Self Help Africa’s Zambia Country Director Elia Manda (left) and European Union Ambassador to Zambia Karolina Stasiak sign the GREEN Tech4CE contract. 

A project that will support hundreds of new green start-up businesses and create thousands of jobs is set to be launched, in Zambia, this month.

Funded by the European Union, the venture will invest €22.7 million in green businesses,  provide grant-support to 550 start-ups and technical assistance to hundreds of other small and medium sized enterprises, over the next four years.

‘Green Recycling Enterprises Engaging in New Technology for a Circular Economy in Zambia’ (GREEN Tech4CE) is one of the largest projects ever undertaken by Self Help Africa. 

It will promote small-scale enterprise and support value addition, diversification, innovation, and participation in regional and global value chains. The project’s goal is to promote and encourage new investment in sustainable green enterprise in Zambia, with a particular focus on creating jobs for women and young people.

A particular focus of this innovative new project will be on providing technical assistance to SMEs to enable them to contribute to the circular economy –  minimising resource consumption, waste generation and the environmental impacts of their businesses, while maximising the efficient use of available resources.

The project will also seek to upgrade existing Business Development Support Service (BDSP) provision,  developing services for women and youth-owned small and medium businesses, construct FabLabs to create, mentor and nurture innovation and learning, and develop new modules for the green, circular and digital economy in Zambia.

GREEN Tech4CE will be implemented over the coming years by Self Help Africa, in collaboration with Zambia-based Prospero Limited, a company that specialises in supporting innovative private sector growth and inclusive economic development and Tandem circular-economy consultants, and South Africa-based economic development agency Imani Development, with whom Self Help Africa has been collaborating on the successful ENTERPRISE Zambia challenge fund project for the past five years.

Self Help Africa Zambia Country Director Elia Manda said that GREEN Tech4CE was an exciting new project for the organisation in southern Africa, and would deliver sustainable businesses and jobs, and be a major boost to the growth of the green economy in the country in the coming years. 

“At a time when the impacts of climate change are being felt more acutely across the globe, it is important that we all look at ways to nurture and support new businesses that will minimise consumption, maximises available resources and reduce the environmental footprint of doing business in the world today,” he said.