The United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) is the specialized agency of United Nations that promotes industrial development for poverty reduction, inclusive globalization and environmental sustainability. The mandate of UNIDO is to promote and accelerate inclusive and sustainable industrial development in developing countries and economies in transition.
Within this context, in 2011, the Government of South Africa, with the support of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) and UNIDO, successfully implemented the ‘Greening the COP17’ project. One of the four components of the project focused on the design and implementation of the first South Africa Clean Technology Competition for green entrepreneurs and small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) with innovative ideas and concepts in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy and green building practices. This competition was a great success as it drew the interest of policy makers and private sector and uniqu
