Evaluating Market Opportunities for Omni Processor technologies in Bangladesh

The Opportunity

To accomplish safely managed sanitation aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (Target 6.2), Bangladesh’s National Action Plan (NAP) for Fecal Sludge Management (FSM) warranted construction of Fecal Sludge Treatment Plants (FSTPs) in the next 10 years across more than 300 municipalities.

Currently, most FSTPs are underutilized and coupled with the future expansion plans, there is a need for improving cost recovery and ensuring that the FS treatment process, in municipalities of Bangladesh, is more economically sustainable. To achieve this, Omni Processor (OP) technology, a latest technological solution in the field of FSM, could be considered as the future of fecal sludge treatment in Bangladesh due to its capacity of producing end products that can be sold in the forward market for additional revenue.

In accordance, RTI International, funded by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, conducted a Market Feasibility Assessment for the Omni Processor in Bangladesh with LightCastle Partners as its research partner. The objective was to test the desirability of installing an Omni Processor (OP) technology across potential municipalities of Bangladesh. STeP, a project under RTI International, is working to facilitate the commercialization of transformative sanitation technologies. This study represents a preliminary evaluation of the market opportunity for the portfolio of Omni Processor (OP) technologies in Bangladesh.

Our Approach

LightCastle was assigned to conduct primary research and contribute to the insights captured in the report. To achieve this, the team utilized a top-down decision model with 3 stages namely- Map, Reach, and Infer.

Fig: Stage Decision Model

During the mapping stage, a comprehensive list of interviewees and working areas was finalized and the intervention Pourashavas were shortlisted. Then, 48 Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) via in-person or phone surveys were conducted. The OP fit with the market segments in Bangladesh was evaluated across infrastructural, policy, commercial, financial, and technical components, based on which recommendations were provided to ease the introduction of OP in the country’s market.

This study aimed to explore the go-to-market opportunities for the Omni Processor (OP) technology within Bangladesh. In particular, it covered information on market size, suitability of OP, policy and regulatory environment, local partners, markets for end products, and hurdles during implementation.

The Future

Bangladesh is striving to mitigate surface water pollution, with strategies of widespread adoption of FSTPs in the future. Therefore, the insights collected by this study will aid in product development along with informing and de-risking market entry for local service providers and commercial partners of Omni Processor (OP).