Who Gives a Crap? Tim Jacob (OH 2005) that’s who!

Who Gives A Crap started when co-founders learnt that 2.3 billion people across the world don’t have access to a toilet. That’s roughly 40% of the global population and means that around 289,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That’s almost 800 children per day, or one child every two minutes.

After the company were inundated with orders as a result of COVID-19 (dubbed TP-Gate by the WGAC team) we recently spoke to Tim Jacob (OH 2005) who handles all things Finance at Who Gives a Crap and here is what he had to say…

Q: Tell us about your career journey since graduating from University.

A: I did a cadetship program at Ernst & Young while I was at university so worked and studied concurrently throughout my degree. After nine years, I joined a for-purpose insurance company, before joining Who Gives A Crap.

Q: Why the move to Who Gives a Crap?

A: I had a deep desire to combine both my professional experience and skills and have an impact on people or groups that were not as fortunate as myself. Joining Who Gives A Crap provided me with an opportunity to join a business whose purpose was to provide access to a toilet to all people and do it in an environmentally sustainable way (our products are made from recycled paper or bamboo), that would enable me to grow professionally; in an exciting start up environment that marketed and sold a simple everyday product in a fun, clever and delightful way!

Q: What role do you perform there and how do you feel you are having an impact?

A: I’m the Head of Finance, so I’m in charge of all things finance across our global operations – from demand forecasting, inventory management, cash flow management, treasury and managing our foreign exchange exposures to external and internal reporting, payroll, general finance functions and tax. My role allows me the opportunity to help the business make good financial decisions – which ultimately means that Who Gives A Crap can maximise the amount of donations we make each year.

Q: How did the company start and why?

A: Who Gives A Crap started back in 2012 by our three co-founders, Simon, Jehan and Danny, through a crowdfunding campaign in which Simon sat on a toilet for 50 hours straight to raise enough funding to fulfil our first round of orders. Those 50 hours that Simon spent on a toilet were so that they could start an environmentally friendly business, that could help provide access to a toilet, to the 2.3 billion people across the world who currently don’t have access to a toilet (which is roughly 40% of the global population).

Q: What impact is the organisation having 3rd world countries?

A: We donate 50% of our profits every year to sanitation projects in various countries around the world. To date, we’ve donated over $2.6 million dollars to these projects and saved a heck of a lot of trees, water and energy along the way!

Q: How have you coped with the surge in demand in the past few weeks?

A: It’s been really interesting watching what we call “TP-Gate” happen right before our very eyes! We’ve seen a huge surge in demand for toilet paper – which has meant the team has been working tirelessly to try to get as much product to our customers and to those in need – as quickly as possible. Ultimately, we want to ensure we can maximise our impact – and getting as much TP to our customers will help us do this – but at the same time, we feel that we and our customers play an important roll (get it?) in encouraging kindness, empathy and calmness in this crazy time.

Q: What does the future hold for Who Gives a Crap?

A:We’ve got heaps of really cool things coming up – we’re due to make our next donation in June 2020, which we hope will be our biggest one ever – and we’ve got heaps of ideas on how we can continue to maximise both our donations and our environmental impact in the years to come! Keep an eye out on @whogivesacraptp on Instagram or Facebook for more to come!

See what all the fuss is about https://au.whogivesacrap.org/