A view of Kibera from the railroad

In 2005, the BoP Protocol was field tested in Kenya as a partnership between SC Johnson, Cornell University, William Davidson Institute, World Resources Institute, and Carolina for Kibera. The six-person BoP Protocol Pilot Team collaborated with local partners in the Nakuru District and the Kibera and Mathare slums of Nairobi, leading to the launch of a new business in Nairobi: Community Cleaning Services (see below).

SC Johnson's pioneering implementation of the BoP Protocol played a central role in the development of the Protocol's 2nd Edition. The critical insights and lessons from the SC Johnson pilot were folded back into the Protocol during the second Protocol design workshop in October 2005, as well as greatly informing the subsequent DuPont/Solae BoP Protocol implementation in India. The project also contributed to the formation of ESW itself: ESW's Patrick Donohue and Stuart Hart have since integrated their lessons from the project into ESW's project platform. Since then, Cornell's Erik Simanis and Duncan Duke continue to advise the SC Johnson efforts in Kenya, while Justin DeKoszmovszky, another member of the pilot team, directs the effort from within SC Johnson.

Community Cleaning Services

Community Cleaning Services (CCS), an innovative business model co-developed with community entrepreneurs, draws on SC Johnson's suite of cleaning products to address local sanitation needs in three Nairobi slums. The initial business was launched in partnership with existing community youth groups and focused primarily on in-home insecticide spraying, often tapping into the youth groups' existing garbage collection clients. Over time, the business shifted away from insect control to providing services to more effectively clean shared latrines and community toilets. This new service has proven not only to be a commercially viable model with growing market demand, but also represents a powerful community improvement: providing significantly cleaner, more hygienic and more pleasant toilets at a cost each client can afford. Today, SC Johnson and its local partners are focused on growing the CCS business, finding new BoP entrepreneurs to help launch the business into new locations, while continuing to improve the offering in a variety of ways.