South Africa

Eastern Cape Sun-Bakery Initiative

On September 30, 2004 a dedication ceremony to launch the first solar powered bakery in the Eastern Cape was held near Willowvale, South Africa. This project is a joint effort of The Women's Advice Centre and SUN OVENS International, and was partially funded by an Innovation Award from the World Bank. The dedication was hosted by His Majesty King Xolilizwe Sigcawu and Queen Nondwe and was attended by number of dignitaries including former president Nelson Mandela.

Cynthia Campher, Director of the Women's Advise Centre, and Paul Munsen, President of SUN OVENS International, Inc. serve sun-baked chicken to Nelson Mandela.

Eastern Cape Sun-Bakery Initiative
Project Description

The initiative is establishing a model solar powered Sun-Bakery in the rural community of Willowvale to bake bread and generate income for HIV positive women. Female (HIV positive) entrepreneurs will be trained in business management skills and solar bakery management techniques. The Sun-Bakery will provide a needed food staple were fresh bread is not currently available. Bread that has been fortified with vitamin A, vitamin B and B2, niacin, folic acid, vitamin B6, iron and zinc will be made and sold.

This initiative will provide training and employment for 7 additional HIV positive women. The business development services that will enable each bakery location to be successful will be provided. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds from the sale of the bread will be held in reserve and used to pay for the costs associated with training, equipment and establishment of additional Sun-Bakery locations in other Eastern Cape communities.

The initiative will enable women to better care for their families and gain the dignity that comes from being self-supporting. Communities will be strengthened as local economies improve and entrepreneurs join forces to solve societal problems. Undernutrition, especially vitamin and mineral deficiencies, will be combated. The initiative will enable the model Sun-Bakery to succeed by providing the necessary training and equipment.

Project Innovations

This initiative is innovative in the following ways:
· The model bakery will enable self-funding of the money required to start additional bakeries in other communities via the markup on the bread that is sold to the end user.
· The introduction of the improved technology of highly efficient solar ovens will allow money, that in traditional bakery operations is allocated toward energy cost overhead, to be utilized to provide for expansion to create additional employment for HIV positive women while still offering an outstanding value to the consumer who purchases the baked goods.
· The use of renewable energy will allow women who would not have otherwise had the opportunity to start a business to become entrepreneurs while providing numerous social and environmental benefits.
· Nutrition of rural communities will be improved through fortified bread.
· Improve health by reducing the harmful effects of inhaling smoke from wood and charcoal fires
· Deforestation will be reduced while jobs for HIV positive women will be created.

Project Outcomes

Generally speaking the outcome of this initiative will be to improve the quality of life for HIV positive women, their children and Eastern Cape communities by providing the resources to use free sunshine to make fresh nutritionally fortified bread. By embedding the cost of expansion into the price of the bread that is sold to consumer and using the cost of energy that a bakery normally incurs, to fund payments to an expansion fund. The single bakery location that is started as the result of this initiative will self fund expansion into 12 locations over the first 5 years.

The specific expected outcomes of this initiative are:
· Create immediate employment for 9 HIV positive women
· Use the portion of the overhead normally allocated to energy expense the proceeds of bread sales from the initial Sun-Bakery to self-fund the expansion into an additional location within 19 months and a total of 12 locations within the first 5 years.
· Transform the lives of poor women by providing them with access to capital and business training to establish self-sustaining Sun-Bakeries.
· Increase the income-earning and asset-building capacity of HIV positive women through the opportunity to open a business that serves their local community.
· Bring together the experience and expertise of women's NGOs, the Ministry for Mineral and Energy and U.S. businesspeople to implement a pilot project with far reaching potential.
· Provide fresh nutritionally fortified baked bread each day in rural areas where fresh bread is currently not available.
· Combine training, equipment and business development to provide solutions to the growing problems of deforestation and global warming.
· Reduce the releases of greenhouse gases (GHG's) into the atmosphere by eliminating tons of CO2 emissions.
· Reduce health risks of asthma and bronchitis by reducing pollution exposure.
· Create a model that can be replicated throughout the Continent of Africa that, with training and support, can enhance the quality of life for HIV positive female entrepreneurs in rural areas.

Project Impact

The expected impacts of this initiative are:
· Create employment for 9 HIV positive women in the first year and 108 women in the first 5 years.
· Create 12 new businesses within 5 years that will be owned by women
· Bake 86,400 loaves of nutritionally fortified bread in the first year and 1,036,800 loaves annually within 5 years.
· Pay $10,584 in wages to HIV positive women in the first year and $127,008 in annual wages within 5 years.
· Transform the lives of the women and their families and their communities by providing them with access to jobs and business training
· Be generating annual gross revenues of $42,336 the first year and revenues of $508,032 after 5 years for newly created South African businesses.
· Creation a model that can be replicated throughout the Continent of Africa.

Bakery Dedication Ceremony
September 30, 2004