KNITWEAR

ACCORD KNITS X SOLTEC: A collaboration for young people willing to grow

In response to high poverty rates and a lack of school education in Madagascar SOLTEC was founded in 1996. SOLTEC stands for “Solar and Technical” but unlike the name evokes, SOLTEC is a training center that teaches needy youth various skills like knitting and embroidery, mechanical manufacturing, electricity and plumbing, woodwork, agriculture, culinary arts and sewing. Teachers help the young students developing their talent, becoming professional in a field, earn an income and improve their well-being within 2 years of classes.

To support the development of SOLTEC, and to help give these young people a better future, Accord Knits has donated stock yarn for the knitting, sewing, weaving and embroidery sections. Furthermore, we invited 4 teachers to visit our factory and get insights in big scale textile manufacturing. For one month, the teachers worked on industrial machines, strengthened their capacity, and improved their performance. The collaboration was successfully completed this week, the teachers are now heading back to school, sharing the fresh knowledge with their students.

Biomass energy promoted by Global Green Energy!

Madagascar loses about 100,000 hectares of forest per year, most of which is transformed into firewood energy and charcoal. Indeed, the majority of the population still uses charcoal as a source of cooking energy. To reduce the pressure on Madagascar’s natural resources, especially its forests, Flexknit has initiated Global Green Energy. One of its major activities is the plantation of “Fy Juncao”, a fast-growing plant species that will be used as biomass to produce ecofriendly briquettes. One hundred hectares of Fy Juncao have been planted in the village of Antotohazo, about 80 km from the capital of Madagascar. The plantation generates employment for a hundred people from the village during the planting and the upcoming harvest. After the harvest and drying, the collected Fy Juncao will be used to manufacture bio-charcoal in a dedicated production unit at the Global Green Energy factory. This way, GGE provides an alternative energy to firewood and common charcoal for households and industries.

Sustainable energy and a more efficient production!

At the end of last year, we received financial support from the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGGF) for our sustainably driven business strategy and the related project “Global Green Energy”. We are very happy about the support of the Dutch Ministry and the trust they have in us and our projects. With the help of the loan we can drive our projects forward to achieve our goals: using sustainable energy and create a more efficient production, while contributing to a greener environment in Madagascar.

For more information you can visit the website of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs.