Stories


Meet Winnie Kamirembe: an entrepreneur from Uganda

31st May 2022

Improving open-pits with SATO’s patented trap-door technology

Uganda is an important market for SATO. As our first market in Africa, it was an important sandbox which enabled us to adapt our products to better suit the Ugandan consumers. However, having award-winning, locally relevant is only one part of the solution.What communities also need is fantastic local entrepreneurs like Winnie Kamirembe, a mother, sanitation promoter and mason.

Winnie launched Meria Sewerage Disposal, where she today serves as Director. Meria is a private business which ventures round Uganda emptying pit latrines and septic tanks. Typically, the organisation works within communities to ensure that schools, hospitals, and households are without blockages. However, in her role, Winnie also saw the troubles and challenges caused by open pit latrines. Without a cover, they harboured flies, bad odours, and were visually unappealing for the local community. And, worst of all, people—particularly children—from the communities where Meria operated suffered from preventable diseases. Winnie wanted to make a difference and ensure that fewer children would suffer in the future.

Driven by passion and a desire to improve the wellbeing of others, Winnie began researching and came across SATO and its award-winning range of sanitation solutions. In particular, she saw the benefits that SATO’s patented trap-door technology offer – from a reduction in
odours to reduced sight of waste. And, best of all, she saw fewer people in the community suffer from diseases such as cholera, dysentery, and diarrhoea.

Now, Winnie is working tirelessly to drive her business forward. She wants to showcase the benefits that improved sanitation can offer to more people across her region and ensure that all live in a hygienic and safe environment.

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