Have you taken a road trip recently and cowered in your

car until you came by a decent cafe, instead of using a

public restroom? It is no secret that public washrooms
cannot set hygiene standards. It is common for people in
India to give public loos, and bathrooms on trains and at
bus stations a miss altogether because of how poorly
they are maintained. This not just leads to a lot of
inconvenience but also a slew of health issues.

Chirag Doshi was familiar with this problem given his

extensive travels. Having worked with General Motors
and OYO, travel was an integral part of his work, and
with his family based in Kota, train travel was
unavoidable.

“I found it extremely difficult to use any of the unhygienic

washrooms. And even if you travel in AC first class, after
a while, the washrooms become unusable,” says Chirag.
The problem was a lot worse for his sister, Pooja Doshi.
 The team at ToiKit

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Problem at hand, and a solution in mind, Chirag and

Pooja, along with their parents Rajesh and Amita
Doshi, decided to start Toikit. Chirag’s parents already
own a stone business in Kota.

What does it do?

Kota-based Toikit focuses on improving the sanitation

condition of public toilets with innovative products. “Many
times, the condition of the toilets is so bad that nobody
wants to touch anything. So, to make things simpler, we
designed a basic kit that consumers can use and
dispose,” says Chirag.

The one-time usage kit contains hand gloves, toilet seat

wipes, a toilet seat sanitiser spray, which also eliminates
foul odour, toilet seat covers to prevent direct contact,
hand wash, tissue paper, and a hand sanitiser.

“It is a complete solution to use any public toilet, and

solves four major problems - wet and dirty toilet seats,
unhygienic surroundings, foul smell, and fear of catching
urinary tract infections,” says Chirag.

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Running the operations

The brother-sister duo started Toikit late 2017, and

focused on tie-ups, procurement, and manufacturing with
different local vendors in Kota.

While Chirag was based in Gurugram for work, he

decided to start up in Kota, as the team was
bootstrapped. Also, he explains, the cost of setting up
and running a business as well as getting vendor
connects were easier in Kota.

Focussing on tie-ups and sales partnerships, ToiKit was

able to catch the attention of organisations such as the
Indian Railway and Indian Oil Corporation.

“We have already supplied our products to Indian

Railways, which were sponsored and co-branded with
Indian Oil Corporation. These were customised Toikits,”
says Chirag. So far, ToiKit has supplied over 2000 hygiene
kits to the Railways, which were distributed to AC first-
class and second-class passengers.
At present, operations are run by Rajesh and Amita in
Kota, while Chirag and Pooja run the sales, marketing,
and partnership efforts out of Mumbai. Pooja also works
as a chartered accountant, while Chirag works part-time
as a consultant to help bootstrap the company.

Market and future