Change from inside: Local jobs in our TwistBlock factory

We are a social business from Munich with nine years of experience in development cooperation in one of the largest slums in Africa: Kibera, Nairobi (Kenya). Our vision is the sustainable improvement of living conditions in the informal settlements of this world. We have developed a flexible, reusable, cost-effective and fire-safe construction system for buildings in this special environment. The resulting hollow concrete blocks can be assembled and disassembled by hand as a modular, mortarless plug-in system. For the first time, any angle can be realized in the floor plan.

In this way, a first school building has been realized as a pilot project in Kibera, Nairobi - one of the largest informal settlements in the world. The hollow concrete blocks for the construction are being produced by local workers in the first Start Somewhere hollow concrete block manufactory in Kibera, Nairobi. In this way, Jobs are created as well as a local construction industry plus the added value remains in the informal settlement.
 
With this fundraising campaign we would like to finance the ongoing operation of our existing concrete hollow stone manufactory with currently four local workers. After completion of our first pilot project, a 2-story school building in Kibera -  supported by DEG (Deutsche Investions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft) and PERI - our declared goal is now the sustainable financial independence of the manufactory. This is currently not yet fully guaranteed by the pure block production for construction assignments. This includes rent, material costs, equipment and wages. In addition, a number of investments are pending, such as equipping the Manufactory's new office. This is important in order to be able to receive potential customers and take care of the administrative work. In addition, we want to provide important further education and training for the workers. 

Thank you very much for your support!
Best wishes, the Start Somewhere team - Oliver, Kristina & Silvia