Upcycling old billboards for good

E'Yako Green is passionate about supporting sustainability in South Africa through the creation of local jobs and the upcycling of waste into products.

Developing business skills

E'Yako Green's suppliers are mostly local small producers or job creation or community initiatives. They partner with, mentor, and capacitate small businesses to be part of their supply chain. Part of this strategy is to identify partners in production that have the manufacturing or production skills, but lack the business know-how and ability to get to the market. One of the main roles of E'Yako Green is to mentor their production partners to develop these business skills, assist them with training and bring a sustainable work flow and in turn see real jobs created.

Eco-friendly, promotional products

Products made by E'Yako Green from recycled Jaguar Land Rover billboards include conference bags, shoppers, folders, iPad pouches and pencil cases. The bags are made from a combination of recycled PVC billboards (on the inside) and hessian and ShweShwe on the outside. A variety of ShweShwe colours and patterns are available with different bindings. The focus at E'Yako Green is on developing, sourcing and supplying South African made, mostly eco-friendly, promotional products.

High quality products

For the products made from the old Jaguar Land Rover flexface donated through Continental Outdoor Media, E'Yako Green have partnered with a small, black-owned factory. The owner is very entrepreneurial and highly skilled and they are working with him to provide business mentoring and training to ensure that he can consistently supply high quality products on time. The relationship is based on integrity, fair trade and a common vision of successful growth in skills, capacity and sustainability.

"While we are not an NPO or a community group, Carey Moran, co-owner, and I are social entrepreneurs. We do business and do good at the same time, and are glad that corporates such as Continental Outdoor Media and Jaguar Land Rover are doing the same. We are passionate about supporting sustainability in South Africa through the creation of local jobs and the upcycling of waste into products. We are of the belief that merging commercialism with sustainability is the new world order and as such encourage business to recognise the power of their spend when procuring their promotional items," says Antoinette McInnes, co-owner at E'Yako Green.