Volume 4, Issue 1, June 2012
Jacinta Mwende Maweu
Pages 75-89
The Morality of Profit In Business: Transforming Waste Into Wealth Through The Iko Toilet Business Venture In Nairobi, Kenya
The main argument of this theoretical paper is that the pursuit of honest profits in a voluntary market exchange is not only moral but also ingrained in human nature, in that human beings pursue activities that benefit them and avoid those that cause them loss. Through an examination of the Kenyan business venture called Iko Toilet (which is a mix of the Kiswahili word ‘iko’ meaning ‘there is’ and the English word ‘toilet’ to literally mean ‘there is a Toilet’), the paper contends that there is no inherent contradiction between doing well (engaging in honest voluntary business transactions) in order to do good (maximize legitimate profits).