From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, this is the Real Economy Report. The community of Devland, in Soweto, will have access to a modern, multipurpose learning centre by July next year, in commemoration of Mandela Day, as part of a community outreach project undertaken by nonprofit organisation Growing Up Africa. Sashnee Moodley tells us more.

Sashnee Moodley:
The Soweto Community Education Campus project aims to not only improve the future prospects of youth in the Devland community but to also empower women in the community and create job opportunities.

The 7 000 m² site for the campus will take up a block in Devland, on the corner of Jan de Necker drive and Process road.

At the forefront of the project is Growing Up Africa founder and CEO Deborah Terhune, who enlisted sponsorship and pro bono assistance from various businesses, private-sector investors and architects.

Growing Up Africa founder and CEO Deborah Terhune:
The vision of the campus is to provide an education facility that the entire community can benefit from. We identified the need and had to then design to that need.

Construction started about a year ago – we had some remedial work to do at one stage during construction and when people are doing things for free, you kind of have to go with that flow and honour that timeframe. All of a sudden, the roadworks started. So we had a bit of a delay but we are looking at an opening of the school in July, on Mandela Day, 2016.

Sashnee Moodley:
Terhune says it was important to get buy-in from the community at the initial phase of the project.

At least 200 volunteers from the community cleared the site – previously a garbage dumpsite – to show their commitment to the project and towards community involvement.

New York-based architect William Reue became involved with Growing Up Africa and this particular project four years ago and provided the design concept for the project pro bono.

Architect William Reue:
So the building contains five different flexible spaces. There is one cafeteria that seats about 100. It is connected to a kitchen and that relationship works as a potential vocational culinary classroom but it also works as a kitchen that can provide food for lunches for the school across the street or also catering services for functions that can happen within the building. There is a medium-sized auditorium that seats 56 and it has a very tall ceiling and can be divided in half so that the room can be split in two different ways to be one large group or smaller groups. There are two flexible classrooms, each housing 35 seats. The division between those classrooms can be taken down so its another room and of a different size and shape, access and ceiling height and it facilitates a different type of function. And finally is the large auditorium, which seats about 216 and it’s a large meeting space. So it provides a space for art performances or any types of large meeting-gathering space for the community. It derives its character from its large swooping roof. So on the outside when you see this big roof that is pitching forward on the top of that volume, inside that volume is the auditorium, so its this large community space is tied into the identity of the building.

Sashnee Moodley:
The building is primarily funded through pro bono professional services and in-kind sponsorships from national and international construction companies, suppliers in the construction industry and architects.

Architect William Reue:
I think its tremendous value in becoming involved in humanitarian architecture. One, for us personally, we want to magnify our reach as a designer. So, in New York, where our work in single family, residential might impact eight people at most for a nice home, we want to impact 80 people, 800 or 8 000 and our work is value driven work, even though its single family residential, typically. We believe that everyone, rich or poor, deserves the benefit of good design. So when we have a client that hires us for a custom home, they are going to get the best we got. There’s no reason why those people in the community of Devland don’t deserve that degree of thoughtfully considered planning. So we think that has tremendous value because it informs our work and also we know how it has a transformative power in that community.

Sashnee Moodley:
A consortium comprising the private and business sector, government, and community groups will manage the property. The project will also be added to the City of Johannesburg’s property portfolio.

Shannon de Ryhove:
The Riversands Incubation Hub has been successfully launched and is starting to gain traction on absorbing entrepreneurial hopefuls as it opens its doors to emerging and existing small businesses. Natasha Odendaal has the story.

Natasha Odendaal:
Since opening its doors in March, the Riversands Incubation Hub has steadily added a number of small, medium-sized and microenterprises (SMMEs) to its incubation portfolio, with more than 50 new businesses to be introduced to the hub this year.

The hub, near Diepsloot, had the capacity to nurture and develop up to 150 entrepreneurs and small businesses at all stages of development into fully fledged, formal businesses.

A an upstart bakery, a flooring firm, a printing company, a fashion and sewing school and a technology and construction firm were some of the 12 firms now settled in since opening, doubling their turnover and extensively widening their market bases.

Riversands Incubation Hub CEO Jenny Retief tells us more.

Riversands Incubation Hub CEO Jenny Retief

Shannon de Ryhove:
Other news making headlines this week: Sasol sees low oil prices persisting to 2017; and Gas represents a R250-billion opportunity for South Africa.

Energy and chemicals group Sasol’s outgoing President and CEO David Constable indicated that the group expected oil prices to remain low until the end of the 2017 calendar year, with average Brent crude oil prices expected to remain between $50/bl and $60/bl in the 2016 financial year.

Sasol outgoing President and CEO David Constable

Global management consultancy McKinsey & Company argues that South Africa should urgently pursue a ‘big gas’ energy option to bridge an electricity supply gap of between 6 GW and 10 GW that could arise by 2025 as older coal-fired power stations are decommissioned.

McKinsey & Company principal Christine Wu

Shannon de Ryhove:
That’s Creamer Media’s Real Economy Report. Join us again next week for more news and insight into South Africa’s real economy.