Abhishek Nath is an Indian

businessman A businessperson, also referred to as a businessman or businesswoman, is an individual who has founded, owns, or holds shares in (including as an angel investor) a private-sector company. A businessperson undertakes activities (commercial ...

social entrepreneur Social entrepreneurship is an approach by individuals, groups, Startup company, start-up companies or entrepreneurs, in which they develop, fund and implement solutions to social, cultural, or environmental issues. This concept may be applied to ...

. He is the founder of

LooCafe LooCafe is an Indian public toilet model, built out of shipping containers with a point of sale attached with additional features. The company, legally incorporated as Ixora Corporate Services, works in the WASH industry. LooCafe is designed to e ...

, an India-based organization focused on WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene), environmental sanitation, and waste management. The parent company of

, Ixora Corporate Services, which Nath also founded, operates in urban sanitation and

facility management Facility management or facilities management (FM) is a professional discipline focused on coordinating the use of space, infrastructure, people, and organization. Facilities management ensures that physical assets and environments are managed effe ...

for public spaces. Nath serves as the chair of the

All India Management Association All India Management Association (AIMA) is the national apex body of the management profession in India. A not-for-profit, non-lobbying organisation, working closely with Industry, Government, Academia and students to further the cause of the ...

's Young Leaders Council. He has collaborated with the

Swachh Bharat Mission Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM), Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, or Clean India Mission is a country-wide campaign initiated by the Government of India on 2 October 2014 to eliminate open defecation and improve solid waste management and to create Open Defe ...

and leads a private company involved in

Swachh Survekshan ''Swachh Survekshan'' ( lit. Sanskrit "Swachh" for Cleanliness and "Survekshan" for Survey - (सर्व (sarv, “all”) + ईक्षण (īkṣaṇ, “viewing”) is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in villages, ci ...

initiatives.

Movement for sanitation and hygiene

After leaving his roles at

Johnson Controls Johnson Controls International plc is an American, Irish-domiciled multinational conglomerate headquartered in Cork, Ireland, that produces fire, HVAC, and security equipment for buildings. As of mid-2019, it employed 105,000 people in arou ...

and

Taj Hotels Taj Hotels is a chain of luxury hotels and a subsidiary of the Indian Hotels Company Limited, headquartered in Mumbai, India. Incorporated by Jamsetji Tata in 1902, the company is a part of the Tata Group. The company employed over 20,000 peop ...

, Abhishek Nath began working in urban sanitation. He founded Ixora Corporate Services (ICS), a facility management company, and became involved in the

for urban sanitation work with heritage sites, such as the Charminar. He first noticed the failing structures of brick and mortar

Public toilet A public toilet, restroom, bathroom or washroom is a room or small building with toilets (or urinals) and sinks for use by the general public. The facilities are available to customers, travelers, employees of a business, school pupils or pris ...

s and their pay to use system, which did not work out due to operations costs and high philanthropic investment needs. Then established

where he created a structure of a public toilet that was prefabricated, free for toilet use, attached to a

Point of sale The point of sale (POS) or point of purchase (POP) is the time and place at which a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice f ...

(café) built inside a shipping container. The model also supports social change, as it helps urbanization of street hawkers into established businesses and creates employment directly through its structure. After founding LooCafe in 2018 in Hyderabad, he has worked on expanding their operations into sanitation technology, waste management, and building circular economy models. Currently, the company counts 400 such structures across India. With operations set up in Hyderabad, Srinagar, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Mumbai, Chennai, Patna, Pune, Indore, Mohali.

Recognition

In 2016, he won Cleaning leader of the Year award by Clean and Green India. In 2019, he won

Confederation of Indian Industry The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) is a Non-governmental organization, non-governmental business and industry organisation and advocacy group headquartered in New Delhi, India, founded in 1895. CII is a membership-based organisation. ...

awards. In 2020, his work was featured by the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

(UNDP) as a best practice In the 2022 edition of InkWASH, he was awarded with the WASH Stewardship Award, In the 2023 edition, he was a featured speaker. His work was also a featured Innovation in the WASH book of Innovations. His work has been claimed to have brought about reforms in the

and sanitation space using sustainability and technology. Currently,

's are India's most widespread public toilet models.

References

{{Authority control 1978 births Living people People from Hyderabad, India Indian businesspeople