SANTA CRUZ DEL QUICHÉ, Guatemala, April 19, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A quarter1 of Latin America and The Caribbean (LAC) lack access to safely managed water and sanitation, a basic human right2. In addressing Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 – access to sanitation for all by 2030, the IDB Lab – the innovation laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) commissioned the Toilet Board Coalition and Water For People to scale sanitation businesses in LAC via the Toilet Board Coalition’s Accelerator. The objective of the project is to provide entrepreneurial acceleration support to start-ups in the Sanitation Economy and promote the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the sanitation sector to increase sanitation services in Guatemala, Honduras, and Peru. This support ecosystem will generate an alliance “The Toilet Board Coalition - Latin America and The Caribbean,” consisting of large and small businesses, cooperation agents, NGOs, research institutes, and government agencies. The partners of this alliance will share funding, skills, and knowledge to promote sustainable and scalable business models in the Sanitation Economy promoting the development of more inclusive sanitation value chains.
This project is co-financed by Source of Innovation, an alliance promoted and co-financed by the Water and Sanitation Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and IDB Lab, in coordination with the following key partners: the Government of Switzerland, through its State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO), FEMSA Foundation, the Government of Israel, and the Government of Korea, through its Ministry of Environment.
The world-renowned Toilet Board Coalition Accelerator, currently in its eighth year, has scaled 58 sanitation start-ups across 20 countries, impacting more than 2.4 million people daily and unlocking US$22 million in finance. Expanding into LAC, the Accelerator will now also be offered in Spanish. Through corporate mentorship, business model design and access to investment, SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) can fuel crucial innovation in the sector. The Toilet Board Coalition calls for corporates to engage in the first Accelerator of the region to provide capacity-building support to sanitation SMEs, while learning and growing from on-the-ground gatekeepers of real-time insights and action, strengthening strategy and sustainability.
Alexandra Knezovich, Managing Director Engagement at Toilet Board Coalition says: “The Toilet Board Coalition offers engagement opportunities to its 80+ Members from corporates, NGOs, research and government agencies through its Roundtables to catalyse the water, sanitation and hygiene business ecosystem and entrepreneurial support. We are thrilled to now offer a dedicated LAC programme, enabling further development of partnerships with corporations through financing, mentoring and connection with their value chain.”
Jenny Lewis, Vice President at the Kimberly-Clark Foundation and Toilet Board Coalition Chair, says: “MNC (multinational corporation) and SME collaboration is vital to accelerate change, and the Toilet Board Coalition’s Accelerator provides an avenue for entrepreneurial energy to collide with corporate expertise, delivering sanitation in new customer-centric ways. We are thrilled to chair the LAC Accelerator and to continue seeing the programme expand globally.”
With a roadmap to impact 1 billion people by 2030, the Accelerator will grow its alumni portfolio to 1,000 businesses by 2030. Through the partnership with IDB Lab and Water for People, the Accelerator will enhance its focus in LAC, promoting the sanitation sector to increase sanitation services in Guatemala, Honduras and Peru, accelerating the Sanitation Economy. This market-based approach to the sanitation system builds on innovative business models and strategic collaborations to provide customer-centric & sustainable sanitation products and services to impact poor and vulnerable populations in rural and urban areas who suffer from inadequate or absent sanitation services. The outcome of this partnership of 36 months, will scale 15 LAC start-ups, of which a minimum of five will be women-led.
Daniel Oporto Calderón, Regional Director for Latin America at Water For People says: “We are thrilled to join the opportunity in building social entrepreneurship in the Sanitation Economy through the launch of the LAC Accelerator. We look forward to combining our knowledge, footprint, and partnerships in this region.”
Join the LAC Roundtable and accelerate sanitation for all – reach out at info@toiletboard.org
About IDB Lab
IDB Lab is the innovation laboratory of the Inter-American Development Bank Group. It seeks to empower poor and vulnerable populations and activate new and sustainable engines of inclusive growth in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC).
To do it, IDB Lab mobilizes financing, knowledge, and connections to test early-stage entrepreneurial solutions and to develop the ecosystems where these can thrive. As a result, IDB Lab drives economic and social inclusion at scale by creating quality jobs, improving the productivity of small companies, and expanding access to essential services, all while addressing the climate crisis as well as gender and diversity gaps.
Learn more at www.bidlab.org.
About Toilet Board Coalition
Founded in 2015, the Toilet Board Coalition accelerates business solutions to the global sanitation crisis. The Coalition facilitates vital partnerships between small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), corporates, NGOs, investors and governments who share a commitment to achieve access to sanitation and hygiene for all by 2030 (SDG 6.2).
Through its world-renowned Accelerator, the Coalition provides business model design, corporate mentorship and access to investment to Sanitation Economy entrepreneurs serving low-income markets. To date, the Coalition has graduated 58 SMEs, impacting more than 2.4 million people daily and unlocking US$22 million in finance. Our 80+ Members’ diverse approach to sanitation proudly leads to essential innovation in toilet design, circular recovery of biological resources, and smart digital technologies to ensure safe and sustainable sanitation for all.
The Toilet Board Coalition and its work is made possible by the generous support of its Membership. The contents are the responsibility of the Toilet Board Coalition and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Members.
Learn more at www.toiletboard.org.
About Water For People
Water For People exists to promote the development of high-quality drinking water and sanitation services, accessible to all, and sustained by strong communities, businesses, social entrepreneurs, and governments. Water for People’s approach on sanitation and for the LAC region works with the following subprograms: 1) Affordable and aspirational technologies 2) Market systems development 3) Self-construction for the last mile (CLTS, cross-incentive models with local Governments, among others)
In Latin America, Water For People works in Bolivia and Peru (South America), Honduras and Guatemala (Central America) implementing the Everyone*Forever model under a systemic approach to hit the SDG 6 indicators and 2023 Agenda.
Learn more at www.waterforpeople.org.
Sources
[1] https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/water/brief/monitoring-responses-in-lac
[2] https://washdata.org/sites/default/files/2022-01/jmp-2021-wash-households_3.pdf
Contact: Ivan Palma, ipalma@waterforpeople.org
