Earn iT

A software company that promotes the recoupling of economic and social prosperity with environmental sustainability through Recycling, DIY projects and clean energy so that the community can generate income themselves.

Earn iT is a software company founded by Tafadzwa Chingombe with the sole purpose of empowering the community to achieve social prosperity, environmental sustainability, and general economic growth. The project mainly focuses on recycling, DIY projects, and clean energy. The community is able to access Earn iT through its online platform as users in the system. Once registered, the users are able to access a map showing all the recycling companies that have also registered on the platform. The users then initiate a delivery process through the platform whereby they deliver recyclable material to the designated recycling company's location. When the delivery is complete they get paid according to the quantity of recyclable material delivered. In essence, Earn iT acts as a middle-man between recycling companies and users. Users are able to create part-time income for themselves as well as keep their surroundings clean. Freelancers can also register on the platform and offer their services such as transportation and teaching/ instruction courses which will enable the community to develop life skills that they will be able to use to generate income for themselves.

The country faces high inflation and poor waste management. As a result, the majority of civil servants are underpaid and the majority of youths are unemployed. By means of moderating a price value on services offered on the platform, Earn iT is able to facilitate the generation of part-time income for its users as well as promote the cleanliness of the community. In Zimbabwe, according to the Environmental Management Agency (EMA, 2018) the amount of plastic recycled is very low with an estimated 11% of 198 000 tonnes of plastic being recycled. According to research done in 2014 by the Institute of Environmental Studies, Zimbabwe generates 1,65 million tonnes per year (total solid waste) and only 12% of this is plastic waste (198 000 tonnes). Of the total waste produced by Zimbabwe 65-75% is biodegradable and recyclable materials are about 30-35%.  Normally these wastes accumulate in mass refuse waste landfills in high-density residential areas, where the community will burn them only because of poor waste management faced in the country. An increase of health-related problems such as Typhoid and mosquitoes occurs.

Earn iT is a community-oriented platform that mainly impacts residents living in high-density areas. These areas usually accommodate the lower-class citizens of the societal hierarchy. Earn iT comes into existence to provide the community with a part-time job opportunity which allows them not only to earn an income but also to keep their communities clean. Through our freelancer’s services, we educate the community with life skills that will allow them to be able to generate income for themselves. We believe the platform will allow the youths in the community to get off their toes and stop drug/ substance abuse as they will be working for their selves and the community.

As one of the youths residing in one of the high-density residential areas of Zimbabwe, I can relate better to the challenges the community faces. High unemployment and living expenses rates within the country lead many youths on a dangerous path of criminal activities and drug/ substance abuse. Extensive research and interviews with the community members have provided positive feedback in the sense that the members confirmed being future users of the Earn iT platform. The recycling industry is an already existing industry that has very underpaid workers who collect mostly HDPE and PET plastics from refuse waste landfills in communities. The refuse waste landfills are very unsanitary and often contain non-biodegradable wastes such as diapers and food wastes. Due to poor waste management by the government, the workers saw an opportunity to collect recyclable plastics from these landfills and deliver them to recycling middle-man or NGOs such as the Zimbabwe Sunshine Group that focus on environmental sustainability in exchange for money. The main problem in this situation is that the middleman pays the workers very little money usually 10c per kg of plastic waste collected and, the workers do not have any protective clothing gear they use when they collect the materials leaving them exposed to a number of diseases in the process. I have also taken the initiative of working closely with Social workers who are qualified in the people development field.

We are still in the process of finishing up with the acquiring the necessary authorized documentations inorder to start operations.

We use big database systems such as MongoDB and Software as well as development tools such as React, Java inside a framework called Spring Framework.

We aim to serve 1 500 people by end of the second business quarter of next year.

We plan to create a platform that will enable the community to generate part-time income for themselves. This is done through the services we offer of recycling and freelance services which are all done through Earn iT's online platform. We also plan to develop the life skills of the community which will, in turn, help them to become independent and sustain themselves as a source of livelihood. These life skills can be nurtured in the DIY (Do It Yourself) services we offer on the platform. Through our social workers that we work with hand in hand, we will address the issue of youths consuming harmful drugs by offering them this life-changing opportunity to join our ever-growing community. This community will allow them to gain employment as the country Zimbabwe faces an unemployment crisis.

Being an online platform, we will have key metric systems in place that track the number of users who will register on the system, the number of users already registered who will use the platform, again and again, the number of users attending DIY projects, the number of DIY projects being done and the number of services completed.

We are expecting to face cultural barriers. This might be as a result of youths feeling as if the initiative is "not cool" enough to take part in. Other barriers we may face are financial. Aside from the expected expenses, we will face, we also have to come to an agreement with recycling companies to moderate their pricing of recyclable materials they would need. This is important as currently they pay very little for these materials.

The team comprises 3 part-time software engineers, one social worker, and myself the founder. Being a small team, we are able to keep tabs on each other and perform tasks more efficiently. The engineers have experience in computer software possessing a number of skills including Java, cloud computing, software development, and application development among others. Having also worked with reputable companies in Zimbabwe the likes of Right bank Zimbabwe Limited, they are well equipped with the skillset of adapting to the work environment when needed. I personally worked closely with a social worker for the past 3 years now. The individual has experience in community development and community empowerment, which is very crucial since the initiative is community-oriented. The community requires a community worker that is able to understand that communities are dynamic and complex and need to be treated uniquely. The individual has great communication skills, coordinating skills, recording skills, time management, educating skills, time strategic management as is evident with the various number of stakeholders she has worked with already. I possess a unique skill set of Idea generation as well as great communication skills. Being the founder of this initiative, I have taken it upon myself to personally talk to the community members and gain insight into their core problems. I have also made use of questionnaires and other survey tools and placed them in high schools and universities so as to gain a sense of whether the youth will be interested in this initiative. Positive feedback has been received.

We currently have no partnerships officially but we are in the process of partnering up with EMA (Environmental Management Agency). EMA mainly focuses on environmental sustainability, making them great potential partners as their sustainable development goals fall in line with ours. We are also looking forward to partnering up with NGOs such as the Zimbabwe Sunshine group which also has sustainable goals that fall in line with ours.

Being a community-oriented project we value all our users and have noted that the majority of potential users are women and/or girls. We also have DIY project initiatives which educate girls on developing life skills that will create livelihoods for themselves. If we succeed in winning the prize, we would use the funds to further develop and innovate better ways to educate and expose the girl child to life-developing skills.