
introduction of subsidies on
and Affum were invited to Our bio-toilets are well some toilets through a
join the newly found designed to not only protect government project.
initiative. the environment but to also
provide comfort to the user. It This affected our ability to
This is how Ahote is odorless and space expand and reach more people
transformed from just an idea efficient. It does not require especially in our target market.
to a robust project which has a manhole.
since experienced various
We are looking for partnerships
iterations and pivots, We asked our customers why and grants that will also allow us
resulting in the birth of our they choose us and keep to provide toilets for low income
toilet project now registered referring others despite the families.
as a limited liability company many competitors and they called Happy Home Eco- highlighted mainly on the Sanitation Company durability and quality (HHESCO). – hhesco.com standards of our toilets. We believe these are what set us Apparently, you started off as
a student team. How did you
combine studies/ social life on
campus with this project?
Through our activities to apart and push us to reach It has not been an easy feat. The
promote good sanitation, we our vision of putting an end coursework demands back at
identified the problem of to open defecation. Ashesi were tough. But we were
open defecation in the areas
we operate. We therefore did
further research and
discovered that this is an
even bigger problem
nationwide. Although there
is some progress being made,
“access to household toilet
facilities in the country
remains limited to 18% of
households in urban areas
and to 9% in rural areas. “
(UNICEF, 2016) -
https://www.unicef.org/gha
na/media_10965.html. We
saw a problem and an
opportunity as well to make
impact.
We discovered this toilet
technology through a training
workshop by Prof. Mecca of
Providence College, US.
Since then, we have
partnered with Mr. Afenyo
who is an experienced
building engineer.
What have been some
major challenges and
success? What support do
you need to make a greater
impact?
able to work on Ahote and
engaged in other extracurricular
activities. Justice for instance
combined every other thing he
was doing with being an Ashesi
Student Council vice president.
Despite all these, we graduated
with honours.