BertzmanSV Funds GARV Toilets

Garv is the Hindi word with Sanskrit origins meaning Dignity, Honor, and Pride.

GARV toilets came into being with the idea of addressing issues plaguing the public toilet landscape in the developing world. 

Situation: They observed that most of the public toilet blocks in low-income areas face issues like vandalism, irregular maintenance, high operational expenditure, or lack of basic facilities like water, electricity, and ventilation. 

“In response, we developed a toilet design which is essentially indestructible, integrated with new-age technology (RFID-IoT), is self-sustainable in terms of energy consumption, waste disposal and revenue generation,” commented Mayank and Megha Midha, co-founders of GARV. 

“Through LED lights, sufficient ventilation through exhaust fans, sanitary pad vending machines, ramp access, handrails for disabled friendly toilets, overhead water tanks, bore wells, and wastewater recycling, we have a tried and tested operations model which has proven that with the integration of smart tech features, the project implementing agencies get a real-time update on usage of toilets and hygiene behavior of users. All these aspects ensure that communities have access to clean, well-maintained toilets, government partners are updated out usage patterns, and hygiene behavior of users and implementing partners rationalize their operational costs. We made sure that all basic requirements in a toilet are taken care of.”

Complication: GARV contracts directly with local governments to build and maintain public toilets. They finance the construction which takes three months and then submit an invoice to government. Payment is generally received three months after submission. Since the business is expanding rapidly, GARV needs additional working capital line to buy material, construct the facilities and wait for payment.

Solution:  BertzmanSV is providing a working capital line of credit to support GARV’s contracts. “This partnership with GARV is exactly why we started Bertzman,” co-founder Neil Berman emphasized. “The impact is measurable, the solution is scalable, the business model is proven, and the organization is led by talented husband and wife team.We’re also excited to support one most successful graduates of the Toilet Board Coalition incubator."  

"Also, we are honored to have the opportunity support GARV’s mission to address public sanitation and hygiene in a manner that promotes dignity, honor and pride."