Bulungula Incubator - African-style innovation to combat deep poverty

Leading South African economist ensures that freedoms won through anti-apartheid are protected through new model. 

4-minute short film

featuring a story of a leading South African economist who is ensuring that the freedoms so hard won in the anti-apartheid movement are protected by addressing economic inequality with a whole new model for rural development in Mandela’s homeland.

 

The gist of the film is this: 

 

Bulungula Incubator - African-style innovation to combat deep poverty

 

Technology incubators in tech centers like Silicon Valley have created some spectacular results, generating billions of dollars in revenue through the launch of businesses, creating jobs and fostering the entrepreneurial climate in their communities.  However, this model of incubation has not been applied in the same way to address deep poverty and to support community development.

 

Réjane Woodroffe, who grew up as a ‘colored’ girl during apartheid and later became a senior economist, set out to change this in one of the poorest corners of Mandela’s homeland.  She is the 2014 recipient of the of the seventh annual John P. McNulty Prize.  

 

"Poverty is something much deeper than just not having material resources. It’s about not having the ability, the confidence and the agency to make a plan and change your life into something you'd want it to be for yourself and your family," she said.

 

Réjane founded the Bulungula Incubator in 2007 with the understanding that addressing poverty in a community has no one solution, but requires a comprehensive strategy and ownership by the community members.  “By finding a way to enact lasting change in this region, the Bulungula Incubator is a beacon for rural communities struggling with similar issues. Most importantly, these communities have ownership over the improvements they make, creating a virtuous cycle of civic involvement and improvement of quality of life,” said former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, a member of the McNulty Prize jury.

 

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Best,

 

Elizabeth Kabacinski

Micro-Documentaries

elizabeth@micro-documentaries.com