Sustainable Business Magazine EMEA 02/18

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SUSTAINABLE EMEA ISSUE 02/18

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AFRICAN EDITION

McCORMICK PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

MERIDIAM SAINT-GOBAIN SOLA FUTURE ENERGY MR ETHIOPIS TAFARA

IFC VICE PRESIDENT

AND GENERAL COUNSEL, LEGAL COMPLIANCE, RISK AND SUSTAINABILITY

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George Newell Marcus Bonnano Mark Hibbitts Liam Pritchett Dorah Modise Ethiopis Tafara Jacob Hall Graeme Watts George Bell Aaron Cooper Steve Phipps

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CONTENTS ISSUE 02/18

Welcome to the latest African edition of Sustainable Business Magazine.

Sustainable Business Magazine aims to spread awareness of sustainable values in business, as well as the exciting ways in which organizations continue to meet challenges and champion corporate social responsibility. In this issue, we speak to some of the businesses and corporations who are driving economic growth, environmental stewardship, and empowering communities across Africa.

We start this issue with an in-depth Q&A with Ethiopis Tafara, Vice President and General Counsel, Legal, Compliance Risk, and Sustainability at the International Finance Corporation (IFC). As the world’s largest development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets, Mr. Tafara tells us about some of the IFC’s recent work in sub-Saharan Africa, investing in projects which battle poverty and climate change.

In South Africa, we look at how developers can contribute to economic growth in historically underserved communities in a conversation with Jason McCormick, CEO of McCormick Property Development. We talked about constructing shopping hubs in rural regions, gaining community trust, and new ways to reduce carbon emissions and water consumption.

This issue sees the beginning of our new series produced in partnership with the Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA). Each instalment of the series features detailed profiles of member companies, and is prefaced by a foreword from Dorah Modise, CEO of GBCSA. This issue, we spoke to Jolene Blundell, Head of Sustainability for Sub-Saharan Africa at Saint-Gobain, about the challenges and opportunities involved in building comfortable, high-performing buildings in a rapidly evolving region.

Also in South Africa, we spoke to Claudia Regnart, Social Impact Director at Pearson South Africa, about how the world’s largest publisher produces tailored educational materials for a diverse population. We also spoke to Dr. Dominic Wills, CEO of SOLA Future Energy, about the advantages of solar energy and microgrids for African communities.

Further north, we spoke to Karim Ndiaye, Investment Director for West Africa at Meridiam, about a major solar power project which is improving energy reliability and security in Senegal.

Meanwhile, in Kenya, we spoke to Yvonne Chelagat, Marketing and Business Development Manager at Sian Roses, Haron Koimur, Managing Director at Sian Roses, and Elizabeth Kimani, General Manager at Maasai Flowers, about a sustainable way to produce one of the world’s most-grown cut flowers.

Details of upcoming sustainability events in Africa throughout June and July can be found on our events calendar. Our featured event is Power & Electricity World Africa 2019, Africa’s largest and longest-running power and electricity show, which will take place at the Sandton Convention Center in Johannesburg, South Africa, March 26-27 2019.

We hope that you find this issue both interesting and inspiring. Thank you for reading.

The Sustainable Business Magazine Team

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Q&A Mr Ethiopis Tafara, IFC Vice President and General Counsel, Legal, Compliance Risk, and Sustainability McCormick Property Development

Green Building Council South Africa

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Saint-Gobain

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Pearson South Africa

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SOLA Future Energy

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Meridiam

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Sian Roses

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Global Events

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Q&A ETHIOPIS TAFARA

Mr Ethiopis Tafara

IFC Vice President and General Counsel, Legal, Compliance Risk, and Sustainability.

Can you tell us about the history of the International Finance Corporation and your work in developing countries?

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is the largest global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. We have 60 years of experience in mobilizing the power of the private sector to address urgent development challenges. We work with more than 2,000 businesses worldwide, using our capital, expertise, and influence to create markets and opportunities in the toughest areas of the world.

Since we opened for business in 1956, IFC has leveraged $2.6 billion in capital from our member countries to deliver more than $265 billion of financing in developing countries. Today, we are intensifying our activities in the world’s poorest countries and in conflict-affected areas of the world. In fiscal year 2017, IFC invested $4.6 billion in IDA countries and nearly $900 million in fragile and conflict-affected areas.

We are also deepening our emphasis on climate change. In fiscal year 2017, our climate-related investments accounted for nearly 25 percent of the financing we provided to businesses in emerging markets.

What does sustainability mean to the IFC? Sustainability is at the heart of everything we do. For decades, IFC has helped our clients conduct business in ways that protect the environment and benefit all segments of society. IFC’s Sustainability Framework and our Corporate Governance methodology are designed to help our clients achieve their long-term business goals, improve their relations with stakeholders and local communities, and boost their brand value and recognition.

At the core of our Sustainability Framework are IFC Performance Standards, which help our clients avoid, mitigate, and manage risk, helping them devise solutions that are good for business, investors, and the environment and local communities. Since 2006, an estimated $4.5 trillion in emerging-markets investments have adhered to IFC’s standards, or principles inspired by them. Our standards are a global benchmark for sustainability practices. Ninety-one financial 2 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

institutions in 37 countries adopted the Equator Principles, and other leading development institutions, including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the Asian Development Bank, adopted practices rooted in our standards. IFC’s framework for managing corporate-governance risks has been adopted by 34 development finance institutions for use in their investment processes.

We also work to strengthen the capacity of our financial clients to integrate IFC’s standards into their operations. We advise policymakers on best practices in governance, and environmental and social sustainability. We established and lead the Sustainable Banking Network, which brings together banking associations and regulators in 34 developing countries, collectively accounting for $42.6 trillion in bank assets, to formulate policies to boost sustainable and green finance.

Have you been involved in any significant recent projects in sub-Saharan Africa?

IFC helps address the challenges of extreme poverty, conflict, and instability in sub-Saharan Africa by working with the private sector to modernize infrastructure, strengthen local capital markets, and promote sustainable development. In FY17, our long-term investments in sub-Saharan Africa totaled about $3.5 billion, including nearly $1.2 billion mobilized from other investors. Our clients supported more than 250,000 jobs, created opportunities for more than 800,000 farmers, and treated more than 560,000 patients. One-third of our global advisory program was in the region.

Amid one of the region’s worst famines since 1945, we provided an $11 million financing package to help Insta Products expand production of a high-protein paste used to feed people suffering from drought-related malnutrition in Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Uganda. IFC’s investment will help Insta serve an additional 350,000 people annually.

In Zambia, IFC and the OPEC Fund for International Development invested $10 million each in Metalco Industries Company Limited, which recycles scrap metal to manufacture copper cables,

aluminum sheets, and utensils. We also helped Metalco become investment-ready and advised it on environmental and social issues, energy efficiency, quality control, and corporate governance.

IFC has additionally invested over $80 million in Zambia’s private sector, in projects that support agribusiness, financial services, infrastructure, and social services.

In Ghana, we provided a $300 million financing package for the Sankofa natural-gas project, which will fuel up to 1,000 megawatts of power – about 40 percent of the country’s generation capacity.

The project is expected to make energy more affordable while creating 1,500 construction jobs, increasing government revenues, and lowering greenhouse emissions.

How are you creating markets for ‘green’ business in developing countries?

A recent analysis completed by IFC shows that the global markets for climate business have never been stronger. Across key sectors, markets for climate-smart business already exceed $1 trillion in size.

Many countries are putting in place attractive investment frameworks, attracting billions in private capital. IFC is well positioned to work with businesses to find solutions and grow the markets in climate business, leveraging public sector capital and greening the financial sector while integrating climate risks and opportunities into its investment portfolio.

IFC led an initiative bringing together 18 developers from three continents and raising $635 million backed by 11 international financial institutions to build Egypt’s Benban Solar Park, which will have an aggregate solar capacity of 752MWp/590MWac, helping to cut Egypt’s dependence on imported fossil fuels. This project makes up the largest private-sector financing package for a solar photovoltaic facility in the Middle East and North Africa region. Financial close was reached in October 2017, and IFC’s sister organization, the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), is providing political risk guarantees.

We made an equity investment of €5.42 million in Mobisol, a leading vendor of distributed off-grid solar systems. Mobisol is making modular solar home systems affordable through an innovative lease-to-own business model, allowing customers to pay through a 36-month payment plan via mobile payment platforms. Our investment and advice have enabled Mobisol to install more than 67,000 solar lighting systems throughout East Africa, delivering clean and affordable energy to 330,000 people, creating local jobs, and establishing credit histories for people.

IFC recently provided $200 million to help Chinese fertilizer producer Kingenta to become an integrated climate-smart agriculture solutions provider, supporting farmers with high-quality, locally tailored fertilizers and advisory assistance. This will help China achieve its goal of zero growth in consumption of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers by 2020. IFC’s investment will go toward more efficient fertilizer production and establishing a platform of 300 crop-production service centers across eight Chinese provinces.

How do you monitor and assess the impacts of your projects?

