Sporadic clean-ups in her hometown would not solve the problem of degradation of both people and the environment, so she came up with a plan.

Sporadic clean-ups in her hometown would not solve the problem of degradation of both people and the environment, so she came up with a plan.

After nearly two decades spent in finance and private banking, Bulelwa Ntlola expected to return to consulting or hospitality. But those plans changed after a visit back to her Eastern Cape hometown of Dimbaza.

Ntlola was struck by the scale of the problem that waste and its inadequate removal and disposal posed to the community and the environment in which she was born and raised.

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"I saw first hand how poverty, unemployment and environmental degradation were intertwined. People felt discouraged and defeated, and everywhere I looked there were open spaces filled with waste."

This got Ntlola thinking about solutions. She realised short-term ones like clean-up campaigns wouldn't address the crisis meaningfully.

"People needed a reason to care and, more importantly, see a benefit."

While in Dimbaza, she encountered young men who had been written off by their communities.

"Many of them were seen as troublemakers or criminals, often called 'mamparas'... These were young people trapped in cycles of crime, drug use and hopelessness. In the eyes of society, they were outcasts, but I saw something...