Sustainability of sanitation entrepreneurship in Mzuzu city (Malawi)

Considering high population growth and the prevalence of onsite sanitation systems (OSS) in Africa, desludging services are required to sustain the functionality of the OSS. In Mzuzu, Malawi, faecal sludge (FS) emptying and transportation (E&T) services are mainly delivered by small-scale independent providers, whose work is affected by the absence of bylaws, operational standards, and exposure to occupational and environmental health hazards. The study focused on assessing the challenges related to the development and sustainability of FS E&T in Mzuzu and the development of recommendations for creating enabling environment for FS E&T service delivery. The study concluded that FS E&T entrepreneurship was not sustainable due to, poor designs of OSS, low service demand, lack of support, empowerment, manual emptier recognition by the council, and lack of municipal engagement in FS E&T service delivery in the city. Therefore, the study recommends that governing institutions should develop initiatives to promote the instalment of durable OSS, initiatives to increase service demand from informal settlements mechanisms to support the existing entrepreneurs, formalisation of manual emptiers and mechanisation of their work to positively impact the sustainability of FS E&T service delivery and business.