Nhlanhla Ndlovu

South Africa’s apartheid-era spatial planning legacy means that millions of South Africans still live in overcrowded and underfunded informal settlements. Today, roughly 3.5 million South Africans find themselves in a precarious situation: they earn too much income to qualify for state-subsidised housing, yet they cannot afford safe and secure housing within the private market. This gap in the market continues to grow, and out of a desire to help create solutions, Hustlenomics was born.

Hustlenomics is proof that innovation doesn’t have to be centred on tech.

Tired of his poor living conditions and lacking financial resources to contract builders, he joined forces with friends who were skilled in plumbing and carpentry. Together, they built his first structure in his own backyard, which his family lives in today. Ndlovu and his team turned their efforts into a business, assisting with small-scale affordable housing projects in Soweto, and so Hustlenomics was born, aiming to provide both affordable housing options and jobs across South Africa’s informal settlements.

Tell us something most people don’t know about you.

I'm a self-taught computer technician. Before founding Hustlenomics, I used to run a back-room internet cafe and computer-fixing business.

What do you count as some of your key milestones in the business over the past five years?

My biggest milestone since I started Hustlenomics is the pilot project we completed with six units we built. In the process, we've managed to remove two shacks and trained and employed 22 people, 12 of whom were women and the rest were youth.

Has your vision for the company changed at all and if so, how?

My vision for Hustlenomics has grown from just solving the issue of backyard shacks to coming up with a model where we can assist people in the informal settlements by providing them with training in both brick manufacturing and sustainable building methods so they will be able to build their own houses.

What has the response been to Hustlenomics?

I think giving people RDP-type housing can only solve part of the problem. Until today, the housing backlog continues to grow. The new approach of giving people the option of choosing between the option of receiving a serviced stand or waiting for an RDP house will help in solving this problem, as Hustlenomics is able to come in as a service provider to train people to build their houses, and thereby increase access to affordable housing.

Hustlenomics hopes to form partnerships and collaborations with local hardware stores to distribute our interlocking bricks and with training institutions to train women and youth in particular in using alternative building technology so they can receive accredited certificates to be service providers to homeowners who want to build their houses using our interlocking bricks.

Your business is proof that innovation doesn't have to be tech-centred. What other exciting developments or innovations are on your radar?

With load-shedding happening across the country, we saw an opportunity to install solar panels for our backroom projects. This will help us keep our tenants as customers and generate extra revenue for the company.

What's next on the agenda for you, and for Hustlenomics?

Hustlenomics is currently setting up an operation site in Orange Farm to run training and produce bricks. Our goal is to train over 50 women and youth by the end of 2021 to be accredited in sustainable building methods so they can become service providers to customers that are buying our bricks to build various types of buildings and boundary walls for their yards.