The Oasis

Shelter ranks as the most important amenity after food for any human. A man uncertain of where to lay his head is a 66% chance of turning to a life of crime and an 87% chance of falling victim to social vices. The housing deficit in Nigeria is tremendous and so is the growing need for shelter. 60% percent of people in Nigeria, do not reside in a home of theirs - with a whopping 88% living in homes below the quality standard of habitable homes. As a young adult intending to apply oneself creatively and innovatively, one must have a conducive, secure environment to rest, relax and take on one’s mighty dreams.

Environmentally, plastic bottles are considered a kind of indecomposable junk with a substantial dangerous impact on the environment. The increasing plastic waste leads to huge environmental pollution deteriorating the health of mankind and other living beings. The incessant increase in plastic waste is going unattended without realizing its effect on our own health as well as lifestyle and will certainly deteriorate the future generation’s living standard.

Socially, we are fast losing our way of life to moral decadence as well as several social vices. With the advantageous advent of technology in Nigeria, a new challenge to curb the rising crime rate popularly known as yahoo-yahoo, 419 of which many Nigerian youths have taken to as a result of exposure to wrong company in their living environment. The growing generations need to be well nurtured away from a life of crime in a conducive environment.

With our triple factor impact solution, Shelter Nigeria is a variation of safe sustainable mini-cities built using plastic waste to provide standard and affordable housing facilities curbing the rising need for shelter in a conducive environment among Nigeria’s youth. Shelter Nigeria, a social enterprise seeks through its pilot project- The Oasis is working to provide sustainable, affordable serviced mass housing units for responsible young adults starting out in life in Nigeria using plastic bottles as a masonry construction material thus significantly reducing project cost as well as the growing plastic wastes on Nigerian streets. Though the mini-cities well-thought-out design, it invariably provides a conducive atmosphere and environment for the growing Nigerian youth to thrive outside a climate riddled with social vices and crime.

Here in Nigeria, there is a mandatory government one-year service for every Nigerian coming out of college/university before entering the labor market under the age of thirty (30). Young Nigerians between the ages of 19 – 26 seeking independence in form of accommodation, struggle to secure shelter for themselves due to several reasons such as financial instability, the unwillingness of property owners to lease to young adults for concern enabling social vices, and an absence of available housing facilities within the right environment.  

Our pilot project, The Oasis is strategically tailored to serve the Nigerian youth aged 19 - 26. Statistics reveal this to be the age bracket the Nigerian young adults are most prone to social vices as well as struggling to find a productive career path for financial stability.

By providing our services to them for 2 years (their service year and the year after) we are providing them with a strong starting platform from which to thrive and excel in life. Through the reduced cost of construction brought on by the use of plastic waste as well as other strategic partnerships we are able to offer for lease, serviced units (furnished and regularly maintained) which reduce the financial burden of securing shelter in a conducive environment

By providing serviced units, we neutralize the added concern of furnishing such units brought on by the transitory nature and temporal phase of this age bracket, where the cost of procuring furnishing and also the challenge of what to do with owned furnishing when transiting or relocating is a great concern.

By providing our facilities in the right environment, we are reducing the chances of negative influence this age bracket is susceptible to. The right and conducive atmosphere will nurture community, foster healthy collaboration, and proper morals which are prerequisite attributes needed to excel and be productive in Nigeria.

Growing up in communities riddled with plastic waste, my team and I saw firsthand the effect of mounting waste on the health of children and young adults around. As a team of solvers between the age of 26 -28, we understand the need for an enabling environment and conducive shelter more than most, on one’s minds and the role it plays in allowing for productive use of one’s time in following one’s dream to build impactful solutions. The burden the absence of conducive shelter plays in diverting time and resources which could be best channeled to productive and impact projects. Now as young ideators, we understand through personal experience the challenges we seek to solve.

Lastly, as a female founder, I personally understand the cultural expectations in Nigeria on females to silently and stealthily relegate our time and resources to tend to the home affairs of relatives who you live with due to our inability to secure personal spaces rather than navigating the waves of a career or work environment.

