The Beginning of Community Economy

When I started What Matters in 2023, my curiosity haunted me. What does an economy look like that serves humanity? We invited all kinds of people into live conversations. 1,000+ people from 60+ countries, 7 continents joined us over the series of 13 convos.

But eventually, every beautiful idea has to survive ordinary Tuesday mornings. So ours as well. Our inquiry left the screen. After community visits in Kenya, it took me to South Africa.

Bloemfontein. August 2025. Namibia Township. 53 people (15-68 yrs) gathered to share what matters for a good life in their community. When people asked what to expect, we said honestly, we don't know.

The township let my business partner Anneen and me wait for more than 2 hrs. When we opened the conversation, nobody spoke. Silence for minutes. Nothing. I looked at Anneen and could see in her eyes exactly what I was feeling: shitful panic. Nice idea. No practical need after all. Reality can hit hard.

But then one participant stood up, walked to the center of the courtyard. They apologized for being so anxious to speak. Usually, they said, they are not invited into spaces like this, nor would anyone ask them what they think. And usually no one listens anyway.

3 hrs later, we learned from their perspective why community and economic development programs have failed and what actual gaps they see. That day, new business ideas were born. But what neither Anneen nor I expected or had anticipated that fast was the beginning of our first Community Economy Development Hub.

7 months later, in Feb '26, we established our first hub in Namibia Township, Bloemfontein. We operate 2x weekly with 10-15 township people dropping by every office day. They seek advice. But mostly they want to talk practical ECONOMICS. Which development program would have considered this?

Next step: initiating the first wave of township business toward a community economy. But that is for another story.

our What Matters activities www.humanitywhatmatters.com
our CO-LAB as lead organization www.humanityeconomy.com