Overview
RLabs (Reconstructed Living Labs) is an award-winning social enterprise founded in 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa, with a global mission to make hope contagious.
What began with a single dial-up internet connection in the Cape Flats suburb of Bridgetown has grown into an international movement operating across 24 countries on 5 continents, impacting more than 60 million people through technology-driven community transformation.
RLabs exists to create environments where people can discover purpose, develop leadership, and participate meaningfully in social and economic life — especially within underserved communities.
From One Connection to a Global Network
RLabs began by facilitating digital and entrepreneurial training for community members who had little or no access to technology. The focus was not merely skills, but dignity, agency, and possibility.
As the model matured and demonstrated impact, RLabs transitioned from a local non-profit initiative into a sustainable international social enterprise, while remaining rooted in community-based practice.
This journey reflects a consistent conviction: transformation begins locally, but does not remain local.
Areas of Focus
RLabs works across multiple interconnected domains, including:
- Digital skills and technology training
- Entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystems
- Youth leadership development
- Community-driven problem solving
- Tech-enabled responses to social challenges
- Sustainable development models
- Global knowledge exchange and capacity building
Each initiative is shaped by lived community experience and tested through practice before being scaled or shared globally.
Research, Learning, and Knowledge Exchange
RLabs has become a global reference point for community transformation models that integrate technology, leadership, and social impact.
Through its Knowledge Exchange programmes, RLabs has welcomed:
- Researchers
- Development practitioners
- Educators
- Technology leaders
from more than 20 countries, offering immersive engagement with its methodologies, systems, and outcomes.
The RLabs model is studied and adapted worldwide as an example of how local innovation can generate global relevance without losing integrity.
Relationship to Christian Fellowship
Within the Projects of Christian Fellowship, RLabs represents faith expressed through innovation, empowerment, and hope-filled action.
While operating as a social enterprise with global reach, RLabs’ origins reflect values deeply aligned with Christian Fellowship’s convictions:
- The dignity of every person
- Transformation rooted in community
- Leadership formed through service
- Hope embodied through action
RLabs stands as an example of how faith-shaped vision can operate responsibly in diverse and global contexts, serving communities with humility and effectiveness.
Global Impact
- Founded: 2009
- Origin: Bridgetown, Cape Town
- Active in: 24 countries, 5 continents
- People impacted: 60+ million