Draft:Smart Havens Africa
Smart Havens Africa is a social enterprise that creates sustainable and affordable houses for women and low-income families in Uganda.[1][2][3][4][5] The company was founded in 2015[6] and has built 80 homes, impacted 2560 lives, and saved over 4000 trees from getting cut for firewood.[4]
 | |
| Formation | 2015 |
|---|---|
| Founded at | Kampala, Uganda, Africa |
| Type | Social Enterprise |
Key people | Anne Rweyora, Will Broad |
Staff | 15 |
| Website | https://www.shafrica.org |
History
When Smart Havens Africa's co-founder Anne Rweyora's father died early during her childhood[4], her family was forced out of their home by her relatives. For many years, Anne's mother fought for the rightful ownership of their home while they lived with some relative or the other.[5][6] When every attempt failed, her mother finally gave up and it ultimately took a toll on Anne's education, health and welfare as her mother was unable to buy a new home on a single income. This inspired Anne to do something that would create affordable housing opportunities for people like her mother.[5]
Anne grew up to become an Industrial Designer[7] and, in 2015, she co-founded Smart Havens Africa with Will Broad, a fellow Ugandan who faced similar hardships to own a house in a country where 54% of the urban population lives in slums.[8][9] The idea was to use local materials and local labour to significantly reduce the construction & transportation costs and transferring this cost-benefit to buyers.
Operations
Smart Havens Africa has built 80 homes in Uganda by eliminating the use of fire bricks made in furnaces that run on firewood. Instead, they press readily available materials into bricks- a method that doesn't require furnaces and falls in line with the United Nations' sustainable development goals.[4] The company also creates job opportunities by employing locals for building the houses and empowers women by teaching them the basics of civil engineering. Buyers are offered a rent-to-own programme and, quite often, employ themselves in building their own house and pay for their homes along the way without accumulating debt.[1][4]
Structure
Instead of individual houses, Smart Havens Africa creates communities with access to amenities such as electricity, clean water and city roads.[5] The company uses Interlocking Soil Stabilizing Blocks (ISSBs), a type of brick created by mixing soil near the construction area with water, cement and other optional additives. This mixture is then compressed using an ISSB machine, and the resulting bricks are laid with mortar to build the house.[10] The houses in a community range from 1BH to 4BH, and come with custom biodigesters, solar water and solar electricity facilities. [1]
Recognition
Anne became a Finalist of Royal Academy of Engineering's 2019 Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation[1] for Smart Havens Africa and bagged a runner-up prize of £10,000.[11] In the same year, Anne was presented with The Takeda Foundation's Young Entrepreneurship Award 2019.[12] IFC and The Financial Times shortlisted Smart Havens Africa as the Finalists for the 2019 Transformational Business Awards for achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).[13] Smart Havens Africa was also chosen as runners up in the Audience vote at Pitch@Palace Africa 3.0 which was held at St James’s Palace in March 2019.[14] Smart Havens Africa was also granted an alumni status from Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship[15] and later allowed Anne to become one amongst the 2020 fellows of The Global Good Fund.[7]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Top engineering innovators announced for Africa Prize finals". Royal Academy of Engineering. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Kiunguyu, Kylie (2019-06-12). "Smart Havens Africa is using eco-friendly technologies to provide affordable housing". This is africa. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ Staff, Quartz. "Quartz Africa Innovators 2019: leading the change for Africa's future". Quartz Africa. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Empowering women by building homes - CNN Video, retrieved 2020-08-16
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "Eco-friendly homes for Africa". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-08-16. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 Staff, Quartz. "Quartz Africa Innovators 2019: leading the change for Africa's future". Quartz Africa. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Our 2020 Fellows". The Global Good Fund. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Smart Havens Africa uses human-centered business models to help the poor build homes". Design Indaba. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ "Population living in slums (% of urban population) - Uganda | Data". data.worldbank.org. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ "Interlocking Stabilized Soil Blocks (ISSB)". Engineering For Change. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ Kakeeto, Moses. "Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation: UGANDAN INNOVATOR Anne Rweyora bags 48M | Newz Post". Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ "THE TAKEDA YOUNG ENTREPRENEURSHIP AWARD 2019 Winners". www.takeda-foundation.jp. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ "2019 Transformational Business Awards: Meet the Finalists". www.ifc.org. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ "PITCH@PALACE AFRICA 3.0 – THE RESULTS". Pitch@Palace. 2019-03-07. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
- ↑ "Miller Center Alumni Community". millercenterscu.force.com. Retrieved 2020-08-16.
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