AfrikaBurn Supplier Process 2025
In 2024 we experimented with a new supplier’s process and the majority of feedback from you, our community of creators, was that it was a resounding success in terms of reaching its goals which were:
- To enable creative projects to be supported by outside services
- To encourage communal effort, decommodification and radical self-reliance
- To encourage innovation in terms of creativity of infrastructure
- To weed out suppliers that were there to encourage ‘Plug & Play’ scenarios
While there were a few challenges with the process in 2024, In 2025 the supplier’s policy will remain as before, but with some minor changes to make it smoother for everyone involved.
Tankwa Town is a Decommodified space, and all who come through the gate are encouraged to participate in both the work and the play. Our Supplier Programme has been designed to facilitate Creative Projects to work with external suppliers onsite in a way that aligns as far as possible with AfrikaBurn’s 11 Guiding Principles.
What does the AfrikaBurn Supplier policy say?
- No goods or services will be permitted to be supplied to personal or private camps.
- Suppliers may only provide goods and services to registered creative projects (Theme Camps, Artworks and Mutant Vehicles possessing a Project Registration Code).
- Participants using suppliers must always accompany any suppliers setting up on their behalf.
- All deliveries will happen in the designated delivery zone of the Suppliers Depot. Participants must collect their goods from the depot and transport them to their camps or arrange delivery from the delivery zone.
- Service providers cannot deliver camping equipment (Eg: Dome Tents, Bedding, Kitchen equipment, crockery & cutlery etc) to the AfrikaBurn event site. All equipment is only permitted to be dry hired, collected from the company’s hire premises and transported to site by participants.
How do you know if you are a supplier or if you need to register your supplier?
- If you are a company providing items or services to participants in Tankwa Town, then you are a supplier and must register via AfrikaBurn’s Supplier Programme.
- If you are part of a Creative Crew and are hiring anything from or engaging any services rendered on-site in Tankwa Town, we request that you ask your supplier to register via AfrikaBurn’s Supplier Programme. This includes any transportation and sound companies.
Suppliers & Plug & Play Scenarios:
Outsourcing the minimal effort required by having paid staff to set up a camp completely sidesteps fundamental aspects of a Burn event, diluting the ethos and point of the experience. As an ethical supplier, please help support the culture of AfrikaBurn – don’t engage in “Plug & Play” scenarios. At AfrikaBurn, there’s no ‘someone else’ that builds Tankwa Town: every person is expected to build, clean and then break down their camp.
Participants providing Plug & Play camping may forfeit their right to return to Tankwa Town again. Suppliers supporting or servicing Plug & Play camps will face hefty penalties, including the forfeit of their deposit and/or access to the event in the future.
If in doubt, whether you are a participant or a supplier, please chat with us at AfrikaBurn and we will guide you in the right direction.
Services prohibited at the AfrikaBurn Event:
- No supplier is allowed to provide showers or toilets at the AfrikaBurn event. AfrikaBurn participants are expected to build their own showers and use the toilets provided.
- Anyone with accessibility needs, please contact [email protected].
- No decor deliveries are permitted to site by decor suppliers. Decor is to be transported to Quaggafontein by the creative crew involved in the Creative Project.
- Deliveries of food and beverages that form part of a camp gift are permitted as a single-entry drop-off at the Suppliers’ Depot. Food and beverage deliveries for personal consumption are not allowed.
- Service providers are not permitted to deliver camping equipment to the AfrikaBurn event site. All equipment can only be dry-hired, collected from the company’s hire premises and transported to site by participants.
Supplier registration
OFFICIAL 2025 Suppliers list
Please note this sheet gets populated as suppliers sign up and enter the supplier process.
The official AfrikaBurn supplier list is in place to ensure that Burners can check that their supplier has followed the correct procedures to gain access to the event site. Suppose a supplier’s name does not appear on the official AfrikaBurn suppliers list … In that case, there is a good chance they will not be able to access the event site, and Burners may find themselves without the equipment/infrastructure they ordered.
All Suppliers who register with AfrikaBurn (sign the contract and pay the fees associated with providing a service at AfrikaBurn) will appear on the official AfrikaBurn suppliers list. Each Supplier will be graded by their interaction with AfrikaBurn before, during and after the event. The grading categories are as follows:
- In good standing
- Able and willing to adapt
- Diligent first-timer
- Absolute beginners
Please note this sheet will be published as soon as 2025 suppliers are registered
What are the steps to be taken by a company wishing to become an official AfrikaBurn supplier?
Step 1: Register your company as a supplier (Deadline: Friday 28 March 2025)
Step 2: Sign the supplier contract & pay the refundable deposit via the link provided. Once this is done, your name will appear on the official suppliers list together with a grading deemed appropriate by AfrikaBurn.
Step 3 & ongoing: AfrikaBurn will provide you with your own unique online inventory Google sheet. On an ongoing basis, as a registered supplier, you are required to actively populate/amend this inventory list as and when you sign up a new AfrikaBurn client.
NB: Please check your inventory list regularly, as AfrikaBurn will validate the registration codes you provide, determining which clients you can take orders for.
Step 4: Collect the name, surname and ID number of the crew who will require access to the event site and purchase the correct ticket type for your crew.
Please note: Your crew must present their ID at the gate, and the name on the ticket must match the name in their ID document.
Step 5: Attend one of the compulsory supplier briefings.
If AfrikaBurn deems it necessary to have a one-on-one meeting with your company in addition to the group briefing, they will contact you to arrange this meeting. Please attend this second meeting to ensure your registration is valid.
Step 6: Pay the registration fee via the link provided once the AfrikaBurn Supplier Team has determined the amount. The registration fee needs to be paid before you will be permitted entry to the AfrikaBurn site.
AfrikaBurn will review the inventory in two batches.
All inventory arriving on-site needs to be accounted for, as the Supplier Gate crew will be checking vehicle contents against the given inventory.
Step 7: Adhere to the guidelines as stipulated in the Supplier Agreement that you will have signed. Doing this will ensure that your full deposit is refunded.
What happens when a supplier arrives onsite?
All AfrikaBurn admin and documentation needs to have been signed and paid before arrival onsite. Incomplete or unpaid Admin will result in delays at the AfrikaBurn Supplier Gate.
