Lumkani is a social enterprise that addresses the challenge of devastating fires in informal settlements. Its smart, connected heat sensors serve as an early-warning system, alerting residents in informal settlements to a fire and allowing them to take action in time.
At Hollard, we enjoy strong links with Lumkani. Yellowwoods, the holding company of the Enthoven family, Hollard’s owners, is an investor in Lumkani, and Hollard Insure underwrites the low-cost insurance product that is paired with the fire detection system.
The insurance component we provide allows those informal settlement residents who do lose their homes in a blaze, to get back on their feet as soon as possible.
Recently, Lumkani won the Shelter and Related Assistance category of the prestigious EIC Horizon Prize for Affordable High-Tech for Humanitarian Aid, awarded by the European Innovation Council, which falls under the European Union.
The prize is awarded to initiatives that develop innovative low-cost, high-tech solutions to pressing humanitarian issues. Lumkani and four other winners have each been awarded € 1 million, which translates to just under R20 million.
“We’re very proud to be selected for this prestigious and very large award,” says Lumkani founder and CEO David Gluckman. “This grant gives us a great opportunity to give access to smart technology to the most vulnerable households in South Africa.”
Gluckman says that Lumkani has committed to rolling out 30,000 more of its alarms in the highest-risk communities in South Africa, principally in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
Our partnership with Lumkani is a perfect example of Hollard’s Better Futures business purpose in practice: that everything we do, and how we do it, should create and secure better futures for more people. And that’s exactly what the EU touched on when it announced the prizes.
Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, said: “These innovations clearly show how physical technologies such as sensors, solar panels or additive manufacturing can be combined with digital technologies to help those desperately in need, empower them, and improve resilience.
“I am very pleased to award this prize both to well-established humanitarian organisations and to young, innovative companies that are dedicated to improving people’s lives.”
Deanne van Doesburgh, Hollard Insure’s Head of Personal Lines Product Development, says: “Hearty Hollard congratulations to David and the Lumkani team! We’re very proud of their great achievement, and of partnering with them to indeed create and secure better futures for more people.”
