The envisaged Wolwedans Entrepreneur & Creativity Centre (ECC) will be a lighthouse AridEden project for entrepreneur and micro/ small business development. Apart from a Coordinator, the people working at the ECC will be employees and trainees who choose to make use of the facility to develop their creative side or explore and enhance new skills.

Time to do so will be made available through the Wolwedans “future of work” framework whereby team members have 3-4 hours per day for themselves; these are hours that would otherwise have been taken up by a “normal” shift. This gives people time to play, study, do sport, or work for themselves and their own reward. Doing away with the typical 8-hour shift will encourage people to be creative and think outside the box regarding their career prospects, while also nurturing their entrepreneurial spirit. Time will be spent more productively than before and people will become more conscious of how to make the most of their time. It will work in harmony with the desert-based economy, opening peoples’ minds to market opportunities for earning money through alternative income streams. 

The ECC venue will also serve to host guest activities, e.g. pottery and artwork, tying in with the new experience approach of “head | hand | heart”, whether for the leisure traveller or those on a family retreat, for example.

The first step will be to convert an old carport in the heart of the Village – currently used as a storage facility for building materials, furniture, hay, etc. – into something more charming and useful. Once up and running, the Entrepreneur & Creativity Centre will add a ‘sense of place’ to the Village; it will be the creative incubation space to nurture skills and creativity for greater personal resilience, bringing the Desert Based Economy to life. To start, the ECC will feature woodwork, pottery, general crafts, beading, needlework, leatherwork, and other art forms. Metalwork and upholstery will also form part of the ECC offering but will operate from a different location.