Social Responsibility

Atlantic takes its social and corporate responsibility seriously, recognising that wealth creation lies not just in generating profit, but in helping to create a fairer, more just and culturally rich society.

It is from such an open and tolerant society that opportunities for true and sustainable growth can emerge, and we are proud to partner with and contribute to the Bulungula Incubator as a means of providing such growth opportunities in areas which are easily neglected or overlooked, such as the rural areas of the Eastern Cape.

The Bulungula Incubator

The Bulungula Incubator is a non-profit organisation which aims to incubate brilliant rural development projects, with a vision of being an agent in the creation of vibrant, sustainable, rural communities. The aim is to do this through partnering with the community, NGO's and innovative thinkers to find synergies between the traditional rural African lifestyle and culture, and external technologies and innovations.

Situated on the Wild Coast (Transkei) in the remote village of Nqileni the Bulungula Incubator is an extension of the Bulungula Lodge, one of the first lodges in the world to be Fair Trade accredited and listed by Rough Guide 2007 as "one of the world's top 25 Ultimate Ethical Travel Experiences".

The lodge itself is the dream of Dave Martin & Réjane Woodroffe - to create an eco-friendly backpackers lodge in one of the most beautiful places in South Africa in partnership with a vibrant, traditional community. The Nqileni village owns 40% of the lodge and are an integral part of the daily life. All the tours that the hostel provides are actually communit- run businesses that were started to provide tours to travellers that come to the lodge.

The hostel is always trying to improve the life of the villagers and increase their skills and education. Projects such as the Kids' Farming Competition (to encourage kids to take up organic farming) and The Bulungula Nursery (to build a vegetable seedling nursery that would be owned and run by one of the women in the village) has been a great success. It has created jobs for over 33 families and right now they are working on trying to build a new mud school to replace the one that collapsed for the 200+ kids that would come from around the village to learn - the Rehabilitation of the No-ofisi School.

Please go to www.bulungulaincubator.org for more information and ways you can help.