CASE STUDY

The Sustainability Village at the Sandton Convention Centre.

The Case Study

Sustainability Village at Africa Travel and Tourism Summit (ATTS) 2021.

By Nomaswazi Tinus, Event Greening Forum (EGF) management committee and founder of Africa Mamas Crafts.

What is a Sustainability Village?

It’s a platform that provides gifting for conference delegates, corporates and guests to source gifts from a variety of local SMMEs through a gift voucher system at an event. The advantage is that SMME's get to showcase and sell their products to a ready market.

Delegates have the option to select exactly which gifts they would like to purchase and take home instead of being given gifts they do not appreciate and which may get left behind at the hotel. This creates a win-win situation that provides ideal gifting for delegates and supports the local economy.

Some key considerations to think of when planning a Sustainability Village:

• Intention to support the local economy and SMMEs.

• Selecting a diverse product offering.

• Location and visibility of SMMEs at the venue (must be easily accessible, visible and located in good traffic area).

• Frequent communication to delegates on vouchers and where to use them.

• An effective voucher management system (allocation, tracking and payment).

Historically, Sustainability Villages have been hosted by South African Tourism (SAT), National Department of Tourism (NDT) and SA National Convention Bureau (SANCB) at both Meetings Africa at Sandton Convention Centre and at Travel Indaba in Durban. This was done in colaboration with the Event Greening Forum (EGF). Over the years, Meetings Africa would host between 12-16 vendors, with Travel Indaba hosting close to 30 SMMEs.

With events having moved to online and hybrid format, it was important to SAT, NDT and SANCB to continue emphasising the importance of sustainable events and be part of the initiative to build an inclusive economy by not leaving SMME's behind.

This years’ Africa Travel Tourism Summit (ATTS) hosted by SAT, NDT and the SANCB saw the EGF come alongside to assist with hosting and managing the vendors at the Sustainability Village. This was a two-day hybrid, multi-venue event hosted at three venues across the African continent. Owing to Covid-19 restrictions and social distancing measures implemented — only five vendors could be hosted per venue, only two of the three venues hosted a physical Sustainability Village, namely; Sandton Convention Centre and Durban ICC.

Some of the Durban vendors that participated at this years’ event included:

• Mdaki Art & Craft Designers.

• Gone Rural Safari Curios.

• Isimodeni Jewellery.

• Ooh Khamba.

• Polka.dot.coco.

The Joburg based vendors were:

• African Mamas Crafts.

• Marabou Essentials.

• Nubian Nature.

• Nyathi Arts Creations.

• Yammie Collectionz.

An important aspect of this years’ event was the inclusion of online sales via an online platform as well as a Product Photo Shoot, Radio Exposure on Radio2000 and Ukhozi FM.

Fentse Mokale, founder of Marabou Essentials, had this to say about the event: “It was a great experience for me. I loved that I made sales, I networked and made meaningful connections and also received exposure for my business. The radio interview was a big hit and I really appreciated that opportunity a lot. I also enjoyed the fact that I didn’t have to worry about food and parking. What we may improve on next time is to make the voucher system more efficient.”

The history of the Sustainability Village — launched in 2017

The problem

Gifting for events is a challenge, largely because it generally leads to a bulk order of the same gifts which aren’t personal or to everyone’s taste. Additionally, large gift orders tend to depend on sourcing imported goods which may be obtained in large quantities, quickly, easily and at a low retail cost (but often a high environmental and social cost).

The solution

It doesn’t have to be this way. Thoughtful and responsible gifting is possible.

The Event Greening Forum (EGF) is a non-profit organisation promoting sustainability in the business events industry. It has worked closely with the South Africa National Convention Bureau (SANCB) to ensure their leading business tourism show, Meetings Africa, continues to be a sustainable event – an achievement which has been acknowledged with five Green Show Awards to date.

In 2017, SANCB launched an innovative green gifting system at Meetings Africa, called the Sustainability Village. The concept was such a success that the recent 2018 event saw it return, bigger and better.

The Meetings Africa Sustainability Village is a curated space for selected black-owned businesses to showcase their products, all of which are made in South Africa. Many of their products are also inspired by South African culture and heritage and are beautifully handcrafted. Instead of giving gifts, the Meetings Africa team gave gift vouchers to the Sustainability Village, so that the recipients could each individually select their own gift a fun and failsafe way to ensure that all attendees receive a gift that they truly want.

Why it’s sustainable

Not only does this approach ensure all gifts will be treasured and used, but it upholds all three key principles of sustainability:

• People: The upliftment of people from the local community is promoted, by providing small local businesses a marketing platform where they may meet and interact with people from around the globe.

In addition, many of the vendors have a social upliftment angle embedded in their business. For example, the Skills Village 2030 was established to assist youth develop technical and entrepreneurial skills, while African Mama Crafts works with women from rural areas and agricultural cooperatives.

• Planet: All vendors operate within a 50 km radius of Gauteng, ensuring that minimal travel was required for each business to attend the event.

Additionally, many of the vendors use locally sourced or eco-friendly materials. Eco Smart’s creations, for example, are made out of recycled, recyclable, up-cycled materials and fabrics, while Rain uses natural ingredients from indigenous plants.

Special care was taken to ensure all aspects of the Sustainability Village had an environmentally friendly design.

For example, the wooden structure is reusable. Six of the vendors’ stalls were reused from last years’ show, while another six had to be created to accommodate additional vendors at this year’s show. The wood was untreated, to avoid the use of unnecessary chemicals and to make it easier to reuse.

No carpets were laid on the concrete floor, and indigenous potted plants and LED lighting were used on the stands, all of which complemented the exposed wood and created an eco-chic look and feel.

Fabric prints completed the space, which were also designed with re-usability in mind. If down the line it is decided the prints won’t be re-used, Soweto Sewing, another small black-owned business that Meetings Africa often works with, will be able to transform them into shopping bags. The fabric branding with each vendor’s logo displayed was donated to them, as a useful piece of marketing collateral which they may use in assisting to grow their brand.

Additionally, the vouchers used were made from recycled plastic and the vendors did not require any special equipment to transact with them but could simply use their cellphones.

• Prosperity: By procuring all gifts locally, the economic benefit of gifting was passed directly on to South African businesses. This and the marketing opportunity of the event should contribute to the growth and development of these SMEs.

Meetings Africa gave vouchers to the international hosted buyers, African associations, local corporate hosted buyers, international speakers, hosted media, stakeholder dinner guests, and the Future Leaders Forum. Other delegates were able to shop at the Sustainability Village if they wished to.

The Sustainability Village at the Sandton Convention Centre.