Measuring the results of our work is critical to understanding whether IFC and our clients are reaching the people and markets that most need our help. We are one of the few international financial institutions that set corporate targets – not only for investment volume but also for direct development impact. IFC is now using the Anticipated Impact Measurement and Monitoring (AIMM) system to estimate

and measure the expected development impact of IFC transactions by assessing IFC interventions along two dimensions: (1) project outcomes, which includes a project’s direct effects on stakeholders, its indirect and induced effects on the economy and society overall, and its effect on the environment; and (2) contribution to market creation, which refers to systemic changes a project catalyzes in the market (beyond project outcomes).

The objective is to recognize the potential an IFC project has to generate systemic changes on markets’ competitiveness, integration, inclusiveness, resilience, and sustainability. The AIMM system also includes a monitoring component that links impact claims with a results measurement system, seeking to test claims made ex-ante against actual results.

What plans do you have for future investments in Africa?

Sub-Saharan Africa is the top priority for IFC. IFC quadrupled longterm financing in the decade to 2017, investing $3.5 billion last year across sectors from agribusiness to financial institutions to power and transport. IFC’s advisory services are critical to improving investment climates and delivering expertise in areas like ESG. Sixty percent of IFC investments and 95 percent of advisory in Africa reach the lowest income countries. Today, IFC is building on a new global strategy around the third strategic phase in our history, dubbed IFC 3.0. We are leveraging the World Bank, our synergies with MIGA, and IFC’s 60 years of experience to create private sector opportunities to contribute more to the development agenda.

We have expanded our toolkit to attract more private sector investment. A Private Sector Window, a new $2.5 billion initiative for the poorest countries, was created to spur investment, including offering long-term local currency finance where capital markets are not developed. A Creating Markets Advisory Window, a new three-year funding facility of up to $213 million, will help us develop new projects in the poorest and fragile and conflict-affected states. We collaborate with other World Bank Group institutions to support agriculture, power, job creation, health, education, and capital markets.

Because 60 percent of Africans derive their livelihoods from farming, IFC works to help businesses improve agricultural yields and exports and modernize the food sector. We also support commodity exchanges and financial institutions that serve farmers and agri-enterprises.

IFC focuses on key service industries – such as tourism, retail, and property – that are the foundation of sustainable growth and provide affordable goods and services, create jobs, contribute to government revenue, and stimulate the growth of local small and medium-sized enterprises. IFC works closely with stakeholders in sub-Saharan Africa to develop the health sector in a holistic way, while also partnering with private education providers to bridge the education gap. Financial inclusion is also key to help create opportunities for the local population. IFC helps our financial intermediary clients address their financing needs and offer know-how and tools to use capital to their best advantage.

I am happy to report that in a huge vote of confidence in IFC’s work and the role of the private sector in solving development challenges, IFC’s shareholder governments recently approved a $5.5 billion capital increase for IFC. This will allow us to increase our work in the areas with the largest poverty levels and global priority areas such as climate change. c SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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McCORMICK PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

THE RETAIL PIONEERS Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Jason McCormick, CEO of McCormick Property Development, about bringing shopping hubs to some of South Africa’s most deprived regions, working with local communities, and investing in solar power and rainwater harvesting.

THE LOCAL COMMUNITY IS INVOLVED IN EVERY PART OF THE DEVELOPMENT UNDER THE MCCORMICK MODEL.

ALEX MALL.

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ALEX MALL.

1983 was an ugly time in the history of South Africa. Even as American universities, foundations, and multinational companies faced growing pressure to disinvest from the country in protest at the apartheid system, 66.3% of white voters approved a new constitution in November which created the Tricameral Parliament, making token gestures towards inclusivity while further solidifying white rule. Nelson Mandela was still incarcerated in Pollsmoor Prison, the African National Congress (ANC) was still a banned organization, and millions of black South Africans – many of whom had been forcibly ‘resettled’ over the previous 30 years to semi-autonomous rural homeland areas – remained impoverished and without political representation.

It was in this context that John McCormick founded McCormick Property Development. “My father had been working as a development manager for a furniture retailer, developing standalone stores for the homelands,” says Jason McCormick, CEO of McCormick Property Development.

“He realized that these people needed access to retail facilities. The rural areas were so far away from the main urban hubs that people were having to spend up to an hour on public transport just to do their most basic shopping. It meant that these people were spending a disproportionate amount of a meager income on petrol or transport just to get the basic necessities. My father decided he needed to help.”

ple from ‘White South Africa’. In 1970, the Black Homelands Citizenship Act denaturalized black South African citizens, designating these people instead as ‘citizens’ of their respective bantustans. From the 1960s to the 1980s, an estimated 3.5 million black South Africans were forcibly relocated from their homes in and around urban areas, and many of them were moved to the bantustans, which consisted of around 13% of the land area of South Africa. Much of the available housing consisted of slums or shanty towns, and the land was poorly suited to agriculture. The lack of employment opportunities forced inhabitants to leave their ‘homelands’ every day to work in white-owned mines, white-ownedfarms, and white-owned industrial sites.

The elder Mr. McCormick’s insight was to realize that these discriminated-against communities had a need for accessible retail facilities. McCormick Property Development pursued a business model based on community buy-in and shared economic development. “My father worked with the local chiefs and community leaders to ensure that all the people involved in these construction projects were from the local economic area,” explains Mr. McCormick. “Later, we made sure that employment in the shopping centers came from the local area too. The intention was that these projects would create their own economies that would feed back into the shopping centers. Income which

COMMUNITY BUY-IN The ‘Bantustans’, also known as ‘black homelands’, were rural areas set aside by the white government of apartheid-era South Africa for specific black ethnic groups. These regions were intended to become ten autonomous, ethnically-homogeneous nation-states, with the aim of eventually removing all black peoSUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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McCORMICK PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

MALL OF TEMBISA.

would once have been spent on transportation was then being put into local goods, local businesses, and local jobs.”

The first McCormick Property Development retail facility was only a couple of hundred square meters. In 1985, John McCormick set up South Africa’s first ever broad-based black economic empowerment (BBBEE) scheme in Giyani (Gazankulu at the time). By offering local people shares in their local shopping centers, McCormick Property Development served as a model for the later government scheme.

A decade later, after the swearing-in of Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s first democratically-elected President, income for black South Africans grew rapidly, with a consequent increase in consumer expenditure fueling rapid growth in rural retail. As of 2018, McCormick Property Development has successfully completed a total of 62 retail projects across Southern Africa, has 7 new developments under construction, and manages 28 different shopping malls, with over R5 million worth of projects in the development pipeline.

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LOCAL EMPOWERMENT Though their portfolio has grown, McCormick Property Development’s values and business model have remained consistent, working alongside communities to achieve local economic development which benefits everyone. From the construction process, to selecting businesses to occupy the properties, to staffing the businesses, the local community is involved in every part of the development under the McCormick model – to mutual benefit. “By empowering local people, you earn goodwill within the

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community, because they see you uplifting their brethren,” says Mr. McCormick. “We now have advantages in these areas that the average developer doesn’t have. It’s not only because they don’t understand the political and community sensitivities, but also because the cost models wouldn’t make sense for them. The cost of transporting equipment and labor is high. We already have local connections and are able to work with local people and contractors to keep those costs down.”

McCormick Property Development also creates a community trust associated with most new projects, in order that the local community partly own their shopping centers and malls. Then, once the facility is built, McCormick Property Development ensures that local businesses have the opportunity to set up shop alongside larger retailers. “One of the earliest things my dad did, and something we still do to this day, is ensure a number of shops are reserved for local businesses,” says Mr. McCormick.

“We also have a program where we secure the names of applicable candidates from the local area and grade their CVs. Then we will give their CVs to shops and retailers opening branches in our malls. We believe this helps local people by bringing them to the attention of employers, and it helps employers who are looking for the best local candidates. Today, whenever a new development opens, you can see people working in a retail store, and their friends coming up to them, hugging them and congratulating them on their new jobs.”

PLACE-MAKERS The effect of a new shopping center or mall on a rural community can go beyond financial or employment benefits. The new 29,000m2 Phola Mall, which opened on 28th September 2017, is the first fully-enclosed

shopping mall in the former bantustan of KwaNdebele (today part of the province of Mpumalanga), and serves as a case study of the McCormick approach.

“One of the most important things we have learned is that if we, as providers of brick-and-mortar retail space, are going to survive in the coming decades with the rise of online retailing, we have to get to grips with real ‘place-making’,” said Mr. McCormick in a press release upon the opening of Phola Mall. “Our shoppingcenters must become community spaces like the village squares of old. Providing a social center for the community is paramount in such developments.”

In 1994, McCormick Property Development opened their first shopping center in the region: Kwagga Plaza, in Kwaggafontein.

