It is not easy to find a public toilet in Kenya’s capital city, above all in Kibera, the slums of Nairobi. Here one toilet is shared by several thousand people – and each use of it costs money. People therefore relieve themselves with the help of so-called ‘flying toilets’: plastic bags which land in the sewers, because no one knows where else to put them.

Several American entrepreneurs in Kenya have identified in this dilemma a lucrative business opportunity. They build and operate toilets, then extract and utilize the excrement. It’s an untapped market with 8 million customers in Kenya alone and 2.7 billion worldwide – a goldmine for big business.

NO SMALLEST ROOM examines this ‘state of affairs’ from the perspective of Kenyan locals in what one investor has termed “The Silicon Valley of Shit.”

A film by Jean Boué

Camera: Oliver Gurr
Editor: Thomas Wellmann
Sound: Zora Butzke
Producer on Location: Anjella Nancie
Music: Tunedem Band

Commissioning Editor for ZDF: Ann-Christin Hornberger
Executive Producer: Christian Popp

A production of DOCDAYS Productions for ZDF/ARTE.

Length: 42/30 min
Release Date: 2012