28/06/2026
𝗣𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝟯: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗠𝘆 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗘𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝗲𝗹𝗳
Stay long enough with the problem.
Not every idea reveals itself at the beginning.
Sometimes, when you start, you think the work is about one product, one service, one customer segment, or one solution. But the longer you stay close to the problem, the more you begin to see what you could not see from outside.
You begin to understand the patterns.
You understand what customers say, and what they really mean.
You understand why some solutions work in one community but fail in another.
You understand the hidden costs, behaviour issues, infrastructure gaps, financing constraints, policy barriers, and human realities behind the problem.
That kind of insight cannot be downloaded overnight.
It comes from staying.
For me, working in sanitation and environmental issues since my NGO days in 2013, and officially through WASHKING since 2016, has taught me one important lesson:
There is no single solution that fits every context.
And there is no single organization that can solve everything alone.
- A household may need one solution.
- A school may need another.
- A flood-prone area may need a different approach.
- A high-water-table community may require a different technology.
- A low-income customer may need financing support.
- A public facility may need stronger maintenance systems.
- A household toilet may need monitoring, after-sales support, and behaviour-change education.
The longer you stay, the clearer this becomes.
You stop falling in love with one product.
You fall in love with solving the problem.
And that is when your thinking changes.
You begin to build platforms, not just products.
You begin to coordinate partners, not just sell services.
You begin to design around context, not assumptions.
You begin to see new opportunities because you have earned the insight to see them.
For WASHKING, this depth is now shaping how we think about serving customers better, improving revenue generation, creating jobs, and increasing impact.
So, to my younger entrepreneurial self, I would say:
Stay long enough to understand the system.
Stay close enough to understand the people.
Stay humble enough to keep learning.
And stay flexible enough to let the problem reshape your solution.
Because sometimes, your first idea is only the doorway.
The deeper opportunity is hidden inside the years you are willing to spend understanding the problem properly.
