Sim Jack
Organization: World Toilet Organization Ltd
Year Founded: 2001
Country: Singapore
Website: www.worldtoilet.org
Geographic Area of Impact: Global.
Model: Leveraged Non-Profit
Focus: Health.
Social Entrepreneur of the Year, Singapore, 2005 Schwab Fellow of the World Economic Forum The Innovation The words “public toilet” are likely to elicit everything from embarrassed half-grins to outright laughter. But when public toilets are unavailable or unclean, the good humour is quickly replaced by disgust and anger. Jack Sim broke new ground by eliminating the toilet taboo and brought the subject of waste management centre stage. Jack created the WTO (World Toilet Organization) as a global network and service platform where these groups can learn from one another and leverage media and corporate support to influence governments to promote sound sanitation and public health policies. Working with a shoestring annual budget of US$ 150,000, Sim has mastered the art of leverage. He has been able to organize eight World Toilet Summits and two World Toilet Expo and Forums that have brought together thousands of participants from 44 countries to address issues such as toilet accessibility and sanitation. Through an extensive networking campaign, the World Toilet Summit continuously expands its global community. Several notable individuals like the current and former Presidents of India, HRH William Alexander, the Prince of Orange, and the Undersecretary of UN-Habitat etc. have given their testimonials to recognize the impact of WTS in the improvement of sanitation. WTO has declared November 19th as World Toilet Day and the worldwide celebrations occur annually to increase public awareness on the issues of toilet and sanitation. The holiday is not just for celebrating toilets, but also for recognizing the unsung heroes behind the scenes who keep the toilets clean – the restroom workers. Background According to the UN, more than 5 million children die every year from sanitation-related diseases like diarrhea. In India and China alone, a billion people without sanitary facilities relieve themselves regularly on streets and in rivers, heavily polluting the water. The most significant source of water contamination in developing countries is due to the lack of adequate sanitation facilities. Even when public toilets are available, they are poorly maintained. According to WTO, the average person uses the toilet 2,200 times a year, approximately 6 times a day. In fact, across a lifespan, three years of one’s life are spent in the toilet. Due to biological differences, women spend three times longer in toilets than men. In spite of this, there are usually more toilet booths for men in public areas, while women often have to queue for the toilets. No one has calculated the size of the global toilet industry, but since restrooms and related infrastructure account for about 7% of total construction costs, industry worth is probably in the tens of billions of dollars. By way of example, in preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics, Beijing is spending US$100 million to create about 3,700 “world class” toilets. WTO supports the creation of a star rating system in Beijing for city lavatories, and China reports, it will build millions of low-cost toilets in rural areas over the coming decades. Strategy WTO envisages itself as a de facto global body that champions more and better toilet environments. Underpinning the organization is the notion that there are a number of groups already working to promote better sanitation facilities worldwide, groups like NGOs, universities and public agencies. To compensate for the lack of financial resources, WTO’s fundamental strategy is one of leverage. Every World Toilet Summit or World Toilet Day is managed by professional event managers and funded by city or state governments or corporate groups. Sim draws on the knowledge pool that exists in universities, NGOs and government agencies worldwide, inviting experts to share their know-how at these events by speaking or publishing articles for international dissemination. Although the main strategy is based on leverage, WTO has been able to mobilize the support of Singapore-based public and private organizations, including the Lien Foundation, the NVPC, the MCYS, the National Environment Agency and corporations such as Kimberley-Clarke, CH2M Hill, Grohe, Geberit and Unilever. The Restroom Association in Singapore, initially founded by Sim in 1998, had an impact on public policy, starting with Singapore’s Code of Practice for Environmental Health to provide more facilities for women so as to eliminate the queue to the ladies. It is evolving to include standards of public toilet legislation for other countries, with the goal of benchmarking global standards for public toilets in order to aid city planning. Non-profit organizations mostly rely on donations. However, donations alone cannot bring sanitation to all. World Toilet Organization recently embarked on a new socially entrepreneurial strategy to bring services to the poor. Instead of seeing 2.5 billion of underprivileged and helpless people, WTO visualizes 2.5 billion of potential customers demanding safe and affordable toilets and small sanitation treatment systems. Having an efficient market will have its own demand and supply mechanism, innovation, competition and financing (including micro finance) to serve the neglected gaps. WTO is also branching out into the design and marketing side of sanitation. They are currently collaborating with a publicly listed company in Singapore interested in making the flat-pack toilet by plastic injection molding. The purpose of this is to make toilets colorful and pleasing to the eyes. Through this, WTO can become the IKEA of the poor by delivering the flat-pack units of toilets. The Entrepreneur Jack Sim, Founder of World Toilet Organization (WTO), believes in living according to the motto "Live A Useful Life". Not having a university degree did not stop Jack from starting his own business at age 24. After seeing the futility of focusing only on financial gain, he left business and ventured into non-profit work. He has dedicated his remaining years towards humanitarian causes that can give real meaning to his life. Jack developed a keen interest and concern for toilets because he felt that this subject was neglected and there was much to be done, which led him to establish the Restroom Association of Singapore (RAS) in 1998. He adopted the mission to raise the standards of public toilets in Singapore and around the world. Since the Association was founded, Jack aimed to put Singapore on the "world map" by taking the lead in having clean public toilets. As Jack began his work in Singapore, he realized there were other existing toilet associations doing good work in other countries, but no channels existed to facilitate information sharing and resource mobilization. There was a lack of synergy. Hence, with a dream to have a world body to unite the various toilet associations, Jack founded the World Toilet Organization (WTO) in 2001 and the World Toilet College (WTC) in 2005. Today, WTO comprises of 145 members in 52 countries. In 2004, Jack was awarded the Singapore Green Plan Award 2012 by Singapore's National Environment Agency for contribution to Environment. In 2006, Jack Sim was invited to launch The German Toilet Association in Berlin. He is also a founding member of American Restroom Association. In 2007, Jack became one of the key members to convene the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance comprised of key players for sanitation. Jack is also an Ashoka Global Fellow and was named by Time Magazine as a Hero of the Environment 2008. He sits in the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Councils for Water Security and also the Global Agenda Council for Social Entrepreneurship. In 2009, he'll join the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy as a master student in Public Administration as well as a visiting fellow at its Institute of Water Policy.
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