Bitprop is a Cape Town-based social enterprise partnering with homeowners in Cape Town's townships. Many of the owners received their homes from the state, or bought them through low-income bond schemes, and they have unused land behind the house. Bitprop brings the finance and expertise to build four to six studio flats in these “backyards”, while the owner stays in the main house. It then runs everything a rental needs: finding tenants, leases, deposits, payments, maintenance and insurance. The homeowner gets 15% of gross rent for ten years. After that, Bitprop steps away and the owner keeps a working, income-generating asset they can run themselves or pass on to their children. Over seven years, Bitprop has built about 750 flats across ten areas.

Bitprop would like to see the LSE team work on two main focus areas. The first is maintenance: Bitprop has helped local contractors grow from a one-person operation into a township maintenance business with several vehicles, and now needs the systems, training and processes to keep service consistent as it grows. The second area is connecting the homes to solar energy. At this point, 16 properties are running mainly on rooftop panels and batteries as part of a pilot project. Getting the upfront cost and electricity tariffs right is crucial so that sales to tenants pay back the investment. The payoff is that homeowners inherit a second source of income: selling renewable electricity to their tenants.

Over the next two years, Bitprop would like to finalise a replicable blueprint and expand beyond Cape Town.