Simasonke Marketplace.
Simasonke's mission is to unlock hidden sources of human development at the intersection of economic development, social equity, environmental well-being and predictable prosperity.
The purpose of Simasonke Marketplace is to combine the best for-profit and non-profit approaches to create new agribusinesses and social enterprises that benefit mainly "agriculture of the middle farmers" that is to say rural communities and consumers.
The goal of Simasonke is to connect marginalised local livestock famers and targeted consumers by developing an alternative value chain for South African red meat from veld-based, pasture raised and grass-fed livestock.
Simasonke Marketplace's vision is to promote deep collaborations with like-minded and supportive global partners to make breakthrough contributions in developing reliably prosperous rural South Africans.
Simasonke Marketplace was established in May 2011 by human development facilitator, Mpumelelo Ncwadi and businessman Mtunzi Malunga.
In supporting the health of regional food systems and natural ecosystems that in turn support patterns of economic and human development, Simasonke Marketplace's strategy is to act as catalyst and broker.
As a broker, Simasonke Marketplace helps local partners find the resources and develop their capacity to implement the plans.
Our role as broker - helping local people mobilise resources once they have developed a plan - will also vary from site to site and from project to project.
Sometimes, though not as often as most people might assume, the needed resource will be money; more often it will be information or education, access to experts in a given field, or opportunities for influencing governmental policy.
Sometimes it will be some combination of these, and just as often it will be something we cannot even imagine in advance.
Whatever it is, Simasonke Marketplace's job is to help the local people identify, find, and use it.
The story begins with Mpumelelo Ncwadi.