general
The Toilet Board Coalition accelerates business solutions to the sanitation crisis via the sector’s leading Accelerator. We match entrepreneurs with global business leaders and investors to drive progress on Sustainable Development Goal 6 – sanitation for all by 2030. The Accelerator is a 12-month virtual programme offered in English, Spanish, French and Khmer that facilitates the growth of Sanitation Economy businesses through business model coaching, corporate mentorship and access to investment.
To accelerate business solutions to the sanitation crisis! We prepare sanitation SMEs for investments and strategic partnerships that can bring both innovation and scale.
Upon successful graduation from the Accelerator programme, the SMEs can expect to have a clear roadmap to scale for their sanitation business, resulting from intensive work around –
- Unit Economics
- Pathway to Scale
- Investment Readiness
- Join the world’s leading Accelerator for Sanitation entrepreneurs, offering business model coaching, corporate mentorship and access to investment.
- 12-months of customized expert support
- Match with global business leaders & investors to accelerate your business. Access to investment is enabled through the Investor Forums– virtual events connecting you with our extensive network of investors.
- Become part of the largest global community of sanitation entrepreneurs.
We look for businesses in the Sanitation Economy across fields such as:
- Toilet Marketplace:
- Building, operating, maintaining and/or providing toilets
- Sustainable menstruation health and hygiene, diapers and other products
- Circular Sanitation Marketplace:
- Collecting, storing, transporting and/or treating human waste
- Smart Sanitation Marketplace:
- Using analytics, information, IoT, and/or sensors, etc. to monitor sanitation infrastructure, and/or derive insights including preventive healthcare
Learn more about the Sanitation Economy here. If you are a sanitation business that does not fit any of the above descriptions, we would still encourage you to submit an application or contact us at info@toiletboard.org if you have any questions.
application process
Applicants can apply online through the application forms on Coalition’s website.
We work with scale-ready sanitation businesses that are post-revenue. The Accelerator is seeking to work with businesses that meet the following criteria:
- SMEs operating in emerging markets: serving low-income customers across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
- Scalable business model: commercially viable and delivering sanitation in new customer-centric ways
- Sanitation economy product offering: that is innovative, replicable and proven
There is no fee to participate in the Accelerator programme.
The programme starts every year in January and ends in November. View accelerator process and timeline.
In February, we launch the application for the subsequent year’s Cohort. Applications close at the end of April and the team begins reviewing applications.
Ineligible applications (see criteria above) are declined, and a first list is assembled for internal (Toilet Board Coalition Team) review. A first shortlist is presented to the Coalition corporate Members in early July.
Following this presentation an interview team is assembled from the membership to interview and select finalists. We may also ask for clarifications of information submitted in the application if needed.
Finally in September, Toilet Board Coalition corporate Members make proposals of who they would like to mentor the following year.
Please note that the final selection is in the hands of the corporates, and they select top businesses whose stage of growth and needs are aligned with their priorities and capacities. Not being selected DOES NOT mean that your application is weak, and we encourage re-application for this reason as it can be just a matter of timing.
Yes, both can be part of the programme. Team members are welcome to join the programme, however, founders/ CEOs are compulsory.
At the start of the year, the SMEs, in collaboration with the Accelerator team, will clearly define the work that they intend on completing through the year. Therefore, attending the regular meetings with the accelerator team and mentors is an important expectation. Additionally, we expect participants to be active members of the the Coalition platform to derive the maximum benefit – attending events, contributing to publications help SMEs to leverage the the Coalition platform fully. Each year, the Coalition also prepares an impact report that showcases the impact produced by our acceleratees, we expect the acceleratees therefore to report their impact in an accurate and timely manner to facilitate this process.
during the programme
The programme is conducted online . Additional opportunities to meet physically during the year are available subject to any travel restrictions.
No, the Accelerator team will guide you and provide you tools and examples. It is up to you to implement those suggestions in your business to accelerate growth.
Participants are required to devote at least 3-4 hours/week.
Mentors are business leaders as well industry experts drawn from a diverse pool within water and sanitation, who are part of the TBC’s membership network.
Weekly calls are held with the Accelerator team led by the regional point of contact. These calls will form the basis of regular updates and will also help in identifying partnership opportunities within the platform.
The TBC considers it an opportunity and a privilege to work with you. Due to the intensive and personal nature of the programme, sensitive information is exchanged. However, we take the security of your data and information seriously and will never share it without your explicit permission. Confidential data is never passed beyond the Accelerator team without your consent. We do compile aggregate data across the portfolio to report on impact or to include in a publication, but such requests will come to you directly. The Accelerator team is not at liberty to divulge any data they encounter during their work with you.
after the programme
- Ongoing relationship management and access to the Toilet Board Coalition network of Members & Partners
- Shaping and participating in the Toilet Board Coalition’s Programme
- Engagement in speaking opportunities around the globe and complimentary attendance to the Coalition events.
- Access to investment opportunities via the Coalition’s investment activities
- Continued promotion through the Coalitions’s media channels and publications
No, Toilet Board Coalition will not directly invest in your business however, upon graduation from the Accelerator, the businesses will have the opportunity to gain access to investments from Toilet Board Coalition Members and investors network based on investment readiness.
Not at all! We are running a not-for-profit Accelerator and we do not charge fee of any sort. Your business is your business. We just want to help you scale!
No, we do not take equity in your business.
Yes, the programme will connect you with the investors. Typically, the focus in Q3 and Q4 would be on helping participants raise investment through the Coalition’s investor network, convened through the investor forum and the investment council. Further, as Accelerator alumni, you are invited to participate in the pitching sessions and raise investment.
We will do our best to help you gain access to required capital, however investments are of course not guaranteed. Even if you do not receive investment in the duration of the Accelerator, we will help you become more “investment ready” through strategic guidance, help with pitching and helping you gain exposure to our network of investors.
Yes, that can happen. But even if you do not get the investment, you will gain the knowledge to scale your business and build important connections with industry experts, investor community and a global community of sanitation entrepreneurs.
See testimonials here.
