At Thinkerneur, our work with the ‘Impact Feature’ centers on showcasing organisations that are a genuine #ForceForGood.  

The Thinkerneur Impact Feature® is our platform dedicated to this purpose, celebrating brands, non-profits, foundations and relevant stakeholders that achieve tangible, Exponential Positive Results (EPRs). 

We focus on stories of profound, sustainable impact that transform communities for the better.

1. Featured Brand: Kimberly-Clark’s Baby Soft

Today, we are sharing a powerful story of vision (most organisations are shortsighted and reluctant to collaborate with their counterparts, despite the obvious positive outcomes of doing so), collaboration, and meaningful results from the brand, Baby Soft®.

This feature serves as a clear illustration of how a focused and aligned intention, when combined with strategic partnership, can create significant, real-world impact. Through its submission, Baby Soft® provides a clear narrative of how it is addressing a critical social issue.

2. The Impact-led Purpose: A Commitment to People and Communities

This initiative is anchored by a clear and powerful purpose. It begins with the global pledge of its parent company, Kimberly-Clark, which aims "To improve the lives and well-being of one billion people in underserved communities around the world, with the smallest environmental footprint".

Baby Soft® sharpens this vision with a dedicated mission for South Africa: to achieve a 'greener pawprint faster' and, more pointedly, to 'help improve the lives of communities in South Africa, because every child deserves a clean and safe space to learn'.

This stated intention provides the foundation for a targeted and meaningful intervention.

3. The Problem: The Quiet Challenge of 'Toilet Loss'

Baby Soft® has been working to transform the lives of school children by building toilets in schools, providing clean water, installing handwashing facilities and encouraging good hygiene practices since 2018 while Domestos has been committed to ensuring that all school children have access to clean and safe toilets through its Cleaner Toilets, Brighter Futures (CTBF) programme, which was launched in 2017.

Toilet Loss. This term describes the consequence of inadequate investment in the cleaning and maintenance of sanitation facilities, as well as the inadequate training and upskilling of cleaners which leads to toilets becoming damaged and unusable. This is according to the 2021 School Toilet Report by Domestos. The issue of 'Toilet Loss' is important to showcase because it represents one of many significant social challenges that may not be top-of-mind for most people. Domestos has been championing this cause in various provinces around the country.

While it may not seem urgent to many, its impact on those experiencing it is deeply felt and can be devastating to their future prospects. 

The consequences are direct and severe. Dirty school toilets create tangible barriers to learning and compromise a child's access to quality education. This issue is directly linked to two UN Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 4 (Quality Education) and SDG 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation).

4. The Solution: A Practical and Necessary Partnership

In 2024, Baby Soft joined forces with Domestos on their Cleaner Toilets Brighter Future’s program. This partnership platform would later be called the Unstoppable Together campaign. This approach is about doing what is necessary, using the core offerings of each business to ensure the solution makes a transformational difference that improves lives in tangible ways.

This collaboration brings together two parent companies, Kimberly-Clark and Unilever, who both compete in the personal care category. By uniting in the sanitation space, they leverage their combined resources and expertise to effectively solve a shared problem, focusing on creating safer school sanitation and hygiene.

5. The Proof: Measuring What Truly Matters

The success of the "Unstoppable Together" initiative is demonstrated through specific, targeted results that go beyond simple numbers. It's about measuring what truly matters to people and communities.

Quantitative Impact:

• 300 schools in the Eastern Cape have been reached.

• +100,000 lives have been directly impacted.

• Over 32,000 Baby Soft toilet rolls, Domestos cleaning products, and other supplies have been donated, alongside training and tools for sanitation management.

Qualitative Impact:

The true weight of this impact is felt in the qualitative results. Behind the number "100,000 lives" are individual stories of hope, dignity, and renewed opportunity. These are not just statistics; they represent children who now feel seen and recognised. The impact includes:

• Cleaner, more hygienic, and safer toilets.

• Motivated cleaners

• Reduced absenteeism and increased daily school attendance.

• An enhanced quality of teaching and learning and improved learner well-being.

These qualitative outcomes have a dramatic long-term impact on a child's educational journey. A safe and clean learning environment fosters confidence and allows students to focus on their education, which is foundational for their future success. This is a clear example of systemic impact, where a single, targeted solution-providing clean and safe toilets-rectifies multiple connected problems, from health and hygiene to educational attendance and classroom engagement, creating Exponential Positive Results.

Thinkerneur's Impact Feature Insight

The Baby Soft® and Domestos partnership perfectly exemplifies two of Thinkerneur's core values: #Collaboration and #SustainableImpact. 

We believe that to solve complex societal issues, corporations must #collaborate. The benefit of collaborations means that there’s shared responsibility and costs, which alleviates one stakeholder from carrying the load on their own. Whilst Baby Soft and Domestos don’t directly compete with each other; we know how difficult it is for corporations to work together. This partnership is also aligned to the ‘Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 17: Partnerships for the Goals’; which encourages collaboration or working together across sectors and with various stakeholders.  This alliance is a prime example of such collaboration in action.

Furthermore, the initiative delivers #SustainableImpact, focusing on empowerment with sustainability at its core, rather than offering meaningless or fleeting excitement and creating dependency. By providing not just products but also training for cleaners and tools for sanitation management, the program empowers schools to maintain their facilities long-term, ensuring the impact endures.

Share Your Story of Impact With Us

The "Unstoppable Together" campaign is a powerful testament to what becomes possible when impact-led purpose, partnership, and practical action align to create lasting change.

Does your organisation have a story of impact? We invite you to share your journey. Let your impact inspire others by submitting your feature to Thinkerneur Sustainable Impact.