Hustlenomics has proven yet again why they are front runners in innovative solutions for social challenges. The company, which is a recent winner of the Net Zero Hack Challenge, was awarded first prize in the SAB Foundation Social Innovation and Disability Empowerment Award on 11th of October.
The SAB’s Foundation Social Innovation Project Manager said that “through the awards, the SAB Foundation finds, supports and scales social innovations that demonstrate a sustainable business model while solving a critical social problem. To date, we have committed over R75 million towards promoting social innovation and supported 163 businesses that solve social issues and provide solutions to people with disabilities.”
Hustlenomics, a start-up incubated at The Innovation Hub’s Climate Innovation Center, received a total of R1.3 million in grant funding for their affordable housing project. The project gives low income families, the opportunity to build durable structures in the place or backyard shacks. By using an alternative building technology, interlocking bricks made from recycled materials, the new structures are built at no cost to the owners. They are financed using an innovative shared-home financing model, where rental income, generated from the completed structure, is used to pay off development costs, after which full-ownership of the structure is handed over to the land owner.
Another formidable force to mention is Cape Town based start-up, SustainPower, that will soon become the leading African manufacturer of containerised solutions for sustainable power generation from biogas, landfill gas, natural gas and other sustainable and alternative energy sources such as solar and wind. The clean energy company that specialises in containerised power generation equipment, and which is already known and trusted for its gas-to-power solutions, is launching its innovative containerised solar power solution. The containerised solar power solution, or SustainSolar, will be a source of relief for the 600 million Africans who are without reliable source of electricity. MD of Sustainable Power Generation Tobias Hobbach say “for underdeveloped, rural areas, our Rapid Deployment solar power solution comes in easy-to-move standard shipping containers, completely pre-installed and ready to use.”
Both SustainPower and Hustlenomics are incubated at The Innovation Hub’s Climate Innovation Center.
We congratulate and recognize innovators such as these for their continued contributions to the landscape of transformation and sustainable development.
