From stigma to solution: Sanitation and sustainable entrepreneurship in emerging economies

Abstract

There is a growing body of research expanding our understanding of sustainable entrepreneurship in marginalized communities beyond Western, high-income countries. However, an area that has received little attention is the highly stigmatized context of non-sewered sanitation services, and the resulting deleterious social and environmental impact on marginalized communities. Using qualitative analyses of three Kenyan sanitation-focused entrepreneurial ventures we examine the role that stigma plays in providing alternatives to traditional sewered sanitation systems. Our paper introduces three categories of sanitation-related actions—generation, collection/transport, and processing—each with their own level of stigmatization. This paper contributes to the literature by linking sustainable entrepreneurship with stigma, with propositions to lay the groundwork for further study of sustainable entrepreneurship in the sanitation sector.