Sorting and safe handling
Identify material types, separate contamination, protect workers, and prepare clean streams for collection or sale.
Program
Green Founder Track
A 3-month, practitioner-led cohort for young people in Southern Africa who want to turn a local environmental problem into a real livelihood.
01
Apply
Short application plus a quick interview. We're looking for readiness, not qualifications.
02
Train
One live session a week for 3 months, in a cohort of 10–20 people, guided by real practitioners.
03
Build
Finish with a real project in your own community, then get connected to local organisations for shadowing and next steps.
Choose your lane
See what you will actually learn.
Start with the problem closest to where you live. Every lane combines practical work, business skills, and the Eswatini requirements needed to operate responsibly.
What you'll learn
Waste and recycling
Turn a local dumpsite or discarded material into a safe, traceable service or product.
Your first proof
Map one waste stream, run a small collection or reuse test, and document volume, cost, buyer interest, and what happened next.
Collection and processing
Plan collection rounds, storage, weighing, baling or simple processing, and responsible final destinations.
Waste-to-value techniques
Test practical products and services from reusable plastics, textiles, tyres, organics, and recoverable materials.
Buyer and off-taker readiness
Record volumes and quality, price the route, and present a reliable supply to recyclers, municipalities, and businesses.
Shared module
The business skills every lane gets.
Managing money
Build a simple budget, record money in and out, price labour and materials, and check whether each job makes a profit.
Managing people
Lead a small team, divide responsibility clearly, delegate safely, and handle feedback and missed commitments.
Managing the project
Turn a promise into milestones, a practical timeline, quality checks, a handover, and evidence of what was delivered.
Licensing and compliance · Eswatini
Build it so it can trade.
The requirements change by country and activity. Eswatini is available now; future countries will have their own guidance.
Registering the venture
Every lane learns the same formalisation path: use SEDCO for small-enterprise support, register the legal entity through the Registrar of Companies, get a tax number from the Eswatini Revenue Service, and secure the trading licence your activity requires.
- Prepare your ID, business name, activity description, expected income, and costs.
- Use SEDCO for enterprise support; register the company or cooperative with the Registrar of Companies.
- Register with the Eswatini Revenue Service and keep monthly sales, cost, receipt, and wage records.
- Check the trading-licence requirements for your premises and activity before opening to customers.
Waste and recycling
Eswatini Environment Authority (EEA)
Waste collection, transport, storage, sorting, treatment, and disposal can require EEA authorisation. The EEA lists general waste-management, special-waste carrier, and special-waste management licences; project screening may also lead to an environmental assessment.
- Write down the material types, volumes, site, storage method, transport route, and final buyer or disposal point.
- Ask the EEA to screen the operation before paying for a yard or processing equipment.
- Confirm which waste licence applies and keep your waste-management plan and authorisation ready for buyers.
What you graduate as
Not just certified. Ready to move.
01
Ready to register
You know the entity, tax, trading-licence, and lane-specific steps your Eswatini operation needs.
Start with SEDCO02
Ready to apply
You can show a budget, a delivery plan, community need, and evidence from your first project when applying for grants and green funds.
Open the Funder Map03
Fundable
You leave with a documented track record: the problem, customer, costs, result, lessons, and next milestone. That's what a funder can evaluate.
What happens after you graduate
Stay connected. Then help the next person move.
The path after graduation is voluntary at every stage. You can join, pause, or opt out at any point, and becoming a mentor is always your choice.
6 months
A practical check-in
If you opt in, we check what is working, where the project is stuck, and which next connection would be useful.
1 year
Review the next chapter
A second optional check-in looks at your track record, changing goals, and whether you want continued support.
Then, if you choose
Mentor the next cohort
Graduates can join an ongoing mentor pipeline, passing on lived experience to each new cohort rather than doing a one-time favour.
Your preference is not permanent. You can opt in or out of check-ins or mentoring at any time.
What finishing looks like
A project, not just a certificate.
Successful completion means a real, documented small-scale project in your own community: what problem you tackled, what you did, what it cost, what it earned or saved, and what comes next.
That evidence becomes your portfolio when we connect you to local organisations for shadowing.
The commitment
What to expect.
Length
3 months
Format
Fully virtual
Time
1 session per week
Cohort size
10–20 people
Cost to join
Free