SustainHubility

Northern Malawi has approximately 90% waste being mismanaged leading to unclean surroundings and unavailability of reuse and recycling of the waste into products and services. We are committed to supporting the community through our innovation center  to provide service consultancy, co-working space and educational workshops to transfer know-how on how to design solutions that prevent environmental pollution and climate while creating business opportunities for the local market to young social innovators and community members.

Through this solution we will create a platform that supports circular economy and environmental sustainability for 2,286,960 people in northern Malawi, other regions in Malawi and the entire global community

Northern Malawi faces lack waste management provision as communities have no option other than to burn or dump waste. It is a common place to burn plastic waste as a cooking fuel. Most community members utilize single-use plastic and is increasing at a growing rate like plastic bags,bottles, and there is lack of information about the damage for environment and human health amongst the community masses.

Through sustainhubility we are working with young social innovators(18-35) working to address challenges in circular economy and environmental sustainability. We provide them with co-working space, design thinking training programs, resources for them to test their prototypes within the communities and business development support. Through our innovation center they will be able to utilize machinery and equipment to recycle waste into products and services that will help transform the communities to become cleaner and sustainable.

Our solution is the SustainHubility innovation hub which will provide consultancy and advisory services, co-working space, design studio and educational workshops to transfer know-how to young social innovators in Malawi. The innovation center also serves as a design studio with focus on sustainable development projects in Malawi

As a starting premise for the SustainHUBility and simultaneously to be economically sustainable our focus shall begin with waste management and in particular waste collection and recycling of organic and plastic waste as a business in Mzuzu City.

The business idea will be developed around two main pillars, first to generate income through the manufacturing of desirable and functional products from recycled plastic and second to provide affordable alternatives to the consumption of single-use plastics, together with awareness and cleans-up activities promoted among schools and youths as well as with designated communities within Mzuzu City then scale up efforts shall be done incrementally. Furthermore, the same space of the Hub will act as the main plastic collection and recycling centre where plastic will be recycled and transformed into marketable products. In a further step smaller hubs will be set-up in villages and minor towns where plastic will be collected and sorted by typology.

Our solution is innovative because we are using local resources to create local solutions to curb problems surrounding the circular economy and environmental sector. We are the only entrepreneurship and innovation hub in Northern Malawi that supports awareness and educational workshops for youth from secondary education to youth led social enterprises. We are willing to learn and adapt new technologies and best practices in the circular economy and environmental sustainability sector.

Our solution will utilize a new business model that has not been adopted in Malawi and once our pilot program is finished we can replicate it in other regions through our partners.  

The innovation center is an additional upgrade project for the Mzuzu Entrepreneur Hub with a focus on sustainability and circular practices, the center will provide co-working space with access to internet, soft wares, various learning resources and access to different machinery and equipment for innovators to be able to develop prototypes and test ideas before adaptation. We will use existing technologies adapted from https://preciousplastic.com/ and other local sources that will be identified through our partners. 

Our solution will address this problem as we will create a platform for innovation and utilize the human centered design approach to create solutions together with community members on various challenges within the circular economy and environmental sustainability. Through awareness campaigns, educational workshops, stakeholder engagement meetings, research and product innovation designs we expect to establish a culture of enterprising in the circular economy and environmental sustainability leading to job creation, livelihood transformation and clean and healthy surroundings.

Through our innovation center we will support 60 young social innovators annually translating to 150 in five years. Through various initiatives these innovators and entrepreneurs will be running they will create a safe and healthy environment for 2,286,960 people in Northern Malawi.

Over the next five years we plan to reach out to 60 young innovators annually through educational workshops. We plan to reach out to 10,000 students in 30 schools in Northern Malawi with environmental sustainability awareness and best practices to build a clean and healthy environment. We plan to engage with relevant stakeholders to advance policies on circular economy and environmental sustainability in Malawi.

the major barrier has been access to resources to construct a state of the art innovation center and equipment for the innovators to utilize for product design and test. Building a culture that supports communities to change their mindsets towards a clean environment is also a major barrier towards our work and we are working towards creating best practices towards the next five years for the bigger impact.

Through awareness campaigns for the community members and educational workshops to enhance the knowledge base of people on what circular economy is and how their everyday lives should support environmental sustainability

We currently have 5 full time staff and two part time staff working on this solution. 

The SustainHubility solution is developed around two main pillars, first to generate income through the manufacturing of desirable and functional products from recycled plastic and second to provide affordable alternatives to the consumption of single-use plastics, together with awareness and cleans-up activities promoted among schools and youths as well as with designated communities within Mzuzu City then scale up efforts shall be done incrementally.

Furthermore, the same space of the Hub will act as the main plastic collection and recycling centre where plastic will be recycled and transformed into marketable products. In a further step smaller hubs will be set-up in villages and minor towns where plastic will be collected and sorted by typology.