Cycle Of Good -

Chilomoni, Blantyre

The Cycle of Good (COG) is one of Beehive’s key enterprises and is led by local women. It works with recycled goods, such as bike inner tubes and lorry curtaining, to make items to sell in the local and international markets. 33 women are employed at COG, all of whom have achieved a Diploma in Tailoring from Beehive’s Tailoring School. COG is currently housed in Beetech on the main campus, however we plan to move it to the Beehive Technology and Enterprise Park, into new workshops that are being developed for the site.

“The women enjoy working here; they didn’t just want work, they wanted equality and a say in their work, they get that here.” (Mary Kamwendo, Manager of COG)

New Building Design

Location

Beehive Main Campus, Chilomoni, Blantyre, Malawi

Type

Office and Workshops

Year of Construction

2022

Design Architect

Keith Banda, Juliane Cassidy and Jess Bailey

Project Architects

Tbc

Design Engineer

Buro Happold

Geotechnical Engineer

Tbc

Project Engineer

Tbc

Total Building Area (Approx. GEA)

Tbc

Number of Storeys

The new COG building is designed around three floors of large, open plan workshops, with smaller rentable units on the ground floor that
are open to the general public. The grid allows for two workshops per floor, which can be subdivided into 4 smaller units, creating a ﬂexible
floor plan that helps to future proof the building. The plan has three key zones, with the workshops sitting to the south and an open air, covered walkway to the north. In between sits a service zone for small meetings rooms, storage and washrooms, providing easy access from both workshops and circulation.

All spaces are naturally lit and ventilated with views out to the surrounding landscape, creating a comfortable environment to work in. They
will be powered by the sun and the roof has been designed to accommodate solar panels on its north face, with level access for maintenance provided from the flat roof over the external walkway. The building is designed as a concrete structural frame, with an inﬁll of Beehive’s hydraform, earth blocks. It is located at one of the primary entrances into the Technology and Enterprise Park, and the concrete
frame has been extended into the public realm to create a welcoming arrival to the campus. It also helps to encourage the general public
into the site, so they can access the rentable units at the ground ﬁoor of the building.

Social Impact

A prayer is said together at the start of everyday, led by a different member of the team

Catholic Community Support

people currently employed at COG

Job Creation

All COG staff receive regular product development training

Quality Education

All surplus profits from COG supports childcare at Mother Teresa

Supporting the Vulnerable

“Our culture is to work hard to support the whole extended family and that’s what working here means to the tailors. They can pay school fees for children, buy food and clothes.”

(Mary Kamwendo, Manager of COG)

The Cycle of Good helps empower local women and jobs are highly sought after. All tailors qualify from Beehive’s Tailoring school, and COG offers an alternative career path to the traditional khonde tailor role, (informal work typically done from home). This is vitally important, as many khonde tailors are struggling to maintain sustainable businesses with the increasing number of cheap, secondhand clothing coming into the country. COG was established in 2015, and in a short space of time has built a ﬁnancially stable business, with a portfolio of high quality products and a strong client base of 200 UK stores. There is an opportunity to expand COG, creating many more local jobs, and the new workshops provide the space to do so. It will enable COG to further support the most vulnerable in society, as all surplus proﬁts go into funding the community outreach work at Mother Teresa Outreach Centre. The ladies have formed a tight knit team and have chosen to have a combined bonus scheme where they all have to meet their production and quality targets for anyone to get a bonus. This has created a supportive environment, where the team cheer on each others successes. The sustainable principles that underpin COG of utilising unwanted items that will otherwise go into landﬁll, has also helped educate people on the importance of minimising waste in the ﬁght against climate change.

Meet The Team

My name is Yamikani Mkwinda Chandiyang’ana. Here at Beehive I have been working as a tailor at the Cycle of Good from July 2017. My job involves recycling goods like inner tubes, lorry curtains and coffee sacks. These items we use them to make different products. My favourite things to sew are our zip purses, pocket wallets, keyrings and messenger bags. I like working with my fellow team mates as a unit to achieve our goals by the end of the day.

Yamikani M. Chandiyang'ana

Tailor (COG)

My name is Matilda Jalasi. I’ve worked at Beehive for 4 years now in the Cycle of Good department. I started out as a tailor, and I am now working as the supervisor. My role is to make sure my fellow work mates gets the help they need in terms of sewing different products. After a product has been made I also check and verify if the product is fit for our market. My favourite thing about my work is getting to work with the whole team and learning new products for our market.