How is this possible and what is this revolutionary product? The Wonderbag (brainchild of South African entrepreneur Sarah Collins) was based on the oldest technology in the world - heat-retention cooking. Fuelled by the desire to empower women in vulnerable positions and ensure long-term economic freedom, Collins was struck by the idea to create a non-electric bag that retained heat for up to 12 hours. Once taken off the fire this bag continues to cook food without the need for any additional energy. During initial product development Collins soon realised the additional power and benefits of this simple but revolutionary Wonderbag to affect change solving real problems for consumers across the global spectrum.
"The facts are alarming. More than 3 billion people in the world still cook on open fires, which results in 4 million deaths annually and 50% of these deaths are children under the age of five due to indoor air pollution. Deforestation is at an all-time high and in certain African countries the problem is so bad that they are experiencing a fuel crisis resulting in villages not having access to wood or charcoal to cook basic day to day meals for their families. Rape statistics in Africa are alarming, with South Africa reporting 3600 rapes per day, whilst in Nigeria 32% of women have been raped in their lifetime. Even worse is that 82% of reported rapes occur when women are collecting firewood for cooking - this has to be stopped!
"For consumers in developed markets, the onus on saving time and money while feeding healthy and nutritious meals to their families - and healing our planet, are all of major concern. The ability of the Wonderbag to address all these problems with a very simple solution is what has led us to reach this very humbling milestone of 1 million bags having been sold across the globe," stated Collins.
The benefits that the Wonderbag offers consumers has been publicly supported and endorsed by celebrities, major global entities and world leaders which includes the likes of Jada Pinkett-Smith, Alicia Silverstone, Bill Gates, Chelsea Clinton, Unilever CEO Paul Polmon, Ban Ki-Moon, Dutch Prime Minster Mark Rutte, Nathan Myhrvold and Godfather of Modernist Cuisine - Mohammad Yunus - amongst many others.
According to Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever, the Wonderbag is the epitome of small actions that make big differences to many lives that also works to improve them. "The Wonderbag offers a practical and effective solution to tackling climate change, improving health and enhancing nutrition. What better way to help achieve the SDGs. With COP21 we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tackle climate change and drive development. Sarah Collins and her Wonderbag have once more shown that simple solutions are already here to rise to this challenge. Congratulations to Sarah Collins and the Wonderbag team for achieving the 1 million milestone," Polman said.
When reflecting back on the more recent initiatives that have helped influence the selling of the millionth Wonderbag, Collins stated that their Wonderpreneur programme and launching of the bags into the countries of Ghana and Nigeria have been instrumental in pushing them over the threshold. "We've trained a multitude of women to become Wonderpreneurs and sell bags in their communities - looking to promote economic inclusion of these 'last mile entrepreneurs'," Collins added.
The programme's success led to Collins being identified by tech giant Dell as their 'face of African entrepreneurs' for their recent #EntrepreneursUNite campaign where a global petition was signed to support Goal 8 of the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Goal 8 aims to empower entrepreneurs around the world, helping them foster innovation, job creation and sustainable economic growth.
According to Collins, Wonderbag will be celebrating its one million milestone with a Wonderfeast in Soweto - where its first Wonderbag was sold. "The Wonderfeast will entail true Africa music from a star-studded line-up including PJ Powers, with soulful laughter and tasty traditional African fare cooked in Wonderbags for the 5,000 attending guests. Across the world our Buy And Give initiative, which supports the Wonderbag Foundation, means that for every Wonderbag bought by a customer - a contribution is given to the foundation to subsidise the purchase of more Wonderbags to be given to families in Africa who would normally not be able to afford one. We're encouraging everyone to join this revolution by buying a Wonderbag today," concluded Collins.
