by Anna Tutner
[...We are women from every part of South Africa. We are women of every race, we come from cities and towns. We shall not rest until we have won fundamental rights of freedom, justice and security…]
These words are part of the petition by 20,000 women of South Africa who joined the historic march on 9 August 1956 in Pretoria to fight against oppression. Since 1994, August has been celebrated as Women's Month in South Africa to highlight women's achievements and address persistent challenges. This year's Women's Month theme is "Women's Socio-Economic Rights and Empowerment: Building Back Better for Women's Improved Resilience", focusing on the development across all sectors, including energy efficiency.
According to the IEA Global Conference on Energy Efficiency 2022 Report, there is a need for urgent action on energy efficiency to ensure the transition to net zero emissions by 2050. Without engaging women in the development of energy-efficient solutions, this transition will take much more time and resources.
In line with UNIDO's commitments toward gender equality and women's empowerment, the Global Cleantech Innovation Programme (GCIP) promotes energy efficiency as one of its key focus areas and supports women in cleantech innovation and entrepreneurship, creating a wide network of inspiring women professionals in the industry. GCIP originated in South Africa back in 2011 from the pilot Cleantech Innovation Competition, and has been present there until today. In the context of the 2022 Women's Month, let us celebrate the women of South Africa through the success story of Louise Williamson, a 2016 GCIP South Africa alumna and founder of the Sustainability Professionals company.
Louise Williamson is a cleantech innovator, entrepreneur and women's rights advocate, who promotes climate action and challenges the stereotypes related to women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). Williamson developed a fuel-efficient Mashesha stove technology, providing easy-to-use, clean and efficient equipment for the cooking needs of rural schools and communities.
More than 50% of rural schools in South Africa still rely on open-fire stoves which use a lot of wood and produce a considerable amount of smoke, leading to health issues and air pollution. Mashesha stoves use half the fuel compared to open fire and emit less smoke. At the same time, they also halve the cooking time, which speaks for the name "Mashesha", translated from Siswati as "quick cooking". Willamson's innovation is based on pre-existing equipment, upgraded to become cleaner and more efficient.
"You do not have to build new infrastructure and buy new pots, you are just taking a mild [low-carbon] steel product, giving it to people in the same way that they were cooking before, except that now it is cleaner, neater, healthier and environmentally friendlier," explains Williamson. "It is innovative in the sense that it is for mass cooking, and Mashesha is using the existing context, avoiding to make things more complicated". Mashesha stoves scale up the provision of a cleaner, safer, more efficient and environmentally more conscious way of cooking, making Williamson and Sustainability Professionals pioneers in South Africa in solving social, environmental and economic issues.
Williamson's journey started back in 2016 when she participated in GCIP South Africa. At that time, she was still a newcomer in the business world, with nothing but an innovative idea by her side. "I attended an exhibition where GCIP participated and presented my innovation," recalls Williamson. "The GCIP team encouraged me to apply for the accelerator. This was my first exposure to business skills and learning on how to start a company. It is because of GCIP that I started the [Sustainability Professionals] company". The cleantech innovation focus and the community of like-minded people of GCIP immediately drew Williamson's attention.
The most exciting aspect of working with GCIP for Williamson involved meeting like-minded cleantech entrepreneurs, coming from a variety of fields, and being able to gain international exposure. "It was extremely exciting that there were so many entrepreneurs from diverse cultures in the same boat. We all just became a wonderful cohort of people wanting to do the same thing and striving for positive change," remembers Williamson of her experience.
GCIP is the starting point for cleantech newcomers to get engaged internationally and become successful, and that was Williamson's case as well. Because of the GCIP affiliation with the Technology Innovation Agency (TIA) of South Africa, she got a chance to present her Mashesha stove in Switzerland and pitch in a competition there. "The [GCIP] programme creates a platform for linking South African entrepreneurs, especially youth and women, with local and global investors, business and commercial partners, potentially resulting in the commercialization of new products and services and, ultimately, job creation," reiterates Senisha Moonsamy, Head of GCIP South Africa.
