Doing Well by Doing Good
The Nevhouse Company
By Ines Wynn
Nevhouse Company calls itself a philantrocapitalist organization. This concept in essence means that any for-profit business venture can opt to earmark a certain percentage of profit from their business to benefit the philanthropic goals of their choice. The term philanthrocapitalism was coined by economists Matthew Bishop and Michael Green who co-authored a book How the Rich Can Save the World, published in 2008. Its premise is that the profit motive can be harnessed to achieve social good. The entrepreneurial skills of successful capitalists can be applied directly to help solve the world’s most pressing challenges: the fight against poverty, disease, unequal wealth distribution, etc. Business billionaires like Ford, Rockefeller and Bill Gates have traditionally set aside a portion of their wealth to establish charitable foundations whose many projects aim to improve the lives of the world’s poor, sick, outcasts and underprivileged. A new generation of billionaires has been reshaping the way they give and aligning their philanthropic goals with their business interests. Largely trained in the corporate world, they call themselves “social investors” and are applying big-business-style strategies to philanthropic projects. They see their humanitarian work as a measure of their business success.
Rather than following the path of the purely philanthropic/non-profit organizations that have largely been judged ineffective, mismanaged and misdirected, this new breed of philantrocapitalists is seeking ways to get the most leverage for their donor dollars by making strategic and market conscious decisions on how they will spend these dollars. In other words, they present a businesslike solution to the world’s woes like poverty, illiteracy, disease and environmental degradation. Their vision sometimes goes beyond that.? As Bill Gates has explained, he wants to have the greatest impact per dollar spent and in the process, transform societies for the better.
Housing for the poor of Bali – Nevhouse Company is a philantrocapitalist organization headquartered in Singapore, with a regional office in Bali. Their business is to turn recycled plastics and other composite materials into low cost, low-maintenance, durable housing for those without an adequate shelter. At the same time, the business side supports the Nevhouse Foundation whose goal is to contribute to the betterment of the living conditions of poor families. The business side is earmarking 25% of its profits to the Foundation. With that money, various philanthropic projects can be undertaken to benefit the communities that are buying Nev Houses for their less fortunate members. The business is unique in that it successfully intertwines its business and altruistic goals and in so doing positively impacts a broad range of socio-economic issues such as homelessness, pollution, and unemployment. By using discarded plastic and wood products from landfills, dump sites and road sides to manufacture the house components, the immediate impact on the environment is obvious. The manufacturing process and construction of the Nev Houses employs a sizeable number of local unskilled workers, thereby offering a dignified occupation to those without jobs. The homes themselves are low cost and affordable to communities and governments; obviously a desirable solution for housing the poor and destitute in humane conditions.
The Nevhouse project team in Bali works in collaboration with the Bali-based Solemen Foundation. They were initially solicited to build low-cost modular houses for 2 very poor families in Denpasar who were living with 29 people in a 4 room shack without proper sanitation, water or electricity. Solemen had previously involved the Bali Provincial government into the plight of these families and Governor Pastika had authorized the construction of 2 modest dwellings made from recycled wood. According to the Governor, there are about 20,000 families who are living in substandard housing or simply homeless and are sorely in need of better accommodations. Sensing a good fit, Solemen facilitated the contact between Nevhouse Company and the Bali Government and the result is that the government committed to acquire the Nev House solution for the poor of Bali. An initial batch of 1,000 homes will be delivered in 2015, with additional homes to be supplied in subsequent waves. The location of the homes shall be determined by the Pastika Government; most likely the prime target areas would be in the poorer regions of Bali like Singaraja area and Karangasem in East Bali.?
The need in Bali and by extension in Indonesia is very large. Nevhouse has already started projects in the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Flores and East Timor. In addition, they are planning to set up 10 manufacturing centers in various locations in Indonesia to meet the needs of the Indonesian market.? Therefore it seemed like a perfect shoe-in to establish a Bali office as a central location. A Nevhouse team is already in place and working full-time on these projects. While the process of setting up the 10 manufacturing centers in Indonesia will take some time, the building of the first set of Nev Houses for Bali has in the meantime been outsourced to third party manufacturers. It is expected these will be installed by the end of the first quarter of next year.?
