Pit Vidura

In dense informal settlements, most toilets are pit latrines and are emptied by hand. The untreated waste is then dumped or re-buried elsewhere in the community. This has been the only sanitation ‘solution’ available to over 90% of people living in Rwanda’s capital Kigali.

Pit Vidura offers safe and affordable pit latrine emptying services – even in the most inaccessible areas. It employs previously marginalised waste workers, equipping them with professional tools and personal protective gear.

TRANSFORM helped Pit Vidura to scale up by testing more efficient business models and piloted ways to license its technologies to existing service providers. Unilever also helped to rebrand the business and improve the business model by advertising in local shops.

Pit Vidura then sought additional support and funding from TRANSFORM to build on learnings from the first project and develop what had been identified as the triggers to unlocking further growth in Kigali and beyond. This project focussed on leveraging partnerships with multinationals and micro retailers, known as duka shops, to drive sales and efficiency gains, as well as launching a differential pricing structure to reduce the prices for low-income households.