Phola Mall is McCormick’s third development in former-KwaNdebele, after Crossroads Plaza opened in KwaMhlanga in 2002. The company knows the region, the market – and the local people. The new Phola Mall was built off Moloto Road, the busiest bus route in South Africa. Outside, formal trading facilities for hawkers have been set up by the taxi rank, to allow local small-scale entrepreneurs

to participate in the consumer ecosystem created by the mall. Inside the main mall building, customers are greeted by two large murals created by world famous Ndebele artist Esther Mahlangu. Around one of the mall’s structural columns, a tree-shaped structure creates benches where people can gather, socialize, and rest. A food court area serves as a central community hub, with soccer courts immediately adjacent. High ceilings and windows are designed to maximize natural light throughout the day. Tenants, including Super Spar, Builders, Edgars Active, Shoprite, fashion retailers, and banks, offer a complete array of shopping options to locals. At the same time, as with most McCormick projects, a community trust owns 10% of the mall, with another 13% owned by local black businessmen with funding backed

by McCormick. “It’s about more than just providing jobs and expecting the community to be consumers,” said Mr. McCormick in the press release. “It’s giving them a meaningful stake in the development.”

RAIN OR SHINE As global climate change becomes an increasingly-visible threat to the wellbeing of

CAPITAL MALL PERSPECTIVE.

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McCORMICK PROPERTY DEVELOPMENT

communities worldwide, including in South Africa, McCormick Property Development have remained at the forefront of socially-responsible business, with a series of new projects to reduce carbon emissions and resource consumption. In November last year, the company commissioned a major new pilot project, to understand the impact and potential benefits of solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays on their buildings. “The pilot project is conducted by our partners BrightBlack, and is just less than 1MW peak,” says Mr. McCormick. “It is located at the Olievenhout Plaza shopping center in Olievenhoutbosch, Gauteng, about ten minutes from our headquarters.”

The Olievenhout Plaza rooftop PV system has a peak capacity of 930kWp, with a forecast of 1,525 MWh of electricity generated per year – enough to cover almost 50% of the building’s daytime consumption, and 30% of its overall consumption, while eliminating 1,500 tons of CO2 per year.

“We wanted to do a pilot project first to see the bankability of the projection models,” says Mr. McCormick. “It’s important that we know exactly how much power will be produced, and the accuracy of the computer forecasting models. So far, the system is ahead of what was projected. Our grand plan is to have solar PV on the rooftop of every single one of our malls within the

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next five to seven years. This will allow us to reduce our overall carbon footprint, but it will also protect our tenants from volatile utility costs, and give them a greater degree of certainty about rates.”

McCormick Property Development have also begun harvesting rainwater from their rooftops, starting at the 32,000m2 Edendale Mall in Pietermaritzburg, and recently implemented at the 30,000m2 Alex Mall in Alexandra, Gauteng. “In a typical rain year, Alex Mall can use its rooftop harvesting system to handle 30% of its water requirements,” says Mr. McCormick. “For us, water conservation is very important going forward, and therefore having huge storage facilities for rooftop water is something we will certainly be expanding.”

For McCormick Property Development, setting up new utility infrastructure is a continuation of a long-standing competency. “It’s a logical step forward of what we’ve been doing for three decades,” says Mr. McCormick. “Out of necessity, we’ve got expertise in developing areas that are devoid of services. We’ve always implemented our own water plants, and our own sewage treatment plants. Now the

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OUR GRAND PLAN IS TO HAVE SOLAR PV ON THE ROOFTOP OF EVERY SINGLE ONE OF OUR MALLS WITHIN THE NEXT FIVE TO SEVEN YEARS.

latest addition is PV and water harvesting rooftop systems.”

21ST CENTURY SHOPPING Even as McCormick Property Development deepen their social responsibility commitments, they also continue to grow their footprint in underserved rural areas and townships. In 2017, the company opened 65,000m2 of new retail projects, including two malls of about 30,000m2 each. “We also started an expansion of one of the older centers in our portfolio, Kwagga Plaza, which is becoming Kwagga Mall,” says Mr. McCormick. “Its expansion is a huge redevelopment, taking it up to about 35,000m2. Two of the biggest projects in our history are now under leasing. The first is Capital Mall, which is a regional mall for Pretoria. That’s 60,000m2 in the first phase.

The second is Mall of Tembisa, on the outskirts of Johannesburg. There we are doing 43,000m2 in the first phase and plan to grow to 80 000sqm over the next decade.”

Mall of Tembisa will be a watershed development for McCormick Property Development in terms of environmental sustainability. Situated on a major tributary

of the Hennops River – the most polluted river in South Africa – the company decided the time had come to take a marked stand against environmental degradation.

Not only will the mall feature a 2.5MW peak rooftop PV system, rain water harvesting, and water efficiency and energy efficiency measures, but in a first for South Africa, McCormick Property Development have banned the sale or distribution of single-use disposable plastic straws and bags from all fast food stores and restaurants.

“The world and its oceans are choking on plastic and we decided that the time had come for us to make a stand,” says Mr. McCormick. “As such, all of our future developments have prohibition clauses in their leases banning the use of plastic straws as well as plastic bags in all our restaurants.”

In total, McCormick Property Development have roughly 26 projects at various stages of development, including a mix of big centers and smaller projects in deep rural areas. The smallest one being developed is Flagstaff Mall at 7450m2 in Eastern Cape. “In addition to new centers, we’re also looking at implementing important services for the future, such as free Wi-Fi

across our entire portfolio that is ‘sprayed’ into the surrounding communities as well,” says Mr. McCormick. “Tying this into education infrastructure, we are looking at ways to uplift our communities not only through job creation but also through education.”

“We’re looking at our pipeline and there is no doubt the most exciting work lies ahead of us,” says Mr. McCormick. “The company is using a lot of the learning we've gained over the past three-and-a-half decades and putting that into practice for the 21st century to develop malls that are each different to the ones before. If you’re not changing with the environment, you’re going to be left behind, and we take the attitude that property is a long-term game.” c

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GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL SOUTH AFRICA

COUNCIL CHAMBERS, IN JOHANNESBURG ACHIEVED A 5 STAR GREEN STAR SA - PUBLIC AND EDUCATION BUILDING V1 IN JULY 2016.

GREEN BUILDING

SOUTH AFRICA

A foreword to the ‘Green Building South Africa’ series by Dorah Modise, CEO of the Green Building Council South Africa.

GBCSA CEO, DORAH MODISE.

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The Green Building Council South Africa (GBCSA) is pleased to partner with Sustainable Business Magazine to present the ‘Green Building South Africa’ series, recognizing the successes of our members in designing, building, operating, and tenanting better, greener buildings. This year, the GBCSA celebrates its tenth anniversary of inspiring a built environment in which people and planet thrive, and we are excited to partner with a leading international publication on sustainability to make our celebration a global one.

GBCSA is an independent, non-profit company that was formed in 2007 to lead the transformation of the South African property industry. As one of seventy-five members of the World Green Building Council, alongside Australia, the United

States, and the United Kingdom, GBCSA is a dedicated team of industry experts working in collaboration with industry bodies, leaders, government departments, and professionals to develop market-based green solutions for the South African property industry, operating through advocacy, membership, certification, and training.

In ten short years, GBCSA and our members have been instrumental in bringing South Africa to the point where, according to the Dodge Data Analytics World Green Building Trends 2016 SmartMarket Report: “South Africa has the highest green share currently of any country in the study and could become a leader in the green building sector in the next three years.”

Green building in South Africa currently accounts for 41% of building project activity, compared to the global average of 24%.

61% of building projects in SA are expected to be green by 2018, almost double the projected global average of 37% for that year. We’re incredibly proud of the exponential growth we’ve experienced in green certifications, as we come close to certifying the 300th building in Africa with our Green Star Africa rating tool. From just one certification in 2009, it took us six years to certify

100 buildings, 16 months to certify the next 100 green buildings, and just over a year to certify 100 more.

Since 2007, our organization has gone from operating one rating tool to ten today, which address buildings across the commercial, residential, and public sectors.

We’ve trained more than 1500 Accredited Professionals during this time, partnered with leading organisations in forming our Green Building Leader Network, and we were selected as the IFC’s partner in Africa to launch and operate the EDGE residential tool, with which more than 10,000 green homes have already been registered for certification.

Through our consumer facing #BringChangeHome toolkit and Smarthomes marketing campaign, we are also bringing awareness of and access to green homes to home owners, home renters, and estate agents.

In September 2015, we signed an agreement with the South African Local Government Association which means that all 257 municipalities in the country are now GBCSA members – effectively greening local government in one move – while numerous other government entities and state-owned enterprises have signed statements of commitment, attended courses, targeted Green Star certifications for public buildings, or all

of the above. We have also played a key role in launching green building councils in the rest of Africa. The GBCSA has been joined by seven other GBCs on the continent so far, and buildings in Rwanda and Namibia recently received 6-Star Green Star ratings, indicating world leadership in green building.

None of these achievements would have been possible without the outstanding work of our members. Our members include property developers, government, NGOs, universities, consultancies, investors, financial institutions, tenants’ organizations, and many more. Between them, our membership community in the commercial, residential, and public sectors are bringing about a transformation in the South African property industry, designing, building, and operating buildings which use resources efficiently and create healthy, productive environments. Our

annual conventions offer opportunities for members to network and share best practices, as well as allowing us to discuss key trends and profile new products and services.