Clean, green and holistic, the Bali Nev Houses are designed for small to medium families with 2 bedrooms and built on stilts to allow natural cooling. A rainwater collection system will save precious water in a holding tank and a solar panel will convert Bali’s radiant and abundant sun-power into clean energy, supplying enough electricity to power a few lights and some simple household appliances. The Nev House can function totally off-grid, not only in terms of electricity but also in terms of water supply and sanitation. Composting toilets in each house will be connected to a communal toilet box. The clean water and sanitation system for each structure is supplied by Biosystems Group, a multi-national corporation head-quartered in Indonesia with over 25 years experience in building and installing integrated water solutions for commercial, industrial and governmental organizations. Nevhouse Company has entered into a strategic alliance with Biosystems to supply the water and sanitation systems for all the Nev Houses in Indonesia.
Kickstarting a micro-economy. In line with its philantrocapitalist values, the Nev House solution will create and stimulate a micro-economy. The 10 planned factories for Indonesia will be part of a larger scheme to benefit the communities where they will be located. Each factory will employ 2,000 workers, drawn from the surrounding area. Some will work in the factory to make the housing components; others will be trained as on-site construction crews to erect the houses. In addition, some will work on the “clean teams” who will be in charge of collecting and delivering to the factories the necessary plastic refuse from the streets and landfills and other building components such as coconut husks, bamboo and any wood derivatives that can be used in the manufacturing of the houses. All the people involved are getting paid for their work or contribution.? Unskilled workers can be hired as the company will train all its workers.
The manufacturing process. Nev Houses are constructed from separately molded and interlockable components. The actual manufacturing process is quite simple and done by extrusion machines. Recycled plastics and other composite materials are heated to the melting point, fed into a giant funnel and into the extrusion process where the materials are molded and pressed into the required components. These components are packed and shipped easily to the locations and are erected on-site in about 5 days by the Nev House construction teams. Each home comes equipped with integrated solutions for light, water, heat and sanitation. It does not require the ‘grid’ to sustain those that live in the home; it can work completely off-grid thus making the solution practical for remote areas as well as for areas where infrastructure is totally disabled due to natural or man-made disasters.?
Nevhouse Company also manufactures public buildings such as schools, medical centers, community buildings, and water sanitation stations. As a community service, the Nevhouse Foundation has earmarked a certain percentage of its funding to provide medical staffing for the medical centers; they will be caring for the sick, administer children’s immunizations and provide various health services for the benefit of the community.
Doing well by doing good. The Nevhouse Company is the first to supply pre-fabricated homes from composite recycled compounds. They work primarily with foundations, charities, government and non-governmental organizations in emerging markets such as Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to supply homes, schools, medical centers and other structures for homeless people, those who live in slums, remote areas or disaster-impacted areas. The team behind Nevhouse Company is comprised of like minded individuals who are unified in their vision of creating better housing conditions for humanity. They are seasoned entrepreneurs from the U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. They can now also boast their Balinese connections: Professor Dharma Putra, Chairman of Udayana University’s Center for Environmental Studies, acts as advisor to the Nevhouse management team as does Solemen’s Founder Robert Epstone.
The team recognizes that there are currently over 1 billion people worldwide who are in dire need of a home: from those who live in the most downtrodden slums, to those who work on plantations, mines or large scale infrastructure projects and are housed in substandard dwellings, or those who simply have no home at all. The Nevhouse team is proud to be giving the world a solution to change people’s lives for the better, to improve pollution, to reduce homelessness, to provide jobs and to house the disadvantaged people of the world.
Considering that 1 trillion plastic bags are used worldwide every year – which translates into 1 million plastic bags per minute – the idea of recycling much maligned plastic into low-cost housing is a winning combination, for all concerned.?
For more information check the website www.nevhouse.com.
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