Wandile Mthiyane, founder of Ubuntu Design Group, grew up in the shanty towns of Durban, South Africa, and always dreamed of returning to make a difference in his home town. When the Ethekwini Municipality afforded him an opportunity to study at Andrews University, located in Michigan, USA, he was finally able to meet like-minded peers and make this lifelong dream a reality.

With this urgency and desire to help his South African community, Wandile found opportunities to learn from his professors and classmates about engaging his passion for architecture while using these skills as a tool to empower shanty towns back home. This was the birth of Ubuntu Design Group.

From there the Ubuntu team was afforded the opportunity to present the “Half-House Project” during the One Young World Resolution Project Summit in Bangkok, Thailand in [2015]. They were awarded a fellowship along with start up funding for Ubuntu.

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but has direct access to our networks and media coverage.