We also hold ‘Planet Shapers’ events each month, where members in a particular industry are invited to share a case study on how they’ve approached a particular solution.

GBCSA invites you to read and be inspired by the case studies of our members in Sustainable Business Magazine’s ‘Green Building South Africa’ series.

We also invite you to visit the GBCSA website: www.gbcsa.org.za, and to read our book, ‘10 Years of Inspiring Better Buildings’, which was released as part of our tenth anniversary celebrations, and which provides more information on GBCSA and our members. We welcome you to request a copy by emailing: betterbuildings@alive2green.com c

THE BMW HEAD OFFICE REFURBISHMENT IN MIDRAND, GAUTENG ACHIEVED A 4 STAR GREEN STAR SA - OFFICE V1 IN DECEMBER 2014.

ORIGINALLY DESIGNED BY HANS HALLEN, THIS ARCHITECTURALLY ICONIC BUILDING HAS BEEN MODERNISED TO REFLECT BMW’S CORPORATE IDENTITY AND TO ACKNOWLEDGE THE EXISTING STRUCTURE WHILE EMBRACING SOUTH AFRICAN ENERGY EFFICIENCY AND SUSTAINABILITY PRINCIPLES.

THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS WAS THE FIRST GOVERNMENT BUILDING IN SOUTH AFRICA TO ACHIEVE A 6 STAR GREEN STAR SA RATING, AND THE FIRST 6 STAR RATED BUILDING IN THE CITY OF TSHWANE.

THE NATIONAL ENGLISH LITERARY MUSEUM (NELM) IN GRAHAMSTOWN IN THE EASTERN CAPE, ACHIEVED A 5 STAR GREEN STAR SA - PUBLIC AND EDUCATION BUILDING V1 RATING IN MAY 2017. THE DEVELOPMENT ENHANCES AND STIMULATES COMMUNITY INTERACTION IN THE AREA BY INTRODUCING FACILITIES SUCH AS A MINI-THEATRE, OUTSIDE AMPHITHEATRE, EXHIBITION AREA, ARCHIVES, LIBRARY, AND MUSEUM OFFICES.

ATRIUM ON 5TH IN SANDTON, JOHANNESBURG ACHIEVED A 4 STAR GREEN STAR SA OFFICE V1 IN JULY 2016.

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SAINT-GOBAIN

SAINT-GOBAIN IS FULLY COMMITTED TO LIMITING THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF THEIR MANUFACTURING PROCESSES.

GREAT LIVING PLACES

Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Jolene Blundell, Head of Sustainability for Sub-Saharan Africa at Saint-Gobain, about regional challenges, buildings which improve people’s wellbeing, and working with local partners.

JOLENE BLUNDELL, HEAD OF SUSTAINABILITY FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA AT SAINT-GOBAIN.

12 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Urbanization, the expanding labor force, and the rise of the middle-class African consumer. These trends are driving development and transformation in Africa, and will continue to do so. But which prospects does this entail for business and how do global companies materialize Africa’s opportunities sustainably while preserving natural resources and ensuring inclusive growth across the continent?

Saint-Gobain is a global manufacturer and distributor of construction materials with 179,000 employees worldwide. The company has progressively increased its presence

across key Sub-Saharan African markets. Today, Saint-Gobain is present in 12 countries on the African continent, with more than 1500 employees across sub-Saharan Africa.

SAINT-GOBAIN IN AFRICA In the next ten years, the total population in Africa is expected to exceed Europe, South America, and North America combined, and the young growing middle-class will create a bigger demand for consumer goods and services. In 2015, 621 million Africans – approximately two in every three people on the continent – had no access to electricity,

© SAINT-GOBAIN.

© SAINT-GOBAIN.

and 40% of the Sub-Saharan African population do not have access to clean drinking water. To support the expected increase in economic activity, the provision of adequate infrastructure will be crucial. A huge backlog in housing requirements is projected, but also the hotel and commercial sectors are expected to boom.

All Saint-Gobain’s solutions aim to provide comfort, performance, and energy efficiency as well as healthy and aesthetically superior buildings, while preserving natural resources and developing new skills in the surrounding communities. Saint-Gobain’s ambition is to take an active part in Africa’s growth by contributing to affordable, locally-produced building solutions and influencing future, world-class African cities.

David Anderson, the General Delegate for Saint-Gobain Sub-Saharan Africa, believes, “In order to develop Saint-Gobain in Africa, Saint-Gobain has to help develop Africa”. Saint-Gobain looks to provide a broad range of solutions in construction and renovation of various types of habitats, including schools, hospitals, hotels, commercial buildings, and homes. They also address surrounding water infrastructure through their pipeline solutions.

environment, Saint-Gobain supports its stakeholders in responding to local challenges. “By establishing local teams in each of our markets, we can develop knowledge of those markets, and better understand the cultural requirements and local construction methods,” says Jolene Blundell, Head of Sustainability for Sub-Saharan Africa at Saint-Gobain. “This enables us to adapt our offerings to the market specifics.”

About 10% of the population of Africa can afford to live in formal housing. SaintGobain looks to create affordable solutions for low income households to reduce the housing shortage. Their affordable housing team has developed a solution called a Combi-Pack, which is an insulation and ceiling kit which is moderately priced for South African homes. It will appeal to some of the challenges government contractors face, and it is tailored to the needs of the local communities.

APPROPRIATE SOLUTIONS TO LOCAL CHALLENGES Construction can be a powerful driver of development and transformation. On the one hand, construction creates economic and social advancement; on the other, it presents a multitude of skills and enterprise development opportunities. In a rapidly changing

MULTI-COMFORT HOLISTIC APPROACH Saint-Gobain also aims to provide high-performing solutions for comfortable, healthy and aesthetically superior buildings, while at the same time preserving natural resources.

“We seek to adapt our solutions to make buildings more efficient in terms of energy

WITSAND PROJECT, AFFORDABLE HOUSING. © SAINT-GOBAIN.

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SAINT-GOBAIN post-support system in place, to check up on the students and see if we can assist with placing them on specific projects or with our partners in the built environment.” To date, Saint-Gobain has trained 859 installers at the training academy in South Africa.

consumption,” explains Ms. Blundell. “We also have developed a Multi-Comfort Holistic Approach. By carefully considering all the different areas of comfort that a building can provide, we are able to improve people’s wellbeing within buildings, regardless of the types of buildings and the specific activities taking place inside them. The solutions we offer – including complete pipe systems, glass wool, plasterboard, plaster, glazing, mortars, and more – can help improve the energy efficiency of buildings, air quality, and acoustics while maximizing aesthetic and natural light as well as health and safety of the installers of the products and the occupant.”

Due to these reasons, as well as other contributing factors, Saint-Gobain products were selected to contribute to the new headquarters for the Department of Environmental Affairs in Pretoria, which was the first government building in South Africa to achieve a 6 Green Star SA rating. “We utilize lifecycle assessment tools which have been developed by Saint-Gobain and third-parties to look at the environmental footprint of our products and solutions,” says Ms. Blundell.

“On the manufacturing side, we track and measure performance across our sites using a central environmental management system, and this data is documented annually and reviewed at group level. This allows us to put mitigation measures in place to reduce our energy and resource consumption, improve our environmental footprint, and reduce waste.”

TRAINING ACADEMY Facing key regional challenges such as shortage of skilled labor and a high unemployment rate, a high level of expertise sharing and skills training is required. “This is an area in which we’ve really been able to support local communities,” says Ms. Blundell. “As identified in South Africa’s National Development Plan, there really is a scarcity of artisan 14 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

trade skills in the country. Instead of waiting for others to solve that, we’ve developed our training academy with partners like the USAbased Youth Build International.”

This training academy focuses on unemployed youth from disadvantaged communities. “In addition to the one-month installations short course, the academy offers the national certificate in Ceiling and Partition (C&P) Installation,” says Ms. Blundell. “It was the first – and still is the only – training institution in South Africa to have been accredited by the Construction Education and Training Authority (CETA) to present this qualification. We then place the students with contractors on-site to ensure the product is being installed efficiently. Afterwards, some of them go on to work with the contractors, others get employed here at Saint-Gobain, and some go on to start their own businesses. Students who want to become business owners enter a three-year incubator program. We have a six-month

EXPERTISE SHARING Based on the success of the initial training academy, Saint-Gobain is setting up other centers in sub-Saharan Africa. “We’ve started a center in Zambia, in conjunction with Lusaka Business and Technical College and in partnership with the International Labour Organization,” says Ms. Blundell. “We are also looking to start a similar program in Malawi.”

The training of Saint-Gobain staff has also been a major focus over the last year.

“We have created a team of Sustainability Ambassadors who aim at raising the level of understanding of sustainability within each one of our brands,” says Ms. Blundell. “We also offered a training program to help our staff understand sustainability benefits more tangibly. For the first time in the Group, this sustainability program was presented simultaneously to 62 staff members from 12 different Southern African countries from the various brands that operate on the African continent. This has initiated a lot of momentum in the various participating countries, and it’s very exciting to see this level of commitment and enthusiasm from our employees.”

