Meet Iviwe Notununu, co-founder of Archaea Eco, a Biotechnology Lecturer at Unisa, and an innovator driven by a passion for sustainable living. His innovation tackles one of South Africa’s pressing challenges, including rising energy costs and poor waste management through smart, affordable biotechnology.

At the heart of Archaea Eco’s work are two flagship products: Vutha®, a portable micro biodigester, and Igardi®, a compact vertical hydroponic system. Together, they form a circular, sustainable ecosystem for households and small enterprises.

Vutha® converts organic waste into clean biogas for cooking while producing biofertiliser for growing food. Unlike traditional systems, it is lightweight and easy to assemble, providing up to seven hours of daily cooking gas and cutting reliance on costly fuels.

Igardi® enables users to grow up to 60 plants in just 2 m² using 95% less water, ideal for eco-conscious urban and township households.

Having completed prototyping and testing, Archaea Eco is now piloting across diverse markets, from urban households and smallholder farmers to food vendors and schools, validating its product-market fitness.

"Support from the Directorate of Innovation, Technology Transfer and Commercialisation was a turning point. Through programmes like UniVentures, the team learned design thinking, customer discovery, and business model innovation tools that helped transform their ideas into impactful, customer-driven solutions," says Notununu.

Archaea Eco’s journey shows how innovation, when nurtured through collaboration and mentorship, can empower a sustainable future. It is at platforms like the Unisa Innovation Festival where such stories come to life, ideas evolve into enterprises, collaboration fuels creativity, and innovators are born.

Join us at the Unisa Innovation Festival, from 18 to 20 November 2025, under the theme Proudly Africa, Globally Relevant.

Register here: https://rapidq.co.za/dashboard/#/register/2673/0/1

For more information, visit the website: https://www.unisa.ac.za/innovationfest25

#UnisaRandi and #UnisaInnovationFestival 

* Submitted by Directorate of Innovation, Technology Transfer and Commercialisation