Hamidatu’s idea, come to life!

How your support is helping make bathroom facilities more affordable in rural Ghana.

Hamidatu had an idea.

Working in sales at iDE Ghana, she knew that buying a bathroom facility (a structure that includes the toilet, floor, walls, roof, etc.) was becoming too expensive for rural customers. That meant people weren’t getting access to safe and comfortable toilets. She also knew the potential of using recycled plastic in the building materials. Using recycled plastic lowers costs, reduces waste, and creates manufacturing jobs.

With this in mind, she came up with the idea to use recycled plastic for the floor tiles used in the toilet structure.

To test this idea, Hamidatu applied for a $20,000 grant through the Polak Fund — and was awarded the funds!

These awards are available thanks to generous donors like you, who believe in the importance of testing innovative ideas to reduce poverty and improve livelihoods.

With her grant, Hamidatu has done research and reached out to local businesses to create prototypes. In the end, she decided to buy the equipment needed to create these tiles in-house.

Seeing this idea come to life also includes a lot of testing. This includes testing for strength, durability, ease of cleaning and product safety.

Once testing is complete, Hamidatu’s next step is to gather feedback from potential customers.

Thank you for helping bring Hamidatu’s innovative idea to life through your support of the Paul Polak Innovation Fund!