Kiva conducts regular, ongoing monitoring of all Lending Partners, but only posts status updates here in response to relevant, major changes at the partner.

Status update — January 4, 2018
Kiva has moved this Lending Partner to inactive status, as Sanergy has decided stop posting new loans to borrowers on Kiva and instead to test out Kiva's Direct to Social Enterprise program as an alternate way of crowdfunding capital for their work. You can see their DSE loan here. This Lending Partner has repaid its outstanding balance to Kiva in full and these funds have been distributed to lenders. If and when this partner requests to post loans to borrowers again using Kiva's traditional model whereby they act as a Lending Partner, Kiva will first conduct any additional monitoring and due diligence tasks we believe necessary.

Status update — August 4, 2017
Sanergy has become a Kiva borrower through Kiva's Direct to Social Enterprise program. With their loan, they'll add 200 toilets to Nairobi slums. You can see this loan here. 

Partner description:
Sanergy is a social enterprise that combines technology, entrepreneurialism and a unique business model to provide safe, accessible and affordable sanitation products and services to slum residents across Kenya.

Sanergy is the creator of the Fresh Life toilet, a sanitation system that builds in unique concepts and technology to improve waste collection and conversion. Today, the organization has close to 100 toilets operating in slums throughout Nairobi, and is scaling fast.

4 steps to hygienic sanitation: Build, franchise, collect, convert

1) BUILD: Sanergy is building a network of small-scale, high-quality sanitation facilities that can be placed close to homes in urban slums. Designed by its own team of engineers, Sanergy’s Fresh Life toilets cost only $200 to make, occupy a small footprint of land and can be assembled in a day. 

2) FRANCHISE: Sanergy sells these toilets at affordable prices to local operators, providing them with training and ongoing support. These franchisees can then charge people to use their toilets for a minimal fee, enabling them to generate up to US$1,200 in additional income every year.

3) COLLECT: Sanergy employees called the “Fresh Life Front Line” collect waste from each toilet every day. Unlike traditional facilities that funnel waste into pits, septic tanks or waterways, Fresh Life toilets trap waste in sanitary, double-sealed containers. Employees simply deposit these containers at a local processing facility and pick up clean replacements for the next day’s business.

4) CONVERT: Sanergy aims to convert the waste it collects into high-margin products, including electricity sold to the national grid, and organic fertilizer sold to commercial farms. Sanergy’s plan is to create biogas for both energy and fertilizer at a large, central processing facility, transforming human waste into an economically valuable resource.

Kiva and Sanergy

Sanergy uses the flexible, zero-interest capital provided by Kiva lenders to offer loans to its network of toilet operators. The funding covers the upfront costs of the toilet purchase, enabling operators to pay back the loan over time with the revenue generated by the toilet. Now many more people who could not afford to be operators otherwise have the chance to install clean toilets and generate additional income for themselves and their families.

Toilet operators run their facilities as successful small businesses. On average, each toilet receives between 50 and 60 uses a day, allowing 20% of operators to hire support staff, creating additional jobs in a community plagued by 40% unemployment.

Sanergy charges a small markup on the equipment to cover the costs of administering Kiva loans. Working with Kiva is helping Sanergy grow rapidly and provide even more Kenyans with a clean, hygienic and environmentally-sustainable alternative.

The importance of sanitation

Worldwide, about 2.6 billion people lack access to adequate sanitation. The resulting diarrheal disease kills 1.6 million children every year -- more than HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined. This problem is especially acute in urban slums, where populations are expected to hit 2 billion by 2030. 

Right now, about 10 million Kenyans live in slums, but this number is growing at a rate of 7% a year. About 80% of these residents lack adequate sanitation facilities. On average, 150 people share one toilet and 70% of slum residents are not connected to sewers. These factors contribute to widespread contamination of waterways and food supplies.

Awards and honors

Sanergy has been widely recognized for its socially-driven efforts and business model. In just the last year, it’s been named an MIT100K Business Plan Winner, an Echoing Green Fellow, and an African Leadership Network Fellow. It’s also received a grant from USAID Development Innovation Ventures, and other awards.

Because Sanergy’s core business is not microfinance, and its partnership with Kiva is unprecedented, these loans present some level of additional risk for lenders. That’s why we have not provided a risk rating for this organization.

Want to get more involved with Sanergy on Kiva? Join the lending team Sanergy Sanitation for All!