The Green Building Council’s Green Star Tools, Accredited Practitioner program also aligns with Saint-Gobain’s CSR policy

SAINT-GOBAIN ALSO PARTNERS WITH THE NGO THE ADOPT-A-SCHOOL FOUNDATION.

© SAINT-GOBAIN.

around encouraging employees’ professional growth. Saint-Gobain tries to encourage staff to register for this program so their customers can benefit from having an expert on their project team.

STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS Saint-Gobain aims to support its growth by establishing strategic partnerships with organisations who share its vision. As a founding member of the Green Building Council of South Africa (GBCSA), Saint-Gobain actively promotes sustainable building in the Southern African region. “The GBCSA has such a large network of members who are encouraged to really push the boundaries,” says Ms. Blundell. “By ensuring buildings are constructed to be environmentally sustainable, healthy, and comfortable, the actions of the GBCSA are very much in line with our goals as a company. It’s great to see the Green Building Council becoming active in other regions as well, like Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, Namibia, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Mauritius, and to see similar discussions arise in those areas as well.”

Saint-Gobain also partners with tertiary institutes, societies, and associations in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Kenya. “It allows us to keep the local market informed of our latest construction techniques, while staying

familiar with traditional building techniques,” says Ms. Blundell. “We also do a lot of joint research with the University of Pretoria and the University of Johannesburg.”

SUPPORTING LOCAL COMMUNITIES Through their training academy, SaintGobain donate products to be placed in community buildings that need repairs, like schools and crèches, and the students get to practice using their skills onsite. SaintGobain also partners with the NGO The Adopt-a-School Foundation. “Their vision is to support the creation and enhancement of a conducive teaching and learning environment in disadvantaged schools,” explains Ms. Blundell. “We believe our view of a comfortable, higher-performing classroom really complements their focus.

The Adopt-a-School Foundation will identify schools that are desperately in need of additional facilities, and then we will come in with our partners. We’ve constructed extra classrooms, kitchen facilities, toilets and workstations at schools. These kinds of projects often involve temporary workers from the local community.”

Saint-Gobain also has a group foundation, the Saint-Gobain Initiatives Foundation. “These are company funds sponsored by our employees and retirees which can

support projects that are being implemented,” says Ms. Blundell. “Current or retired employees can put eligible projects forward that will benefit disadvantaged populations.

The Foundation provides financial support to the projects it selects. Through this initiative, we’ve recently worked on schools in Ghana and Kenya”.

THE NEXT STEP Looking to the future, Saint-Gobain is fully committed to limiting the environmental impact of their manufacturing processes, protecting their employees’ health and safety, and uplifting local communities. “From here, we’re going to continue partnering closely with the GBCSA, government entities, and NGOs who share our vision,” says Ms. Blundell. “We aim to take part in advocating for legislation and standards in various African countries to support higher performance for buildings. We also want to continue developing a better understanding of local construction methods, while deepening the understanding of the application of our products and solutions. All this is in support of our group mission which is to create great living places, improve daily life, and enhance well-being for everyone.” c Learn more about Saint-Gobain in Africa: www.saint-gobain-africa.com SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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PEARSON SOUTH AFRICA

PEARSON PLACES THE LEARNER AT THE CENTRE OF WHAT IT DOES, A TRADITION WHICH IS EVIDENT THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY.

MORE

THAN WORDS Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Claudia Regnart, Social Impact Director at Pearson South Africa, about reflecting South Africa’s diversity, going digital, and an approach which benefits all students.

16 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

VUMA READING PROGRAMME.

Founded in 1844, Pearson is the world’s learning company with 35,000 employees across 70 countries, drawing on a rich heritage of publishing and educational resource companies with which it has merged.

Pearson places the learner at the centre of what it does, a tradition which is evident throughout its history. In the United Kingdom, Pearson’s current Longman imprint was established in 1724, and in 1746 was part of the consortium of London printers which published Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language, the first English dictionary. Since then, Pearson and its imprints have remained at the forefront of educational publishing. Today, in addition to print books, Pearson provides digital learning content and services, assessment and testing as well as professional training programmes and qualifications.

Pearson South Africa has a proud tradition of commitment to the learner, drawing on the experience and expertise of Maskew Miller (est 1893) which joined with Longman in 1983, merging with Heinemann in 2010. In 1994, Maskew Miller Longman published some of the first post-apartheid school books with the They Fought For Freedom series of biographies of mostly black southern African leaders for Grades 10-12 – ceremoniously launched by Nelson Mandela.

Then, in the late 1990s, with its strategy to introduce outcomes-based education and more appropriate, post-apartheid content in the classroom, the South African government sharply cut spending on current educational books.

“This reduction in revenue forced companies within the industry to restructure and review priorities – balancing retrenchments with the need to invest substantially in the development of an entirely new oeuvre of learning materials across all grades, subjects and in 11 languages,” says Claudia Regnart, Social Impact Director at Pearson South Africa.

“Our shareholders said they would not take dividends for a number of years, that they would support a new South African curriculum and materials that reflect our new society and aspirations. They were fully committed to this program, channeling their dividends into the development of the appropriate new resources.”

Today, Pearson South Africa remains the country’s leading educational resources company, committed to providing access to high-quality educational products and services for all South Africans.

DIVERSITY AND INCLUSIVITY “If you want to survive as a business and want the right to do business in South Africa, commitment to a transformation agenda is an imperative, with black shareholders who understand the market and ensure a spread in equity,” says Ms. Regnart. “In 2015 Pearson sold 25% of its shares to local shareholders, reinforcing local influence, expertise, and knowledge. If educational resources are to reflect the society, you need to ensure that society is reflected in your company as well – and Pearson South Africa has always been ahead of the curve. When I first joined the company in 1999, Fathima Dada – a dynamic publisher, business woman, educationist and a black woman - was already our managing director. What has made us so dynamic is this combination of the resources of the global Pearson family with local talent. We’ve established trust and a reputation for knowing what we’re talking about.”

Pearson South Africa is one of the few publishers in South Africa publishing in all 11 official languages. “When it comes to readers in particular, we do not create materials in English then translate them into local languages; we generate the stories originally in those languages,” says Ms. Regnart. “It costs far more to use different authors across all languages, but the beauty of catching the idiom and cadence of the language results in stories which reflect and respect the cultures authentically. Our reading instruction series called Vuma reflects the richness of our country in the representation of cultural groups, characters, languages and aspirations. With a focus on improving reading, compre-

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PEARSON SOUTH AFRICA we run author workshops, training writers across all language groups in crafting their stories. At the end, they submit manuscripts, the adjudicators review the books in all languages, and prizes are awarded for the best works. Runner-up and winning authors receive cash awards, and the winning titles are published – which helps get the stories into the communities. We were really excited to have a 16 year old author win an award in 2016 – generating new talent.”

The genre for 2018 is Youth Fiction.

2017 WINNERS OF THE MML LITERATURE AWARDS.

hension and understanding, Vuma’s aim is to promote mother tongue, diversity and inclusivity. Within its materials and its very company makeup, the focus of Pearson’s transformation agenda is to ensure that our colleagues and learning resources reflect and respect this diversity.”

Pearson South Africa runs an annual literary competition, intended to promote

all 11 languages in South African writing.

“For 12 years now we have invited experienced and first-time writers to enter the Maskew Miller Longman Literature Awards,” says Ms. Regnart. “We invite works in all 11 languages, with a different genre each year and a focus on helping develop writing skills. Our aim is to build a sustainable pool of authors. As part of the competition,

BLENDED APPROACH Pearson South Africa has helped pioneer the integration of digital technology into the educational environments through generation of materials, adaptations and the use of meta-platforms. “We’re a leader in digital material in South Africa, with all of our key educational resources available digitally. This is an important step in long-term sustainability for the company,” says Ms. Regnart. “Globally and locally, there has been a shift in Pearson’s focus and strategy: we see ourselves as producers of content, including but moving beyond books to provide learning solutions tailored to the learning contexts. We first

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understand the needs within the education landscape, then produce rigorously tested, pedagogically informed content, which we deliver to learners via book, tablet, interactive game, or whatever medium is most appropriate. An exciting new venture being driven by our Managing Director, Ebrahim Matthews, is MyPedia, where the richness of our local content is being plugged into the rigour of Pearson’s global platforms.”

Technology is a powerful means of tailoring educational experiences to individual students. “We look at the fact that all children have potential but for many, this will not be realized because of different learning styles and needs,” says Ms. Regnart. “By using learning tools which can measure the progress of individuals, then providing the necessary learning interventions (lessons, exercises) tailored to their specific progress, we can personalize the experience for the students. We need to move beyond books where we can, while recognising that in South Africa the majority of learners don’t have regular access to computers and the internet. It’s important for us to ensure that they have access to books and digital resources too. It is this blended approach which ensures the sustainability of our company, while ensuring that the learners we serve make progress.”

EXPANDING FUNCTIONAL LITERACY AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE A critical field in which Pearson South Africa has invested from the outset is literacy.

