Programme

Are you a growing enterprise making a splash in the East African sanitation space with a sound business model and track record, as well as real sales under your belt, and actively working in Kenya and/or Uganda? Join SanUp, an innovative support initiative by the UN’s Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (SHF) and implemented by Cewas, for tailored technical assistance, networking, and financing opportunities to elevate your business to new heights.

What´s in it for you?

• Receive technical assistance to improve your business model, internal structure, governance, and SDG-related impact management with top sector-leading experts and trainers.
• Benefit from the possibility of unlocking tailored catalytic funding of up to US$30.000 to enhance your scaling capacities and test your implementation performance.
• Develop sustainable financing models to become (impact) investment-ready and ensure long-term operations. The programme will prepare you for further investment mechanisms that are currently being developed by SHF and its partners.
• Connect with peers and investors, unlock impact capital, and receive facilitation support and technical backstopping during the process.

Implementation Mode

At the core of the SanUp programme is the belief that providing meaningful Technical Assistance (TA) to sanitation SMEs starts with truly understanding your business: its strengths, challenges, and opportunities. That’s why we take a collaborative, structured approach to make sure the support you receive is tailored to your unique needs and aligned with the goals of our overall program.
Our first step together is the Enterprise Diagnostics TA Package, a proven starting point for every selected SME. Using our specially developed enterprise diagnostics tool, designed for impact-driven WASH businesses in developing countries, we’ll work with you to conduct a deep dive into your operations. Together, we’ll explore five key areas of performance and uncover what’s working well, where the gaps are, and what can be improved.
From this assessment, you’ll receive detailed insights and a customized set of “quick-win” recommendations – practical improvements you can start implementing right away with hands-on support from our team.
But we don’t stop there. Based on the findings, we’ll co-create a Scope of Work (SoW) that maps out a more comprehensive TA plan, including your top priorities, clear goals, and measurable outcomes. This SoW also guides the selection of the right service providers for your needs and helps define the available budget to deliver real, lasting value for your enterprise.
We’re here to help you grow smarter, stronger, and more impactful.

The SanUp programme will be implemented in a hybrid mode: A lot of the TA will be conducted on site together with our technical assistance providers and your team in Kenya or Uganda. Selected sessions throughout your TA package will be conducted online, specifically on Zoom. On those occasions, please ensure that you have a decent internet connection as it is complicated for our experts to reschedule meetings on short notice. In addition, networking and exchange opportunities will be proposed.

We invite companies that identify with one or several of the following product or service categories to apply. Please make sure to indicate the focus of your business clearly in your application.

• Toilet Construction: Local enterprises that build low-cost toilets for households, schools, and institutions, often using prefabricated components or locally sourced materials
• Container-Based Sanitation (CBS): Businesses that provide toilets and regular waste collection as a complete service, making sanitation accessible through subscription-based or pay-per-use models
• Pit Emptying: Service providers that remove fecal sludge from pit latrines and septic tanks, using tools that range from manual pumps to vacuum trucks, and serving both households and institutions
• Small-Scale Sewer Systems: Operators that manage decentralized sewer networks for residential developments, institutions, or peri-urban communities, often under utility or community agreements
• On-Site DEWATS: Firms that design, build, and maintain modular wastewater treatment systems for compounds, schools, estates, or small towns, often offering long-term service arrangements
• Black Soldier Fly (BSF) Enterprises: Innovators that convert organic or fecal waste into high-protein animal feed and compost using insect farming, creating circular economy products for agriculture
• Anaerobic Digestion: Businesses that treat human and organic waste in biodigesters to produce biogas for cooking or energy, along with organic fertilizer for farming or landscaping
• Technology Providers: Companies that develop and sell sanitation-focused tools and systems, such as smart sensors, mobile service apps, or portable treatment units, typically to utilities or NGOs
• Advisory Services: Firms offering consulting, training, research, and technical assistance across the sanitation ecosystem, supporting planning, design, policy, and capacity building

To apply, you should comply with the following conditions:

• Maturity: Your product/service should be developed and tested, and you should have existing paying customers and can demonstrate a sound market understanding.
• Registration type: Your company should be duly registered in your country of operations or have an established partnership with a locally registered company, and be able to provide audited accounts.
• Solution: Your focus should be directly related to sanitation (see categories), and your solution shouldn’t create or contribute to environmental problems.
• Business & revenue model: You should be able to demonstrate a clear customer focus and track record, not just a dependency on philanthropic or development grants.
• Technical assistance vision: You should have a clear idea of a catalytic support need. This goes beyond your day-to-day operations – focus on specific technical or operational challenges that need to be addressed to take things to the next level.
• Impact potential: Your solution should showcase a clear potential to achieve impact for low-income urban customers or a proven willingness to do so.
• Team: Your company should ideally be locally grown and led.
• Growth plan: Show us through your application that you have a strong ambition to grow and create impact, know your gaps, and have clearly defined investment needs.

What is SanUp´s goal?
As an innovative support initiative of the UN’s Sanitation and Hygiene Fund (SHF), SanUp aims to work with promising SMEs on building their capacities, addressing funding and profitability gaps, and laying the groundwork for scalable financing solutions that promote a sustainable sanitation economy. By doing so, we seek to create a more robust and sustainable sanitation ecosystem in East Africa, contributing to the overall goal of equitable and inclusive sanitation services for all. Besides the technical assistance, which is tailored to your enterprise’s needs, selected enterprises can access a catalytic grant of up to US$ 30.000. This fund is to be used exclusively within the scope of a pre-defined catalytic SME contract developed during the programme. Finally, SHF and its partners are currently developing a range of flexible larger-ticket financing mechanisms for sanitation SMEs such as yours. Our programme will put you on track to qualify for those follow-up investments.

How much time do I have to commit to the programme?
This depends on the scope of the tasks that fall under the respective technical assistance package, as the TA will be directly implemented with the enterprise, which makes it difficult to give a blanket assessment of the time commitment.
In addition, there will be selected opportunities for networking, convening and exchange, which should require a limited amount of time.

What does the participation cost?
Participation in the programme itself is free of charge. This means that all direct costs related to participating in the programme, including technical assistance, networking events, coaching sessions, etc., are covered by us. Anything that goes beyond our defined scope of work/contract, such as complementary activities, will have to be covered by you.

Who from my team should participate?
Working with us requires intense collaboration, and we require the presence of the CEO for designing and overseeing the TA, as well as the relevant team members responsible for the various fields that TA may be linked to.

Can I save and come back to the application form after I’ve started it?
No, you have to fill in the form out and submit it in one go. This includes the submission of all requested documentation. We advise filling out your answers in an offline template first and then inserting them into the online form to avoid any information getting lost due to technical issues.