NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Friday, October 26, 2012

JSE-listed energy and chemicals group Sasol’s enterprise development vehicle, ChemCity, believes alternative building technology (ABT) has the potential to curtail unemployment and poverty – two of South Africa’s most pressing issues.

Addressing delegates at the fifth South Africa Innovation Summit, held in Johannesburg from August 28 to 30, Sasol ChemCity manager Sven Graef said that, while South Africa had come a long way in its 18 years as a democratic country, there are still significant challenges that need to be mitigated.

“ChemCity has some innovative ways of helping government in terms of service delivery and believes ABT could be a viable and sustainable solution to some of the key issues,” he said.

While the enterprise development vehicle focuses on entrepreneurship and business development, the team at Sasol ChemCity seeks to implement some of its innovations and technologies in the community.

“For Sasol, technology and the innovation of technology is important,” said Graef.

He added, however, that the technology being developed at ChemCity needs to be assessed to determine whether the innovation is relevant to South Africa and whether it has a role to play in society.