Inspiring Clean Cities in Zambia
So let’s just put it out there — SAP is probably the best company in the world to work for and maybe simply — the best company in the world.
It’s obviously for its’ people, culture, and the general working atmosphere it creates for its’ employees. However, for those unaware of SAP’s CSR strategy as I have become, SAP is a guiding star for corporate social responsibility and global sustainability.
Mid last year I have been offered the opportunity to apply for SAP Global Social Sabbatical — a pro-bono consulting program that enables SAP employees to share their knowledge, skills and expertise with non-profits and social enterprises all around the world.
Out of hundreds of applicants, I was lucky enough to be accepted and assigned with another 11 amazing employees to support social entrepreneurships in Lusaka, Zambia during a period of 4 weeks in April — May 2024.
Pyxera Global, SAP’s partner in turning this into reality, did a great job with identifying local Zambian initiatives to which SAP employees could contribute in a sustainable way.
After 6 weeks of preparations and getting used to the idea of being away from home, family, friends and co-workers, the time has come, and the journey begun.
Zambia is a huge country (especially compared to where I come from) with a relatively small, yet rapidly growing population. This poses a lot of challenges, especially in terms of infrastructure. Outside Lusaka and the other big cities, most of Zambia’s communities are linked through dirt roads.
But while remote communities have their own challenges, the rapidly growing city population creates significant infrastructure challenges in many aspects but especially when it comes to waste management.
This is where we, as representatives of SAP’s Social Sabbatical, engaged with a local initiative of a small tech start up aiming at improving the efficiency of waste management along the waste chain, from collection to recycling. This start up is called ebusaka.
ebusaka was founded by Muyunda and Michael, two young, talented and highly motivated software engineers who made it their mission to turn waste management into a circular economy.
They have opened up their business, their home and their minds to us, and were eager to absorb any bit of information that could help them chase their dream. It was a humbling experience to see how far they have made it with so little resources that they have access to.
Our team of 3 engaged to help ebusaka with bootstrapping their business with a solid brand and communication plan as well as scaling their development, project management and operations.
Being small and resource constraint, ebusaka needed a very lean and efficient plan on how to get their software and operations to a release ready state with minimal resources. We have conducted hands on workshops covering agile software development principles, adjusting the product roadmap, and aligning the brand and communication strategy to accurately serve the company’s goals. We hope that going forward, ebusaka will be able to grow efficiently based on the proposed principles, tools and techniques.
While working with ebusaka was fun, being off duty during weekends had its’ advantages.
Zambia is amazing and unfortunately we had to choose from the endless possibilities, where we would go. First obvious choice was to visit Livingstone with its’ breathtaking Mosi-Oa-Tunya, aka Victoria Falls and magical Baobab trees.
Antoine de -SAINT EXUSPÉRY, Le Petit Prince
Much like the baobab seeds on the little prince’s planet, so is waste on ours, unless treated, could destroy our planet.
One cannot really say he has been to Zambia unless visited one of its’ magnificent national parks. We have managed to get on a last-minute flight to Mfuwe and from there to a bush camp in the South Luangwa national park. This park is huge and full of amazing views, sunsets and of course wildlife.
Today we have taken part in ebusaka’s official launch event. This was one of the most important milestones in which we have been asked to actively support. Following 3 weeks of preparations, the efforts paid off. The event was a huge success in helping ebusaka position itself as a significant player in the waste management market.
We are now approaching final days of this engagement. As days remain few, the longing for home grows but also the sadness of leaving behind a lot of people that were a significant part of our lives during the past 4 weeks. I hope that we leave behind something that would prove meaningful and change, even just a bit, the future of Zambia in a positive way.
Zikomo Zambia.
