Empire Partner Foundation (EPF), a leading South African non-profit organisation driving change through youth empowerment, technology, and entrepreneurship, made a powerful impact at the Food Safety Summit held at Focus Rooms in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the 3rd & 4th of June 2025.
The Empire Partner Foundation’s founder, Mr Nathan Mariemuthu, delivered a compelling address, emphasising the urgent need for collaboration, data consolidation, and locally built technology to address South Africa’s systemic food safety and public health challenges.
A central theme of the presentation was the glaring absence of geospatial and empirical data on food security and informal settlements in South Africa. EPF has taken initiative by independently developing datasets that map over 5,000 informal settlements, home to more than 7 million people, data sourced from the national government and enhanced through EPF’s innovation.
The lack of structured data means that key issues, such as sanitation, water quality, and foodborne illnesses, often go unmonitored and unresolved. The speaker pointed out that if just three people from each of these informal settlements use a shared toilet three times a day, it results in 21 million unsanitary events daily, posing massive health and food safety risks.
Community Empowerment Through Digital Addressing
Through partnerships with PlanAct, EPF is supporting the rollout of digital addressing for both consumer and commercial use in informal settlements. This initiative provides residents with formal digital locations and gives access to essential services and business enablement, allowing and creating embedded networks for data collection on food-centric SMMEs operating in township spaces.
By mapping informal vendors and gathering insights from platforms like Kasi D, this work enhances visibility and support for township food entrepreneurs, advancing safer, data-informed local food systems.
Empowering Township Food Safety: From Mobile Carts to National Conversations
At the heart of this engagement was the recognition that food safety is a foundational issue, not only for public health, but for societal stability and economic inclusion. EPF brought forward its proven approach of empowering township food vendors through training, digital tools, and ecosystem support, turning micro-entrepreneurs into champions of food security in their communities.
Through the Township Development Model, EPF is equipping mobile food and spaza cart vendors with practical knowledge and tools to operate safely and sustainably, bridging the gap between informal trade and national compliance.
A Call for Collaboration
EPF reaffirmed its commitment to supporting both national and global food safety and sustainable development initiatives. The organisation continues to offer not only technology and youth capacity but also AI-driven insights and a robust data infrastructure to build healthier, more resilient communities.
“As long as we don’t collaborate and consolidate the data, we will end up with a lot of wasted efforts,” said Nathan.
Empire Partner Foundation continues to lead with bold, data-driven solutions, proving that youth-led African innovation is not only capable but essential in tackling global challenges.
