“I’m interested in the bottom of humanity, in human waste”, laughs Jack. But he isn't joking, he means every word. Jack Sim, nicknamed The Toilet Man, is the founder of the World Toilet Organisation, a non-profit organisation focused on the technologies, development, design and everything else required to provide sanitation facilities where they are insufficient or non-existent. “Often the most difficult thing is overcoming the taboo surrounding this issue”, says Jack. “I usually manage it by saying ‘Would you want other people to see your mother, your wife or your daughter while she's on the toilet?'".

Jack Sim was one of the main speakers at a conference held in Singapore organised by the think-tank Qi, where new social, cultural and economic eco-systems were studied. All of which are sustainable, environmentally friendly and fair-trade. Some of the most creative intellectuals now working in Asia took part in the conference. But Jack’s presentation was one of the most fun, interesting and, above all, informative in the programme. Perhaps because the toilet is a taboo and embarrassing subject to us too. Perhaps because we can’t imagine what it would be like to live without a bathroom. No shower, washbasin or bath tub. No toilet. But this is what hundreds of millions of people living in the slums and rural areas of under-developed or developing countries put up with. Many of these make up what economists succinctly call the BOP (Bottom of the Pyramid). They are the largest and poorest socio-economic group on the planet. Around 2 and a half billion human beings (according to optimistic estimates) living on less than 2 dollars 50 a day.
Of course, the Qi Global conference presented a number of projects tackling poverty, from IIX Asia (Impact Investment Exchange Asia), a grant raising capital for businesses with social objectives, to rubanisation, i.e. the creation of a new way of living in rural cities, called rubans, which are self-sufficient settlements where individuals, the family and society are integrated, the villages of the next century, where community values are recreated.
In the same vein as these projects, the latest report by Unctad (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) alleges that ICT (Information and Communication Technology) can be a formula for producing wealth in countries with poor schooling and economies (click here to download the full report). If we put together rubans and ICT, for example, we can foresee delocalized micro-enterprises using the Internet to generate business.
Before all of that, though, living conditions have to improve. Perhaps with the help of Jack, The Toilet Man.