Our guest on this edition of the Fair & square podcast is Erin
McCusker, Senior Vice President, Leader, at LIXIL Public Partners, but it is her work as leader at LIXIL’s social business SATO which is the focus of her discussion with our host Adam Batstone.
More than 3.5 billion people worldwide do not have access to basic sanitation and handwashing – a situation SATO address by designing and selling affordable toilets, sanitation and hand washing products.
SATO has positively impacted the lives of more than 35 million people across 44 countries as it addresses an issue facing more than half the planet’s population and is an example of how the private sector can play a transformational role in successful change.
Erin started her career studying engineering and later moved into business consultancy where she developed an interest into: [3.54] ‘…how the private sector can start to contribute to (address) global problems whether that is in global health through vaccination campaigns, through drug donations for treating basic diseases, this combination of the public and private partnerships became a complete area of passion for me.’
She adds: [4.08] “I think the role that the private sector can play in having impact on the world’s biggest problems, I immediately knew I wanted to focus my career on that.’
After focusing on global health for many years, Erin went into
the agriculture sector and a consultancy with the Gates Foundation which gave her exposure to the fundamental daily needs of households and communities such as basic access to water and sanitation.
It led her to question: [5.02] ‘How do we engage the private sector more in tackling these issues?’
Part of that was getting the private sector excited by these issues and underlining a role for innovation, scaling and partnering more effectively with the organisations working in these areas.
LIXIL – a Japanese water and housing technology group best known for its global brands such as GROHE and American Standard – is a case in point as to how the private sector – through its SATO brand - can help address sanitation and hygiene issues and develop new markets.
Erin says: [8.32] ‘We’re building a market for sanitation and handwashing products and showcasing to consumers in
these markets or to implementers and governments in those markets that these consumers have choice.’
[19.57: “You cannot achieve any other priority you have as a government, as a community or as a global entity without addressing basic sanitation.’
SATO started in Bangladesh – which remains its largest market - and Erin says it is great example of what can successfully happen when you have strong government support combined with private sector and implementing partners and how much progress can be made.
SATO is also in South East Asia, India, Philippines and many African countries. However, Erin also points out that even in ‘developed’ countries such as in some southern states of the
United Staes there is a lack of access to sustainable hygiene,
contaminating water systems, creating public health challenges and leading to a lack of human dignity.
Despite the challenges globally, Erin believes through partnerships and collaborations, implementing the tools
which already exist to tackle issues and adapting systems to be responsive to acute needs while also building
sustainable solutions there are reasons to be optimistic.
