Project aims to unlock potential in metro
Your city needs you. That was the clarion call yesterday from Project Nelson Mandela Bay, a good-citizen initiative which is striving to release the metro’s hidden potential.
Speaking at a morning meeting at the NMB Chamber of Business, the project’s acting chief executive, public relations practitioner Michelle Brown, said Project Nelson Mandela Bay was a logical business intervention driven by passionate citizens.
“This metro is brimming with untold possibilities. It’s South Africa’s best-kept secret.
“But we need citizens to commit whatever they can – their wisdom, experience, time or money – to help unlock our true potential.”
Brown said the role of Project Nelson Mandela Bay was to be a catalyst for sustainable development in the metro.
To this end it has established task teams to pull together diverse initiatives, leverage investment and partnerships and drive positive change.
Devereaux Joubert of The Code Group outlined an initiative that the Connected City task team is driving in conjunction with Imobia and the metro, to install WiFi at the Greenacres taxi rank.
If the iniative proved successful, the aim would be to roll the same model out around the metro, he said.
Nicola Smith of Imobia said the initiative was aimed at empowering Bay citizens.
“Once they have accessed the internet they will be able to get instant information about everything from bus schedules to job vacancies and they will be able to communicate online. So this project is a fundamental step forward, we believe.”
Vicky du Toit, marketing manager at The Waste Trade Company, explained how the Clean City task team was working to add value to clean-ups with a two-bag system.
Guided by team members, waste was now divided on site and recyclables were transported after the clean-up to partner schools or churches.
“We then teach these partners how to earn money from their recyclable waste and thereby take ownership of their environment.”
Award-winning social entrepreneur Berenice Rose said the Smart City team had started by establishing key partnerships to improve tuition in maths and science.
Fifteen Grade 11 pupils, who had been taken on in 2015 by the Govan Mbeki Mathematics Development Unit at NMU, had now been enrolled in the Incubating Great Engineering Minds (iGEMS) programme.
iGEMS incorporates life and computer skills training in a tertiary engineering qualification which will guarantee the students permanent employment, she said.
GET INVOLVED:
People wanting to get involved in Project Nelson Mandela Bay should e-mail Brown at michelle.brown@axxess.co.za
