HISTORY

OUR STORY

RLabs is an award-winning South African non-profit, established in 2009 in Bridgetown, Cape Town. We have since expanded the RLabs model to 23 countries across 5 continents impacting more than 20 million people through our work. The main aim of RLabs is to create environments and systems where people are impacted, empowered and transformed through HOPE, Innovation, Technology, Training and Economic Opportunities. To date, more than 200,000 people have accessed RLabs skills, training and economic empowerment programmes

Academy

Provide wide access to education and training programmes

Innovation Lab

Research, Ideation, Design, Prototyping, Sandboxing, Innovation and Technology

Incubation & Acceleration

Providing SME Support, Training and mentorship accelerating high-impact innovative and scalable business

RLabs Women

RLabs Women provides artistic opportunities by offering various training and empowerment programmes through the following pillars: Startup Women, DigiWomen, Junk.fund, Live! & Virtual Reality.

CONSULTING

WE SPECIALISE IN

RLabs have provided consulting services to a variety of public and private sector organizations. Our extensive expertise in emerging markets, product development and innovation strategy has led us to work with partners such as BBC, Media24, Naspers, UNWomen, Unicef, DFID, Mozilla, Facebook and Nedbank.

CUSTOMIZED TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

DESIGN THINKING

TRAINING

INNOVATION STRATEGY

UI/UX CONSULTING

A New Journey Begins

Christine has been with us since the early years and has been instrumental in shaping our values and culture as we know it. She not only embodies it in everything she is, does and stands for, but is a leader of extraordinary compassion, vision and drive. She has a way of believing in people, trusting them to deliver and riling them up to deliver exponentially

OUR MISSION

Reconstruct communities through innovation, technology and education.

RLabs was birthed in a marginalised community known as Bridgetown, Cape Town. Our passion is solely to create systems and environments where the lives of many can be impacted, where individuals may find empowerment and transformation can occur through hope, technology, innovation, training and economic opportunities.

‘Positive behaviour is harder to Track, Verify, and Incentivize

Giving Is Greater

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Zlto Rewards the RLabs digital rewards platform where members are incentivized for validated work and self-directed learning or training programmes. These are stored as a working asset on the blockchain that can be easily accessed and used to validate the capability of members on the market network platform. Zlto have impacted more than 2 million beneficiaries.

Earn. Spend. Track

Christine Taphel

Chief Executive Officer

Christine is the CEO of RLabs South Africa, holds a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology and Linguistics and is a passionate advocate for youth and women where she collaborates with organisations to drive social and economic change.

Marlon Parker

Founder

Marlon has a passion for technology and innovation that has influenced his work and led to being the founder of Reconstructed Living Lab (RLabs)

René Parker

Director 

René has played a leading role in transforming RLabs into an award winning global social enterprise from the humble beginnings of a community project in Cape Town.

Craig Du Mont

Director of RLabs Group

Craig is the Director of RLabs Group, where he plays a crucial role in transforming ideas for social change into scalable and commercially viable innovations. With a focus on driving economic and social development, he leads the way in creating innovative business models and scalable enterprises. His expertise lies in turning ideas into reality, and his work has a significant impact on both the business and social sectors.

IMPACTED


50000000

GRADUATES


2000000

JOBS ACCESSED AND CREATED


110000

BUSINESSES SUPPORTED


5500

PARTNERSHIPS

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AWARDS & ACHIEVEMENTS

(2011) Finnish Foreign Ministry’s SAFIPA Programme: Best Commercialized Innovation

(2012) Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative Award

(2014) World Economic Forum Young Global Leader

(2014) Ashoka Fellowship

(2014) 100 World Class South Africans

(2014) Most Important Africans in Technology

(2014) Western Cape Lead SA Hero

(2014) Dangote Fellowship

(2014) United Nations Report in Entrepreneurship for Development

(2014) Unashamedly Ethical for Youth Programmes

(2015) South Africa Lead SA Hero

(2017) Quartz African Innovator 2017

(2017) SA Blog Awards: Best Educational Blog

(2018) Class Central Top 50 MOOCS

(2018) CNN African Tech Hubs Fostering Innovation

(2018) Google Impact Awards Winner

(2019) Anzisha Prize for Youth Entrepreneurship

(2021) The Systems Work of Social Change

(2021) Thinkers 50 Award | Ideas Into Practice

(2022) Social Innovator of the Year | Schwab Foundation and World Economic Forum