This Woman Entrepreneur has Developed a Product to Help Prevent UTI Infections from Public Toilets

Divya Mahendra Rathod’s start-up Silvery Nanos produce Hapito, a nano-alloy spray that upon application creates a thin film inside as well as outside the toilet, offering bacteriostatic action with antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and antibiofilm properties.

Divya Mahendra Rathod got the idea to create something to prevent UTIs when she got a urinary tract infection from a public toilet. Public toilets were a common cause for UTIs. To prevent this Divya had first created a paint that can be applied to toilets to provide an infection-free surface. But this idea was rejected because of its incomplete nature of innovation.

But when she was doing her master’s in biological sciences at NMIMS, Diya developed Hapito, a nano-alloy spray that upon application creates a thin film inside as well as outside the toilet, offering bacteriostatic action with antibacterial, antiviral, antifungal, and antibiofilm properties.

She won Rs 5 lakh in the Chancellor’s Challenge for the spray that she innovated. “Once sprayed on any toilet, Hapito, registered under Silvery Nanos Innovations LLP, makes it an anti-bacterial, anti-algal, and anti-biofilm surface. It prevents the growth of germs on the toilet itself rather than killing it as other cleaners work,” Divya said in an interview with HerStory.

Hapito saves water up to 55% and also protects the environment from harmful chemicals like phenyl, acids etc that cause harm to marine lives. It also has anti-scratch properties with a resistance to pH 2-11. The coating stays on the toilets for more than one month. The product helps meet United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 3, 6 and 9.

Divya Rathord received a total of Rs 15 lakh in prize money from BIRAC, IIT Eureka, NMIMS Chancellor’s Challenge, and the RB INGEN Challenge. She also won the second prize at the Reckitt InGen Challenge – where TiE Delhi-NCR & Reckitt recently partnered together, for identifying Indian innovators, with solutions for targeted hygiene needs.

Silvery Nanos has a team of seven working at its Mumbai unit, and its co-founders include Jeenal Rathod and Mamta Rathod. They aim to install Hapito in every public toilet in Mumbai.

-Staff Reporter