East London, S. Africa - Recycling Business & ETC
OVERVIEW
East London is a beautiful city situated on the Indian Ocean coast of Eastern Cape, South Africa. Yet despite its ideal location and breathtaking views, it is a city besieged by environmental destruction – with widespread littering and frequent illegal dumping of trash – from the sides of narrow pothole-ridden streets in outlying townships, to the sidewalks of the downtown corporate business district, to recreational beaches, parks and nature reserves. Adding to the complexity of the problem is a largely inaccessible regional landfill, and a municipality whose hands are full simply trying to make the general residential waste collection system work.
Land of the Living’s recycling enterprise & Entrepreneurial Training Centre serve to bring together people and resources in the areas of:
● Unantoni Endlini (Pty) Ltd - a separately registered recycling enterprise (owned by Land of the Living) that serves as a platform for helping motivate, train & equip, and mentor/practically support unemployed youth to create their own work & livelihood specifically through recycling; for revenue generation to help resource the ETC and/or other community initiatives; and for citywide public mobilization around environmental conservation. Recyclable materials are purchased from collectors both at the regional landfill and in targeted communities, as well as received from suburban residents through a paid collection service; then sorted into material type and baled at a central depot; and finally sold to larger recycling companies for further processing. Additional arms of the business are in early stages of development, including services of grass cutting, gardening and rubble removal – in order to diversify and enhance income streams in the midst of the current COVID-related challenging business climate.
● Entrepreneurial Training Centre (ETC) – The ETC we are developing is named Unantoni Endlini – a Zulu phrase meaning “What do you have in your home?”, from 2 Kings 4:1-7 (the story of Elisha, the suffering widow, and her small measure of oil that God multiplied). This conveys that everyone, even in the poorest of places, potentially has some measure of passion, knowledge & skills, and local resources which they can identify, cultivate and utilize to create wealth, build a sustainable livelihood and bless their families & communities. To help catalyse this process the ETC targets both unemployed youth (for start-up enterprises) and existing small business owners (to formalize & grow). We specifically facilitate discovery of purpose (through identity in Christ & mindset transformation), defining of vision, development of enterprises, and dignifying of communities (through reinvestment into local transformation) – through a process of ministry, entrepreneurial training, and personalized mentorship/practical support. training, mentorship and practical support offered in partnership with local community-based organizations, to help aspiring entrepreneurs create or grow existing SMMEs. We use a “4D” approach, providing personalized support to help people discover their purpose, define their vision, develop their enterprise, and dignify their community.
● Integration - The above programs are integrated and help reinforce one another, potentially leading to exponential transformational impact across the city and surrounding region
INVESTMENT SUMMARY: Growth-Stage investment
Invest in capacity building by hiring a Strategic Development Consultant to work alongside the current Director. The individual identified for this role is a key local leader who brings a strong business acumen as well as a strong desire to use business and financial planning as platforms to reach the local youth and small business owners to share about his love of Jesus.
Invest in capacity building by hiring an administrative assistant who will support leadership across multiple initiatives.
Key Metrics for Growth and Impact:
Green Enterprise development - environmental clean-up, conservation and recycling - which provide a business platform for personal/skills/leadership development & livelihood generation for unemployed youth, citywide mobilization around environmental conservation, and revenue generation to drive sustainable ICT efforts in communities.
Provide sustainable income for a key local change-maker who is co-leading our broader efforts to see lives transformed in this community.
Reinforce the core belief that local transformation should be led by local leaders and funded (as much as possible) by locally-generated revenue.
13+ Jobs supported = Income/Livelihood for 40+ people.
The Eastern Cape is one of the poorest provinces in South Africa - with nearly 60% of the population classified as poor and 12% as having multidimensional poverty. This leads to a large proportion of people unable to afford secure accommodation, instead living in shacks from corrugated iron sheets - resulting in severely compromised security and health. This is combined with high unemployment, high prevalence of alcohol & substance abuse, domestic abuse & broken families, violent crime and a general lack of access to food, freedom and forgiveness.