by the Lionesses of Africa Operations Dept
“But every person in poverty, they dream of a better life, they want a better house, they want to provide for themselves, they want better roofing, they want water inside, they want electricity inside their homes.”
…so said an inspirational Lioness who is setting the world alight winning awards for her work to bring clean water to villages and into homes in Rwanda. At the tender age of 26 (so she is still a Lioness cub!), she is of course Christelle Kwizera of Water Access Rwanda.
With a business that was started when she was at University, as she realized far too many women were being lost to Crocodiles when fetching water, she has changed the lives of over 70,000 people so far, not a bad thing to have on one’s CV at the age of 26!
So Lionesses - here is our call to action:
She is currently in the last 3 of the Cisco and Global Citizen youth award that will bring her business an amazing $250,000 if she wins, which for her business that charges a meagre $1 per 1,000 litres of water, will make a huge difference to her abilities to increase both the amount of homes and villages she reaches and the hours she saves each day for women and children who no longer have to walk miles for water, to say nothing of the danger to life and limb avoided.
Time to flex those Lioness muscles, support a fellow member of your community and let the world hear our Roar by taking a moment out of your hectic schedule to vote for her here, it will make a huge difference!
Help choose this year's Cisco Youth Leadership Award winner and vote for Christelle Kwizera!
We have until Tuesday 24th November.
Christelle Kwizera pitching at Lionesses of Africa’s Start-up Night Africa, London event on January 16th, 2020, presented in partnership with the UK Department of International Trade and the UK Department for International Development as part of the UK-Africa Investment Summit
If helping a fellow Lioness and member of your huge community was not enough, there is even a chance that voters will be invited to a special watch party for the final where silky smooth John Legend will pop in for a chat. Even our Head of Finance (HoF) was excited by that prospect!
Sadly, Christelle didn’t tell us she was into the final. We see this all the time, Lionesses are far too modest and quiet about their accomplishments and achievements. Thinking about it though, had we heard a month ago, the HoF would have been insufferable, rushing around gathering votes and getting in everyone’s way, so perhaps on second thoughts, it was for the better! But still, please tell us if you are involved in such events or competitions, not only do we at Head Office want to support, but your entire community of Lionesses will not only be interested but are sure to get behind you. As Christelle said to the HoF, she was so amazed by, and so thankful for the outpouring of love and excitement from the many Lionesses that saw the HoF’s announcement on LinkedIn.
Of course on the other side of the continent in Nigeria, we have the equally incredible Temie Giwa-Tubosun, a medical pioneer saving lives through innovation with her amazing LifeBank, who has now opened in Kenya as well.
Two totally awe-inspiring Lionesses, joined together by your beautiful community, one in Rwanda, the other in Nigeria, changing and saving the world in their own fabulous ways. There is simply no stopping these two incredible Lionesses and role models.
Of course we can’t all have world-changing, life-saving industries, but these two are just some of the headline ones. As part of your fabulous community we also have some other equally inspirational Lionesses who also just quietly go about their work, changing lives, communities and the globe…
Plastics?
There is really not much you can teach our Lionesses in this area, take a moment to read their stories here. If the world is serious about solving the plastic problem, then they should look no further than these pioneering Lionesses as role models:
They are of course Lorna Rutto of Eco-Post (Kenya); Natalie & Kim Ellis of The Joinery (South Africa) - currently showcasing in the Lioness Xpo; Hend Riad & Mariam Hazem of Reform Studio (Egypt); Thato Kgatlhanye of Rethaka (South Africa); Brenda Katwesigye of Wazi Vision (Uganda); Chioma Ukonu of Recycle Points Limited (Nigeria); Jaunita van der Merwe of Little Green Number (South Africa), amongst others…
Tyres? (A massive problem for the globe), role models again:
The inspirational Bethlehem Tilahun Alemu of soleRebels (Ethiopia) immediately springs to mind; but there is also the brilliant Colleen Deetlefs of Innovative Waste Design (South Africa); and Magel Suglo - of Eco Shoes (Ghana), to name but a few…
The list is endless of innovative ideas that Lionesses have thought up and used to transform their communities. Even in the humble yet incredibly skilled and passionate world of Artisan manufacturing, we find serious role models. Lionesses are making a huge difference to their communities, such as Achenyo Idachaba of MitiMeth (Nigeria) who brilliantly transforms water weeds that clog up and damage the ecosystem in Nigeria into artisan crafted accessories. You can read about other Lionesses in the Artisan world bringing not only much needed employment to their communities but also keeping alive tradition, artisanal skills, here.
So, Community Matters and whether you are doing something that even in a small way saves the world, transforms the globe or brings essential employment to many or even a few, this is a great time to celebrate not only your local community, and what you bring to that community, but also your community of the Lionesses of Africa.
As the inspirational Bethlehem said: “We began soleRebels to bring jobs to our community, a place where there literally were none”.
It has been six years since Melanie started her vision of the Lionesses of Africa, to bring business knowledge, training, inspirational speakers, access to finance, and of course community where previously there was none. What has truly brought us together has not only been the community around us, but also the community of like minded female entrepreneurs and role models who support each of us from all corners of this beautiful continent, and even further afield from the USA, UK and EU as our membership continues to grow there too. As the brilliant Redi Tlhabi said this week in the last zoom-centred Lioness Business Agility Webinar of 2020 (in partnership with our long time supporter, Absa), in what has been a terrible year for the globe, what is needed more now than ever for women and young girls are Female Role Models. We would suggest all women and especially young girls should look first to the amazing community we have here at the Lionesses of Africa. There is so much to learn from all of our game-changing members. This is a serious community of incredible role models.
So let’s celebrate your Lionesses of Africa community, let’s shout about it to alert others of this incredible opportunity where everything is done for free (including membership!) and done with love, and let’s make the world hear our ROAR by supporting a fellow Lioness that over a million of you have never even met but who are joined together by this incredible community of yours.
Roar here:
Help choose this year's Cisco Youth Leadership Award winner and vote for Christelle Kwizera!
Stay safe and of course - remember we are ‘Stronger Together’.
Read more about Christelle Kwizera
Christelle Kwizera, a globally award-winning social entrepreneur changing African lives - Lionesses of Africa
Lioness Weekender Cover Story Water Access Rwanda, bringing affordable water solutions to the people of East Africa. Christelle Kwizera is a Mechanical Engineer and the founder of Water Access Rwanda. She is an award-winning leader and social entrepreneur with extensive experience in water proj