I have met Bill Gates on three different occasions. The first was in Arizona in 1987 when he gave a speech at a closed-door technology conference. At that time his company had had limited success and I talked to him extensively about the expected trends in technology. I met him again on his first visit to Saudi Arabia when I had an exclusive television interview with him about a number of topics. I then met him at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland and I will meet him again at a conference in Ethiopia in the coming two months. I admire this man and respect him.

Bill Gates is a modest man who donates a lot of money for the benefit of humanity. The charity he has established funds projects to fight malaria, cholera and AIDS in Africa and Asia.

Every new step that he takes receives attention worldwide. Gates recently announced at a conference in China that he intends to revolutionize sanitation by finding new ways to eliminate human waste. He wants to revolutionize the bathroom and the toilet, as we know them today.

Gates believes that the lack of proper sanitation results in diseases that cause more than half a million deaths a year, and these problems, which cost $223 billion annually, will worsen if there is no serious attempt to solve them. The diseases caused by poor sanitation include tuberculosis, malaria, cholera and diarrhea, all of which can lead to death.

Gates and his Foundation have allocated $200 million over seven years to launch the smart bathroom, which “immediately” destroys all viruses and bacteria, meaning that what remains is clean, potable water and residues that can be used as fertilizer or salvaged without treatment. Gates is convinced that the large and expected population growth in the world will seriously exacerbate the sanitation problem leading to an increase in disease. In addition, there are enormous pressures resulting from migration into urban areas along with a scarcity of water in some parts of the world. The smart bathroom technology and its associated tools promoted by Gates are expected to be worth more than $6 billion by 2030, which means that it will be a unique investment growth opportunity.

India is an example of a country with major sanitation problems as more than 50 percent of the population does not have access to a toilet. In a 2017 Indian film called “Toilet”, a woman threatens to leave her husband if he does not install a toilet in their home. The film had an important impact in raising awareness of this social issue. Time magazine in a special edition on the most important inventions in the history of mankind credited the toilet with improving human health and preventing disease.

If Bill Gates succeeds in revolutionizing sanitation by transforming the elimination of human waste, it will underline the fact that technology remains the most important tool for delivering amazing solutions. It will be the spectacular birth of the toilet economy.