The Bulb World’s Lesedi Ke Mpho Campaign Enhances Lighting In Boarding Schools

Innovative initiative seeks to contribute towards the wellbeing of students by addressing lighting deficits in school campuses

Selebi Phikwe based innovative bulb manufacturing company, The Bulb World recently embarked on a nationwide campaign partnering with secondary boarding schools to help them with enhancing their lighting. The company’s Public Relations and Communications Manager Nondwe Ngcongco weighs in on this initiative…

TRC: Tell us about yourself and The Bulb

World Company

NN: My name is Nondwe Ngcongco, and I oversee the Public Relations and Communications department at

The Bulb World. The Bulb World is an

LED manufacturing company based in

Selibe-Phikwe. We produce a variety of different lighting for both interior and exterior use.

TRC: What are the CSR initiatives that the company has in place? NN: Our CSR initiative is called ‘Lesedi ke Mpho’, which is a nation-wide campaign where we partner with secondary boarding schools to help them with enhancing all their lighting. This project came about after we realized that various

boarding schools had lighting deficits that were making it difficult for boarding students to be able to study and maintain a high motivation in relation to their studying and education. So, we launched Lesedi Ke Mpho to help and motivate the next generation through advanced lighting within their current infrastructure. As a start-up brand that has hired an army of 65 youth candidates, it comes as no surprise that we have a soft spot for the youth and through Lesedi Ke Mpho, we are able to create impact from the grass roots level.

TRC: Which have been the most notable CSI activities The Bulb World has been involved in since inception? NN: In addition to the provision of lighting through Lesedi ke Mpho, we also do a round of motivational talks to inspire the students as well as running an interhouse competition where the winner is awarded an internship with our organization to give them real-life job experience. TRC: How sustainable are the CSR projects you align yourselves with? NN: We believe Lesedi Ke Mpho is sustainable in that our lighting is LED. As you know, the world is moving towards LED lighting and away from compact fluorescents (CFL). This subsequently results businesses and domestic premises spending less on maintenance fees and saving more electricity. TRC: What impact has the COVID-19 pandemic had on The Bulb World? NN: We have been so fortunate in that our CSR initiative happens to be directly aligned with our operational objectives. Homesteads and businesses need light bulbs and so we have been able to maintain decent levels of production. What has been adversely impacted is the uptake of the project from corporates we sought to partner with, and this is because most marketing budgets have been cut due to COVID-19. Every entity is trying to be cost efficient and so this typically results in

delays especially during such challenging operating environments. TRC: The Company expanded into the South African market recently. Will CSR initiatives also extend to SA? NN: That is the plan. The Lesedi Ke Mpho initiative is one we plan to roll out to every single region that we operate in. We are extremely passionate about playing a part in providing solutions to problems that affect our communities. It is important to us that we are impactful in every market we operate. TRC: How is your business committed to improving lives in the Selebi-Phikwe region? NN: Selebi-Phikwe will always be a special place to Mr. Jacob, the founder of The Bulb World. He was born and raised there and so it came naturally for him to set up the plant in Selebi-Phikwe to create a difference in his hometown area. So far, we have created around 40 jobs in the region, and when the new hires joined the business, we trained all of them into semi-skilled workers through our international partners and with the guidance of Botswana Bureau of Standards (BOBS). TRC: What sectors of economy does The Bulb World CSR initiatives target? NN: We are extremely passionate about the youth and education. We believe in the youth because we feel they are the next generation and as a youth owned and youth run business, it comes as no surprise that we have taken a keen interest in the development of youth as it relates to their educational process and skills training. Education is also an integral part of every person’s life and at The Bulb World we pride ourselves in wanting to help nurture our children’s education from their formative years right through to secondary school, and this is apparent with projects like Lesedi Ke Mpho.