“In South Africa, 50% of our economically active youth are unemployed: while there are issues with the economy, a root cause is that - for various reasons - many of our school leavers are functionally illiterate,” says Ms. Regnart. “A recent global literacy study across 50 countries reflects that 78% of our Grade 4 learners are functionally illiterate, which reinforces our focus on producing resources and services which develop reading comprehension, the fundamental skill for academic success: these are the skills that foster personal development, employability and inclusive economic growth.”

Pearson South Africa created the Pearson Marang Education Trust (PMET) to check on-the-ground reasons for poor performance in schools – given that South Africa spends more per capita on education than almost any other country in the world,” says Ms. Regnart. “Marang means the place where the sun rises. Our top educationists met with education department officials and asked

for access to 16 poorly performing schools in 4 provinces, to work together for 3 years.

Every month our two educationists travelled into deep rural areas. They didn’t go in with a model or proposal, but listened, planned, and worked with the community to find out why they weren’t performing. By working with the schools on government-policy aligned programs and developing trust, they returned every month for three years, monitoring development. This sustained programme of intervention has produced powerful results, proven and backed by action research. Through the appropriate interventions agreed upon, including classroom practice and teacher training, PMET helped rebuild schools and communities.

That’s where PMET started in 2008. Today we are in 7 provinces, effectively reaching 120,000 learners.”

SUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTAL DEVELOPMENT Pearson South Africa is also pushing boundaries in environmental sustainability. “We recently moved from two separate buildings with five floors in a suburb with no public transport to a one-floor, open plan environment right next to a transport hub,” says Ms. Regnart. “We selected project managers who were on the Green Building Council South Africa to ensure that the refurbishment was designed to reduce our local carbon footprint. With upgraded technology, most of our meetings are via Google Hangouts, which has reduced our global

and local travel by 70% since inception. Our Supply Chain team also designed and built a new warehouse, which won an award for being the “greenest” warehouse in Africa.

And when the company needs to review stock-holding, our first priority is to work with our education partners to place books in under-resourced schools, or ensure that they are sustainably recycled with bespoke pulp companies. Our commitment to planting trees continues, with over 2,500 being planted to offset paper usage”.

THE ROLE OF PARTNERSHIPS “We believe that education and societal challenges will best be served by building sustainable partnerships across public, private, and non-governmental organisations, to maximize the strengths of the different sectors through collaboration,” says Ms. Regnart. “By working with global and local partnerships, Pearson is exploring and designing world-class tools, content, products, and services to help people adapt to our changing world, navigate its challenges and opportunities, and ultimately make progress in their lives.”

As Pearson’s global CEO, John Fallon states: “Our purpose is to empower human progress through learning. It’s more than just words to us. It is our responsibility as a learning company to support the global sustainable development goals and improve quality of life for the world’s poorest citizens, and we will do so using our expertise in teaching and learning.” c SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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SOLA FUTURE ENERGY

STEERING THE CHANGE Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Dr. Dominic Wills, CEO of SOLA Future Energy, about microgrids, solar financing, and solving the energy problem.

SOLA’S ROBBEN ISLAND MICROGRID IS BREAKING NEW GROUND AS THE FIRST ISLAND MICROGRID IN AFRICA.

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LANGEBERG MALL AT MOSSEL BAY.

ROBBEN ISLAND SOLAR MICROGRID.

SOLA Future Energy is a South African provider of solar energy and storage solutions. Since the SOLA group of companies was founded in 2009, SOLA have developed successful solar photovoltaic arrays across Africa, including the milestone Robben Island microgrid, which has dramatically reduced the island’s reliance on diesel generators. SOLA also offer a solar power purchase agreement, helping communities and businesses shift to renewable energy without any upfront cost.

“2009 was the time of the electricity crisis in South Africa,” explains Dominic Wills, CEO of SOLA Future Energy. “There were a lot of blackouts and the national utilities provider was coming under a lot of pressure. We saw that it was becoming quite profitable for people to own their own rooftop solar panels, and realized it was actually a good idea to start a distributed energy business. The whole model of centralizing energy, which is the model our country had, is going to change. Our goal is to have solar all over the country, in all kinds of different places, and for the energy to be used in the same location that it’s produced.

We were founded on the premise that we want to not only be part of that change but to help steer it as well.”

As the first company to be awarded a renewable energy license by the South African government, the first to build a rooftop solar array over 1 megawatt (MW) in size, and the first to establish a bi-directional tariff with the Black River Park project in Cape Town, SOLA

has long been at the forefront of innovation in the renewable energy sector. Now, SOLA’s Robben Island microgrid is breaking new ground as the first island microgrid in Africa.

FREE ENERGY “Robben Island is eight kilometers from Cape Town, but it’s not connected by cables,” says Dr. Wills. “A lot of energy is used on the island, especially to desalinate drinking water, and it’s traditionally powered by diesel generators, using something like 600,000 liters of diesel per year. The price of shipping all this fuel to the island was both financially and environmentally costly.”

The project to reduce Robben Island’s need for fossil fuels by building a new solar microgrid was awarded to SOLA in June

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SOLA FUTURE ENERGY

2016. At just over 666 kilowatts (kW), the Robben Island microgrid is a large installation, but one that takes up just 1% of total land space. Additionally, the microgrid’s battery bank is capable of storing up to 837 kWh of electricity. Together, the PV panels and the battery storage system are able to power the entire island 24 hours a day for nine months of the year.

LATEST TECHNOLOGY “The traditional types of batteries used in projects like this were heavy lead-acid-type technology,” says Dr. Wills. “What’s come through now is new lithium-ion technology.

That tech has been modified in such a way that it gives long battery lives and new types of batteries with really low deviation rates.

That means they remain roughly the same year after year – and you can get 15 to 20 years out of a battery now. Between that and the costs that have come down dramatically, those two things in a long-term perspective make the numbers look really good.”

The Robben Island microgrid’s benefits are numerous, including more than halving the amount of diesel used by the island every year. “The number one feeling in the community about this project is cost,” says GROWTHPOINT CONSANTIA VILLAGE SHOPPING CENTRE IN CAPE TOWN.

Dr. Wills. “What we really want to save is money, and often that is the first thing to gain traction for most people. In this case it really makes sense. The solar farm will last for at least 25 years and the battery will last for at least 15. That means they’ll get 11 years of absolutely free energy, or 21 years of free energy in terms of the solar farm.

Then when these projects get going, other benefits also appear. For example, the benefit of reducing noise pollution. The island is a pristine national and international heritage island, and they used to always have a diesel generator droning in the background. Completely turning that off was very liberating.

And, ultimately, they’ve got greater security of energy supply.”

ENERGIZING THE CONTINENT The Robben Island microgrid is important not only important for its locality, but also an example of what microgrids based on solar energy could offer to the rest of South Africa and the African continent. “Ninety-five percent of Africa isn’t connected to a grid,” explains Dr. Wills. “There is electricity, but much of Africa depends on types of microgrids, because the distances are so vast from city to city and community to community. Unlike Europe, Africa can require hundreds of kilometers of cabling just to serve small communities. The only economical way to organize these nodes is to set up a microgrid powered by renewables, because renewables can go anywhere.”

“The dream with Africa is some kind of cheap, sustainable energy source,” says Dr. Wills. “What people view as the ‘dark continent’ has this huge potential to grow. The

CLICKS GROUP HEAD OFFICE IN CAPE TOWN.

way that is going to happen is to energize the continent, and the only way that is going to happen is with microgrids powered by renewables. That’s why we see opportunities everywhere, from Sudan to Senegal and from Zambia to Zimbabwe.”

PROBLEM SOLVERS In order for this to be possible, clients need to be able to afford SOLA’s products. That’s why the company offers solar financing.

“You don’t find a lot of blue chip communities with a 40-year track record in Africa,” says Dr. Wills. “Most of the places you want to finance are not really bankable, so the traditional banking models don’t always work.

So solar finance plays a role, especially with the big projects. It gives financial institutions the mandate to support countries trying to get out of the poverty cycle.”

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THE ROBBEN ISLAND MICROGRID’S BENEFITS ARE NUMEROUS, INCLUDING MORE THAN HALVING THE AMOUNT OF DIESEL USED BY THE ISLAND EVERY YEAR.

“In the future, we want to create a completely decentralized energy model where people aren’t reliant on power coming from centralized fossil fuel sources,” says Dr. Wills.

“What we are working on all the time is a model that solves the whole energy problem. Renewables solve climate change; they solve energy security; they solve the cost of

energy; and they help to promote and build an economy. All those things added together are really why we exist. Our principles relate to building a future on those pillars.” c

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MERIDIAM

SENEGALESE Sustainable Business Magazine speaks with Karim Ndiaye, Investment Director of Meridiam West Africa & CEO of Santhiou Mékhé and Cheikh Anta Diop solar plants, about solar power in Senegal, community consultation, and improving lives through the introduction of sustainable infrastructure.

