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PROJECTS
WHAT PROJECTS HAVE WE BEEN INVOLVED WITH?
We
firmly believe that social responsibility plays an
integral part in what we stand for and has been a major
driving force in many of our projects. We have donated
and introduced our products to various communities in
South Africa and Africa alike, and have recently donated
stoves and cooking gel to 100 families in the
underprivileged community of Masakhane, Overberg, South
Africa. They were given full training sessions and
demonstrations on how to use the stoves effectively and
safely. This assisted with stimulating entrepreneurship
within their community, as they started their own
distribution agencies in order to generate an income.
See photo and article in local newspaper;
Our motto remains; “Empowering
people with energy saving products, in order to create
jobs and fight poverty in South Africa and the world.”
Extract
form “The Gansbaai Herald”, dated 2nd May
2007;
Extract of editorial and advertisement in
City Vision Newspaper, distributed to Langa, Gugulethu
and Nyanga in Cape Town, South Africa – 31/01/2008;
Being left in the dark due to load
shedding can now be something of the past!!
The all new "Power Cut Emergency Kit" was
developed by two Capetonians; Mariette Hopley and Cindy
Thornhill. This product is very quickly hitting the
homes of a number of underprivileged communities within
the Peninsula, the Overberg and the International market
such as Ghana, Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan,
Europe, Nigeria and the Philippines.
The kit consists of two oil lamps, a
cooker, a litre of lamp oil and a litre of cooking gel.
According to Hopley it takes seven minutes and 30
seconds to boil a litre of water on this gel powered
cooker compared to the twenty minutes it will take on an
electric or gas stove. It therefore makes the product
more cost effective. You can burn the lamp every night
for up to +/- 45 days without having to purchase another
litre of oil. “Both products, the gel and the oil are
environmental friendly products as they do not produce
black smoke (which causes air pollution), or smells. The
gel also burns in a confined area if poured onto a
surface and do not spread like paraffin or similar
products. The lamp oil will also douse itself when
poured onto a surface and will therefore not light up or
spread a fire.
According to Hopley both products are a
safer alternative to paraffin which has caused
devastation to many homes which have burnt down in the
past. The gel can also be used as a mosquito repellent
and can be applied as a healing agent to wounds and
scratches on the body. The appearance of the lamp is
similar to that of the ordinary paraffin glass lamp, but
instead it is made of a clear robust plastic which is
more safe and unbreakable. The cooker is a rounded
silver aluminium light- weight stove with a
regulator that provides a passage for the air to be
absorbed so that the ethanol gel can burn faster or
slower, depending on the cooking speed required. This
product is completely safe to humans and animals.
“In an effort to alleviate poverty
within communities and to create work opportunities, we
have recruited people off the street who have been
skilled in order to produce and manufacture these
products. The idea is that we stimulate entrepreneurship
amongst the poverty stricken communities, whereby we
train people in the local community on how to use these
stove and lamps. In turn they will teach the people in
their own communities which will also provide
opportunities to start their own business and become
entrepreneurs by selling these products directly from
their homes or spaza shops. Training is offered.”
OTHER PROJECTS
We
are also involved in skills development, learnership and
entrepreneurship programmes and our Human Resources
division frequently provides training programmes to
distribution points and spaza shops in the township
areas. These programmes are provided free of charge and
consist of;
- Basic Business Skills
- Basic Accountancy
- Basic Selling Strategies
- Basic Telephone skills
In addition, we are in the process of
putting up factories in Africa, Europe and India, aiming
specifically at rural and poverty stricken areas. We
are currently busy with DEFRA and EU registration for
Europe and it is estimated that we would have set up
approximately 50 factories in the next few years,
creating work in all of these areas. Our products have
been exported into Africa with the view of setting up
network plants for the production of ethanol gel stoves,
lamps and lamp fuel. Political country leaders have
also shown great interest in our product as they have
seen the benefit it would have for the lower income
areas.
We have also supplied our products
internationally to the Red Cross in Pakistan and Iran,
as well as a large chemical and pharmaceutical
distribution group in Iraq and Syria.
In all these countries we work with, we
are using the same management model as in South Africa
which is based on the “UBUNTU” Management and
Empowerment principles.
Some of our projects
Entrepreneurship workshops
We run regular workshops for the disadvantaged
communities in our townships, in order to empower and
uplift them. Here they are taught on how to start their
own businesses by becoming distributors for this
product, in their areas.
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