MBOMBELA – South Africa needs entrepreneurial initiatives to create employment in the quest to fight poverty and further contribute to economic growth.
That is according to local entrepreneur, Ms Louise Williamson, whose Mashesha stove was presented with the top innovation for social impact award at the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme for SMMEs in South Africa (GCIP-SA) on Thursday.
She also recently won R50 000 after presenting her Mashesha stove to judges during an innovation summit in Ekurhuleni. The prize was funded by the South African Breweries.
Williamson’s model offers a simple, innovative solution to local schools which still use open fires in semi-enclosed shelters to cook for pupils.
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The stove uses 56 per cent less wood than traditional open fires and burns cleaner, with no smoke. Its double-barrelled metal chamber with strategically placed air vents allows for natural convection of airflow.
Williamson said the stove promotes high-heated combustion and a secondary ignition of syngas. “It is available as large (16 kilograms) and smaller (nine kilograms) mild-steel portable units, suitable for industrial cooking, as well as for individual households,” she said.
The programme forms part of a global initiative aimed to identify and support SMMEs and start- up businesses with innovative solutions in the fields of energy efficiency, renewable energy,
waste beautification, water efficiency and green buildings.
“The real winners of the award are the communities which have the sustained use of the stoves,” said Williamson, who founded Sustainability Professionals (SP).
“These communities worked with SP to express their needs, both for an efficient, cost-effective cooking stove and for a healthier heating and cooking option.”
In order to grow the brand, SP has developed a social enterprise.
It has a “for-profit” arm which, through sales and employment, is able to grow as a business in the province and the Southern Africa region.
The “not-for-profit” arm has a social responsibility and fund-raising strategy which enables companies, individuals and government entities to buy the stoves to donate to schools, communities and
faith-based organisations.
“SMMEs are seen as the backbone of growing economies and, as a microenterprise, we see ourselves contributing towards a model for SMMEs,” Williamson concluded.