THE KEY TO MERIDIAM’S INVOLVEMENT IN THESE TWO LARGE-SCALE PROJECTS WAS THAT THE SENEGALESE GOVERNMENT HAD A CLEAR ENERGY PRODUCTION PLAN.

24 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

Meridiam is a Paris-based investment and asset management company. Founded in 2005 by Thierry Déau with the belief that the alignment of interests between the public and private sectors is possible and can help answer the lasting social needs of communities, Meridiam specialises in the development, financing, and management of sustainable public infrastructure projects which improve the quality of people’s lives.

With offices in Paris, New York, Istanbul, Toronto, Dakar, Luxembourg, Addis Ababa, and Vienna, Meridiam has invested in a total of 60 projects around the world, and manages €6.2 billion of assets, mainly in Europe, North America, and Africa.

Meridiam’s African Fund launched in 2014. “The fund was created to sustain longterm investments in infrastructure for the African continent, so as to accompany and foster growth,” explains Karim Ndiaye, Investment Director of Meridiam West Africa & CEO of Santhiou Mékhé and Cheikh Anta Diop solar plants. “Coming to Senegal was a key part of our regional strategy. The country was stable politically, had interesting growth rates, and had a very optimistic energy plan aiming to diversify the source of energy production by having more that 20% of the production source coming from renewables by the end of 2017. Two years ago, we opened a local office in Dakar, to better understand the dynamics of the renewable markets here, and to see how we could play our part.”

says Mr. Ndiaye. “The first was the Santhiou Mékhé Project, in partnership with Senergy SUARL, the initial promoter, and the Senegalese Sovereign Fund (FONSIS), inaugurated by the Senegalese President.

That is a photovoltaic power plant producing 30 megawatts. The second solar plant, the Cheikh Anta Diop plant, developed with Eiffage and FONSIS, also produces 30 megawatts. Both are now in operation sending power to the grid, the first since last July and the second since last December.”

The main contractor at the Cheikh Anta Diop Plant, RMT GmbH, provided further information on the project. “Senegal’s new Cheikh Anta Diop solar power station was inaugurated on January 16, 2018 in the presence of Senegalese Prime Minister Mahammed Boun Abdallah Dione and local authorities,” says Dominique Pfleger-Hasenfratz, Project Manager for the Cheikh Anta Diop Plant at RMT GmbH. “RMT, leader of a consortium composed of Eiffage Senegal and RMT Senegal, completed this project in one year after contract signature in December 2016. With a capacity of 30MWp, the plant can meet the annual consumption of

SOLAR PLANTS Meridiam’s major projects in Senegal are two large solar photovoltaic plants. “The plants are within 15km of each other,” SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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200,000 people. RMT will also operate and maintain it for the duration of the concession, which is 25 years. This new success confirms the RMT position in renewable energies, after the delivery of the photovoltaic plants of Cestas in France with a power of 300MWp, and Nouakchott in Mauritania with a power of 50MWp.” SUCCESSFUL PROJECTS The key to Meridiam’s involvement in these two large-scale projects was that the Senegalese government had a clear energy production plan aligned with the new Emerging Senegal Plan, which intends to accelerate Senegal’s progress towards emerging market status by 2035. “We need these kinds

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of commitments from the state in terms of the regulations and structures in place,” says Mr. Ndiaye. “These are long-term projects including very long development phases – sometimes one or two years. They also require a lot of money, so we need to be crystal clear about the country’s priorities.

Senegal had a clear energy production plan, with a target of diversifying their production and 20% of electricity coming from renewables, so we thought we could come down and play a role.”

Meridiam’s first step was to develop a presence in Senegal. “We needed a network on the ground to make sure things were getting done properly, otherwise it was going to take a very long time,” says Mr. Ndiaye.

“The key to the success of the projects was a strong local presence, clear and trusting relationships with the stakeholders, and effective management of the local population.

Ultimately, this is an ongoing job, and we’re going to live with these guys for 25 years minimum, so we must make sure we look after them. We provide equity capital for the development phase, structure the projects, select the contractors, monitor and manage the projects with our own staff during their lifetimes. This is a key differentiator for us.”

LOCAL BENEFITS Only a few years ago, almost all the grid electricity in Senegal was being generated by diesel oil. “There were power cuts almost 30 days per year, versus 3 days per year now” says Mr. Ndiaye. “When you consider that Senegal is not yet oil-producing, and at that time the oil price was very high – more than $100 a barrel – you can imagine the

kind of issues Senegal had. We had old power plants and very few natural resources.

Every year, the demand for power was going up by approximately 8%, and to fill the gap the Senegalese government was even renting some temporary power plants.”

With the Santhiou Mékhé plant and the Cheikh Anta Diop plant, the Senegalese government has reduced carbon emissions by 60,000 tons of CO2 per year, increased the supply of affordable, reliable electricity to the population, and reduced the frequency of power cuts. “Senegal has less power cuts, and the production costs of these solar plants are competitive compared to turning to diesel oil, even with the price of oil being half what it was a few years back,” says Mr. Ndiaye. “There’s also less pollution, and last year the government reduced the price of electricity by 10%. These are all great benefits to the population. Added to that is the fact that these benefits should help the

country become more industrialized, because cheap, clean, and reliable power will encourage investment, which in turn means increased employment and has a positive impact on the economy.”

SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE Meridiam’s motto is ‘investing for the community’. “That motto sets the tone for our whole strategy,” says Mr. Ndiaye.

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MERIDIAM

WITH THE SANTHIOU MÉKHÉ PLANT AND THE CHEIKH ANTA DIOP PLANT, THE SENEGALESE GOVERNMENT HAS REDUCED CARBON EMISSIONS BY 60,000 TONS OF CO2 PER YEAR.

“We want to make wise investments that impact people’s lives though infrastructure.

That being said, the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) aspects are very important for us, and also for our investors.

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The investors putting money into our funds – pension funds, insurance companies, and development banks – want to positively impact the maximum number of people. That’s why, through our investment committee, we

carefully select the kind of projects that we’re involved in based on ESG considerations, no matter what the return is.”

Meridiam has a Paris-based ESG Director who liaises directly with investing partners. “Alongside this, our investors conduct regular audits through independent consultant firms,” says Mr. Ndiaye. “They can go to the people affected by the projects and ask questions: ‘What do you know about the projects? Are you involved in meetings?

What are your concerns? What kind of social initiatives could help you guys?’ Those audits happen every quarter, and the local population can get involved.”

To ensure a positive ongoing relationship with the local community, Meridiam is

with water now available throughout the whole year. We want to make sure the local people don’t just get power, they get their basic needs met too.”

AFRICAN FUTURE “Today, we’re targeting other renewable projects, not only in Senegal but in West and East Africa, including solar, wind, biomass, and geothermal,” says Mr. Ndiaye. “Our real target, though, is to be a long-term infrastructure investment leader in the region. We also want to become a strategic long-term partner for local communities, offering better access to first-class infrastructure. We don’t compromise because we’re in Senegal; we work to the same standards independently

of where we are. We hire major firms for construction and operations, and these firms in turn employ and train local people. So we want a better presence and a bigger impact while also diversifying our project portfolio and doing more, all to improve the life of millions of Africans.”

“For me as a Senegalese, working for Meridiam and serving and helping local communities is something I’m very proud of,” says Mr. Ndiaye. “Of course, we make money, the loans must be repaid, but what is more important is how we impact people's lives and provide better opportunities. This is what Meridiam is all about, and this is how we intend to continue working in the future.” c

involved in several corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects. “We have a very strong, hands-on approach,” says Mr. Ndiaye.

“Every month we visit the local community to do a review and assess their needs, which we then integrate into our local CSR. For example, we have built community centers there in the villages. We have established a supply of electricity to a village that wasn’t on the grid. We have given schoolbooks to more than 500 children. We have introduced a loan initiative for the women, and an entrepreneurship program to give them opportunities to create new businesses. We’ve put together a water drill initiative to help those people whose land is being used for the solar plant to be able to continue farming, SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

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SIAN ROSES

BY EMBRACING TECHNOLOGY, SIAN ROSES ACHIEVE GREATER CONTROL AND EFFICIENCY IN ROSE PRODUCTION THAN EVER.

FLORICULTURE

IN BLOOM Sustainable Business Magazine speaks to Sian Roses Marketing and Business Development Manager Yvonne Chelagat, Managing Director Haron Koimur, and Maasai Flowers General Manager Elizabeth Kimani, about advances in floriculture technology, supporting the community, and reducing water and resource consumption.

Since 1995, Sian Roses has been providing local and international markets with high-quality roses. Comprising three Kenyan flower farms – Agriflora Limited in Njoro, Equator Flowers Limited near Eldoret, and Maasai Flowers Limited near the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport – Sian Roses has a collective portfolio of more than 50 30 | SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS MAGAZINE

varieties of both standard and spray roses.

As a certified Fairtrade company, Sian Roses provide stable jobs, transport, and subsidized meals to their employees from the local communities.