Having also gone through the government mandatory one year we have seen, experienced firsthand, and also listened to the experiences of fellow millennials in their struggle for adequate shelter at an affordable rate within an environment free of social vices and crime. Through the use of research tools such as surveys and questionnaires, we know these challenges aren’t ours alone but felt on a larger and wider scale by our peers as well. All research- qualitative and quantitative study we have embarked on has been to adequately collate these challenges, as well as perceived solutions from respondents, standpoint in view of building one sustainable and encompassing solution from these perspectives.

As a team of trained architects, builders, and entrepreneurs having experienced the challenges we’ve set out to solve we believe we are best suited to bring to life and preserve the purity of our concept.

In order to build a sustainable eco-community promoting life & quintessential culture, we understand the importance of not building in isolation and the power of access to groups of like minds building incredible solutions, as well as the need for counsel from experienced mentors from different industries and field in order to excel at our goal. Solve provides access to these and much more which will be invaluable going forward.

A highlight my team and I especially look forward to is the access to coaching, and strategic advice from experts as well as the healthy and valuable network being a part of Solve provides which is needed to give life to our concept. A grant from Solve would certainly offset the time bootstrapping would take to generate the financial resources required to kick start before getting to a stage in our process where we are open to other funding options. This also would put us on a faster track to launch and tackle the issues that are of great concern.

Finally, being a part of solve provides validation and exposure for our concept which honestly speaking is awesome to have for any founder taking a life influencing challenge and would be a value add in attracting the right partnership the venture would require.

Reusing plastic bottles as the building materials can have substantial effects on saving the building's embodied energy by using them instead of bricks in walls and reducing the CO2 emission in manufacturing the cement by reducing the percentage of cement used. It is counted as a vital green project and has caught the attention of the architecture and construction industry. Generally, the bottle houses are bioclimatic in design, which means that when it is cold outside is warm inside and vice versa. The use of innovative materials with a sustainable application such as plastic bottles can have considerable benefits including finding the best optimization in energy consumption of the region, reducing environmental degradation, establishing the appropriate structural behavior in certain buildings.

Building up to the project itself, the process opens up a chain of employment opportunities to the community as menial jobs such as bottle picking, sorting, preparation will be required. Furthermore, we strongly believe this will open up other organizations to building with alternative materials as well as reduce the prejudice against such alternative materials here in Nigeria. 

A completed and operating Oasis will significantly reduce the housing challenges experienced by the young adults in Nigerian and will curb the rising rate of Nigerians turning to social vices

In the coming years, Oasis and other projects by Shelter Nigeria will cause a drastic reduction in the rising plastic bottle waste in communities like Lagos and Abuja. As the average lifespan of these building are 35- 40 years the plastic waste will be off our streets for a long time. Through the execution of similar projects to Oasis (which focuses on housing) such as public libraries, recreational spaces, IDP camps – Shelter Nigeria intends to continually execute projects with our triple impact in mind – Environmental (Building plastic structures to combat plastic waste), Societal (Creating secure and safe spaces of shelter within communities); economic (providing these facilities for use at ridiculously affordable rates to Nigerian middle and grassroots).

To us, we firmly believe a Sustainable Development is one that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of future generations. Through our built development projects, we intend to integrate environmental considerations into planning and development to best take into consideration future needs as well.

The Oasis operates a B2C model by leasing accommodation units directly to its occupants and a B2B by leasing supporting facilities on site like the shopping mall, pharamacy, laundromat, salon & barbers shop, bakeries, eateries, etc to established businesses to operate.

Starting out, we have leveraged bootstrapping for preliminary research as well as initial company registration. Going forward we will be utilizing grants to finetune our concept and initial design features which will be crucial in securing partnerships going forward.

Exploring corporate partnerships with organizations that connect with any of our triple impact factors ie bottling companies who are key stakeholders in the plastic waste here in Nigeria and partnerships with government bodies here in Nigeria to lease the land.