Nxazonke
An open-access course in sustainable entrepreneurship
Nxazonke
iZindaba Zokudla emerged out of a research project on participatory technology development. Since then iZindaba Zokudla developed the Farmers School and Innovation Lab, which became the Farmers’ Lab. When Covid hit us, Juanita van der Walt developed the Virtual Lab, and the Mini-documentaries. We learned how to stream from MS Teams to Facebook and this archived the Virtual Labs and a few of the open access Lab’s that we hosted in the past.
Naudé’s involvement as strategic guide in the project is key but he has a lot of demands on his time. He is engaged in developing a research project that will support and guide the Lab and in populating this website with the materials that will form the base of the new Nxazonke course.
The schedule below is a glimpse of the scope of the material that Naude has developed, and will also form the basis of the Action Research that is to come. This will probe the agency and abilities of both new and established entrepreneurs to design enterprises. To offer a really appropriate training programme, one that can help entrepreneurs make the most of township, local, global and sustainable opportunities in front of them, we need to know how able entrepreneurs are to establish not only new enterprises but new habits amongst their customers. As we are mostly concerned with urban agriculture, we need to establish new kinds of enterprises and new buying, eating and food wasting (or recycling/ repurposing/ compositing) habits amongst those urban agriculture serves. The farmer, food trader, food distributor and food reclaimer is key, and iZindaba Zokudla’s Nxazonke course aims to empower these entrepreneurs to develop better enterprises and engage with their communities in better ways so they can set up sustainable food systems amongst themselves.
The course is offered as an open access and free course. iZindaba Zokudla can not offer much more assistance than presenting the course, and we rely on farmers and entrepreneurs to participate and present, so we have material to refer to in workshopping the issues identified below. At each event, presenters will be recruited to speak on the identified aspects of enterprise development.
In 2023 we can offer a limited course, and we are aiming to have a comprehensive course in sustainable food enterprise creation ready in 2024. All these will be hosted on MS Tams, so anyone with an internet point can participate. These will be streamed and archived on Facebook so they will be available to anyone. This course “Nxazonke” is aimed at urban farmers, urban food traders in the informal and formal sector, and those who are aiming to create enterprises in the extended food chain or system in urban and rural areas. This includes those interested in establishing businesses in food and biological waste, in distributing food (also from Fresh Produce Markets) and anyone else who is seeking a livelihood in a sustainable food system.
Please check Facebook or the Blog on this website www.izidabazokudla.com to confirm that each event will take place as indicated here.
All Times are 9:00 until 13:00.
Venues are Indicated below.
All events take place at the Soweto Campus of the University of Johannesburg, Chris Hani road, Orlando, Soweto.
Please see: https://goo.gl/maps/M1FVBPHmD9f81ajr8
Please bring a form of valid identification, Passport, ID document or driver’s licence to gain access to the Campus.
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13 May A presentation of “Nxazonke: A course in Urban Food Enterprise development.” Selected local experts to present their farms to the assembly. An Editorial on opportunity and survivalist enterprises and how urban agriculture (inclusive of food production, distribution and waste) can respond. Recruitment of farmer presenters.
Venue: B2 100555
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24 June Agro-ecological production for urban and small farms. A local expert in agro-ecological production. The 13+ technologies identified to be presented. Recruitment of presenters. Venue: B2 100556
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29 July Enterprise development. How to go about developing an enterprise. Identify your lowest cost transaction structure and build your enterprise on that. Circular and regenerative systems; stakeholder management; community education and engagement; sales and retail. This is an overall orientation to becoming an entrepreneur on top of being a farmer or food trader. Recruitment of farmer and entrepreneur presenters.
Venue: B3 100557
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19 August Product and service design. Here we get into the details of product and or service design. How to price and develop a product for an urban farm: the pricing, packaging, and narrative for marketing the food. Grade produce into 1st, 2nd and 3rd grade and what to do with it. What products sell the most? Services like food for waste, food and education, and the opportunity for the co-production (lets adapt this European concept) of the food by the community will be discussed. Recruitment of farmer and entrepreneur presenters.
Venue: B3 100558
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23 September Operations and systems. How do we implement an agro-ecological system and integrate this with Households and customers? How do we implement a circular composting system that processes food waste? How to build a food for recyclables system? How to implement the 13+ technologies from the 24 June session. Recruitment of farmer and entrepreneur presenters.
Venue: B3 100559
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14 October Marketing and sales. The brand and name of the farm; engagement methods; social media as a marketing tool; loyalty programmes; education programmes; sourcing from Fresh Produce Markets; Sourcing locally. Recruitment of farmer and entrepreneur presenters.
Venue: B3 100560
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18 November THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO UNFORESEEN EVENTS! Stakeholder management: School governing bodies and leases; state, private and civil society actors; engaging with incubators; engaging with stakeholders in off-take agreements; why partnerships are more important than capital.
Venue: B3 100561
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9 December Feedback and evaluation of 2023. Planning for 2024.
Venue: B3 100562