In late 2016, when Sustainable Business Magazine last spoke to Sian Roses, they shared their story of embracing cutting-edge

environmental technologies to minimize waste and maximize efficiency. (See Sustainable Business Magazine issue 01/17 for the full feature.) Today, the three Sian Roses flower farms continue to use sophisticated agronomy and technology to create successful, customer-oriented product lines, while emphasising worker welfare and CSR. GROWING PORTFOLIO Sian Roses have also been expanding their market presence globally. “We have had quite some expansion in our production in the last 4 years,” explains Yvonne Chelagat, Marketing and Business Development Manager at Sian Roses. “Our key objective is to expand our market share by focusing on organic growth of our existing markets, as well as finding new markets we can tap into. Our market mix comprises of auction sales as well as direct sales and the challenge is in getting an optimal and profitable balance between the two. Each of these two market segments is important to us. Direct markets are more

stable and predictable while auction still acts as a benchmark of what is going on in the industry in terms of pricing. We are trying to expand our direct market base where possible, to create greater financial security for the company, while the auction also has to remain very important to our business. In addition to this, we have been continuously reviewing our product portfolio and trying to align our mix with the ever-changing market trends.”

Water security has been a matter of concern in Kenya. “There have been drastic changes in weather and rainfall patterns,” says Ms. Chelagat. “As a result, we as a company have put strategic measures in place that will ensure sustainability in as far as water security is concerned. We have been creating dams, in order to capitalise

on rain harvest and avoid water wastage.

But despite these expansions, a great deal of our business model remains unchanged, and we continue to prioritise environmental and social consciousness.”

MODERN TECHNOLOGY By embracing technology, Sian Roses achieve greater control and efficiency in rose production than ever. “We use technology throughout the production process, in particular for irrigation,” says Elizabeth Kimani, General Manager at Maasai Flowers.

“Thanks to this technology, the irrigation is compartmentalised according to the individual crop needs, thereby increasing our control and the economy of the system itself. We have programs for the humidifiers and that kind of thing too, as well as within

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SIAN ROSES

stock management to check numbers, measure production, et cetera. We also have an upcoming customer relationship management program, which is not in place just yet but will be in use very soon. That program will enable customer feedback and encourage people to alert us to their needs.

Many of these programs involve automated data collection to be used by employees, using technology to streamline these shorter processes which still involve a human point of contact. At our farms we work with several different service providers, but we also have our IT department who are developing products specifically for our applications

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which are purely used within the company.

Overall, efficiency and quality management are our two big priorities in regard to technology, using programs to keep the cost and resource consumption low while maintaining the high quality of our products.”

ENVIRONMENTALLY-CONSCIOUS Technology also allows Sian Roses to improve their environmental impact and resource consumption. “One ongoing project is water conservation,” explains Haron Koimur, Managing Director at Sian Roses. “Since we last spoke, we completed our first dam. Since then, we have begun

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building a second dam, which is at our Maasai farm and will be ready within the next two months. Our aim is repurposed and affordable ‘green water’ to use in our irrigation system. We are also recycling water through our hydroponics systems, as our farms are about 70% hydroponic and we can save a great deal of water that way.

Sian Roses has received both local and international recognition for our environmental efforts, including the Good Agricultural Practice Certificate (MPS-GAP) as well as the Kenya Flower Council Silver Certificate, which is for complying with rigorous environmental standards governing the use of pesticides, conservation of water, and the general protection of our ecosystem.”

“We believe in conserving natural resources, and we’re looking to continue to expand our recovery of waste water,” says Ms. Kimani. “The main project we’re running at the moment is water reclamation and conservation, working on drainage and that kind of thing. At one of our farms, we are currently collecting about 200,000 cubic meters of water. Once it is fully completed, we hope this project will be able to provide 60-80% of our water requirements for the full year. Because of the location of the Maasai farm in particular, water shortages can be very serious, since it is quite a dry area and we rely a lot on rain collection. We hope to have this project in place to collect water during the May-June rain season. We have also started a bee keeping project alongside our flower farms, and will have our first honey harvesting in June. We are in the process of installing solar plants too, as well as converting as much of our existing technology to solar as possible.”

SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY As a Fairtrade-certified company, Sian Roses are fully in compliance with the complex set

of Fairtrade standards for fairness, good social conditions for workers, and respect for the environment in daily operations. “We of course make sure that we operate well over and above the legal requirements for health and safety,” says Ms. Kimani. “We also have our own programs that we provide every day for our employees, like free breakfast, as well as some more bonus programs. We even have a dairy unit in our farms where we keep cows, and the milk that comes from the cows is served to our employees as part of a program to ensure people are getting a well-balanced diet. Since water can be scarce in the region that is something else that the company provides for employees and enough is supplied that they can take some home too.”

Sian Roses also encourages employee development. “We provide schooling and further education for members of staff,

whether that is specialised courses or tuition in practical things like driving and IT,” says Ms. Kimani. “We also encourage our employees to be creative, and there are several sports programs including football, volleyball, and netball. Our football team is in the local league, and is currently the best in the region! We have inter-company games as well, in order to promote socialising. In terms of the community at large, we try to work with local people through organized groups, we support local schools through planting and that kind of thing. We also organise book donations, and try to offer support in the classrooms and in other areas that the area needs support in.”

ROSY FUTURE Sian Roses plan to continue expanding, with a continued focus on customers. “We currently ensure that our customers are

the people who drive the products that we develop, plant, and provide to the market,” says Mr. Koimur. “We allow customers to give an overview of what they anticipate a need for over the coming years, and this in turn enables us to make sure that the flowers that we grow are in keeping with what the market requires. Once again we also intend to continue to diversify our product portfolio and will move from what is primarily still roses to include other kinds of flowers too. But ultimately all of these current and future developments are based on what our customers require and how we can best cater to that, including the software mentioned earlier and those kinds of new measures. We aim to be the leading producer of high quality roses in East Africa and to continue to produce high quality roses for export whilst fostering staff welfare and environmental protection.” c

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GLOBAL EVENTS

JUNE

2018

Sustainability Week 2018 Tshwane, South Africa

The City of Tshwane hosts the African Capital Cities Sustainability Forum and is the premier sustainability focused event for city leaders and experts on the African continent.

18th - 21st

Adaptation Futures 2018 Cape Town, South Africa www.adaptationfutures2018. capetown

Adaptation Futures is the biennial conference of the Global Programme of Research on Climate Change Vulnerability, Impacts and Adaptation (PROVIA). It is the premier international climate change adaptation conference where people from countries around the world go to connect, learn and inspire!

19th - 22nd

Africa Energy Forum Mauritius

The Africa Energy Forum (AEF) is the global investment meeting for Africa’s power, energy, infrastructure and industrial sectors. Now in its 20th year, AEF brings together senior decision-makers active in Africa’s energy sector to form partnerships, identify opportunities and collectively move the industry forward while delivering a valuable networking experience.

The Africa Trade and Investment Global Summit (ATIGS) Washington, DC, USA www.atigs2018.com

ATIGS is a unique high-level conference and trade show, a prestigious, biennial business platform designed specifically to promote and facilitate international trade and foreign direct investment in Africa, with attendance projection of over 2,000 participants from more than 70 countries.

5th - 8th

www.sustainabilityweek.co.za

www.africa-energy-forum.com

24th - 26th

9th - 13th

Maritime Week Africa 2018 Accra, Ghana www.petrospot.com

Maritime Week Africa is a unique week-long event created to bring together local bunker suppliers and regulators with international traders and buyers aiming to develop business in Africa. This year’s event comprises the MWA conference and a NEW specialist training course, bringing first-class knowledge and expertise to a region with enormous but still largely untapped potential.

24th

DCD Africa 2018 Johannesburg, South Africa

DCD Africa is a new event providing a much-needed forum for business, operations and technology executives from the region’s data center-scale organisations, to discuss cloud and data center infrastructure build-outs across Africa. This event brings together the full ecosystem of operators, technology specialists and end-users, helping them make informed technology decisions in a dynamic digital infrastructure landscape.

2018 IIER 456th International Conference on Natural Science and Environment (ICNSE) Cape Town, South Africa www.theiier.org

ICNSE 2018 is sponsored by International Institute of Engineers and Researchers (IIER). It aims to be one of the leading international conferences for presenting novel and fundamental advances in the fields of Natural Science and Environment. It also serves to foster communication among researchers and practitioners working in a wide variety of scientific areas with a common interest in improving Natural Science and Environment related techniques.

www.dcd.events/conferences/africa

24th - 25th

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JULY

2018

ADVERTISERS INDEX A ABC Press

P18

B BrightBlack Energy

P08

I Irrico International Ltd.

P32

J JA Electrical Contractors CC JN Consulting

P23 P06

P Plankonsult P06 R Recycle 1st

T Theunissen Jankowitz Architects W World Electricity & Power Africa 2019

P08

Back Cover

P18

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CO-LOCATED WITH:

AFRICA’S LARGEST POWER & ELECTRICITY SHOW 26 - 27 March 2019 Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa CONTACT KEAGAN EDWARDS ON +27 (0) 516 4066 OR KEAGAN.EDWARDS@TERRAPINN.COM

www.terrapinn.com/powerafrica

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