Soroti, Uganda May 16, 2023 – The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), in partnership with Entrepreneurship for Impact Foundation (E4Impact), have since February 2023 been implementing a capacity-building support project the ‘Business for Green Impact project.’ The project is being implemented in Soroti City, Uganda and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Corporation, Italy. This project is designed to enhance business models, plans and guidelines for addressing the pressures of development, urbanization, and climatic change, notably in the building sector. This project focuses on green entrepreneurship training to create a sustainable entrepreneur base in the green building sector at the local level and provide financial support to enterprises at the secondary city level to enhance the capacity of the city council to implement improved green urban physical development plans and building policies. 25 enterprises were selected to benefit from this training, and they are the enterprises that have adopted several emerging technologies meant to bring down construction costs. The major cost drivers are sand, cement and stones, and the uneven high labor costs and with the introduction of green building technologies, these costs can be reduced.
One of the beneficiaries and promoters of green building technology is Bamusalim Services Limited. This is a social enterprise founded in 2014 to transform communities by helping low – moderate-income people escape the rental trap and secure affordable climate-smart homes. The enterprise uses sustainable technology of compressed interlocking blocks to complete all construction projects. They make interlocking bricks by mixing late-rite stone powder, cement, and gravel. The making of these blocks is completely eco-friendly. They are not baked; it is just murram/ mud in high density, pressed using a pressing machine, and allowed to solidify naturally. Transport costs are minimized since block production takes place on-site. The speed of construction is a valuable feature of this technology as they are much faster than other building methods. Their building technology is cheaper, more efficient, and environmentally friendly & it reduces the construction budget by about 30% in comparison to the brick-and-mortar technology. They have so far produced & constructed 487,200 ISSB blocks, constructed 56 house units, 2 school administration & classroom blocks and 8 perimeter walls in Western Uganda.
Bamusalim Services Ltd’s strategy is to collaborate with local government authorities, organizations, green businesses and financial institutions in Soroti City to expand its low-cost housing using compressed interlocking blocks, thereby benefiting other businesses through increased employment opportunities and economic development. They established SmartFundi Academy in March 2023 and their strategy is to train 1000 Masons in Uganda & the academy is train 60%youth & 40% women in compressed interlocking blocks production, soil testing and construction. Their plan is to develop a web & mobile Application and this will be the innovative platform that connects skilled artisans in green building technologies with people who need services. It will be designed to be a one-stop shop for all handyman needs. The academy will be managed by Bamusalim Services Ltd a company committed to providing exceptional services & building for a sustainable future. Smart Fundi platform will be the answer to the challenges that many people face when it comes to finding reliable artisans. So far 100 youth and women have been enrolled in collaboration with KCB Bank -GIZ E4D project called “Youth skilling program”. Their strategy is to have the trained youth & women as ambassadors/champions of low-cost housing using the blocks. They believe that women can excel in any field or role including the construction sector. Women’s participation is crucial to them in achieving sustainability, diversity, and inclusive decision-making, leading to innovative solutions, and driving positive change.
The expected outcome of this project is to create more green jobs and increase the annual turnover of the enterprises. The Business for Green Impact (BGI) project will run for 15 months. The key focus areas are renewable energy, water management, green manufacturing of construction materials, green designs, building and construction, neighborhood planning, service companies like suppliers of green building materials, green tech companies, and resource circularity companies.
The businesses selected for the Business for Green Impact Project are listed below:
- Joellen Uganda Limited
- Takataka Plastics
- Al-Maghtas Investments Ltd
- Host Hub Green Innovation (Global Peace Chain Uganda)
- Wawtex Solutions Limited
- Nicho Ventures Limited
- Sanqua Engineering Limited
- Easy Housing Concepts B.V.
- Niche Environmental Students Organization -Neso
- Innoveight Hub Uganda
- Imuno (U) Limited
- Horsepower Engineering Limited
- Abari Constructors And Supplies Limited
- Ask8 Skills Centre- Teso Rain Water Harvesting
- Appropriate Energy Saving Technologies (Aest) Ltd
- Waterkit
- No Fear Enterprises Limited
- Hydro Concepts Uganda Limited
- Gordon’s Agricultural Organization – Uganda (Gao-Ug) Limited
- Planet Care Hub
- Jojohe Agencies Limited
- Gold Seed International Limited
- Teso Tropical Fruit Cooperative Union Limited