And the story of its inception.
Around the same time last year, a female colleague joined office after a 10-day trip to Leh-Ladakh. And boy she had stories to share! I vividly remember, we spent the entire day listening to her stories and her escapade. She sure knew how to captivate her audience.
While I made a mental note to myself to expedite my own travel plans, something from her story stuck in my mind. She mentioned that a particular stretch when she had taken a halt for food, she wanted to relieve herself but could not as the washroom stank and the toilet had the dirtiest seat ever.
She then had to control her urge to pee for close to 2 hours – till the time she reached her hotel room.
I discussed this thought with my Director who sensed a bigger picture here and told me that this isn’t a one-off incident and there are many more women who would be facing a similar struggle. With this insight in mind, our team initiated a research with an objective to identify the scale of the problem and then be able to provide a solution.
The first thing we identified is that an unhygienic toilet seat is home to numerous germs and bacteria which can lead to diseases like Urinary Tract Infection (UTI), Diarrhoea, E-Coli infection, Staph, and Hepatitis A. Picture this, an average person visits a toilet 5-7 times a day, most of the time to pee. Needless to say, women use the toilet seat with a greater degree of contact exposing them to such major threats.
And when public toilets which are shared by many, coupled with poor upkeep & maintenance and which are not necessarily washed or cleaned after each use, only aggravates the situation. According to data provided by World Health Organization, 50% women report contracting Urinary Tract Infection at least once in their lifetime. This number is close to 80% in developing countries as per UN data.
Our studies showed that there are 3 main reasons why women tend to not use toilets outside their homes:
1. Unhygienic toilet experience
2. Insufficient water availability
3. Foul smell
The Solution
While we realise that there’s not much that we can do about insufficient water supply, we can definitely take on unhygienic toilet experience and foul smell. With these insights in mind and a passion to be able to do a little something to change the scenario, our team came up with a product – a toilet seat sanitizer.
Formulated with Isopropyl Alcohol (IPA), it is easy to use and carry product that not only kills 99.9% germs but also deodorizes. All you need to do is, spray Be. The Solution Toilet Seat Sanitizer on the toilet seat from a distance of 6-8 inches (2-3 sprays would do) and wait for 10 seconds. The toilet seat is now sanitized and ready to use.
This is just one of our small steps towards the bigger change we want to bring in. We are simply trying to do what we are. Be. The Solution.
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