LIONESS WEEKENDER COVER STORY
Malaika, a high impact social enterprise educating and empowering girls in their communities in DRC
Noëlla Coursaris Musunka is a Congolese/Cypriot philanthropist, an international model, and the Founder & CEO of Malaika. Founded in 2007, Malaika is a grassroots non-profit that educates and empowers girls and their communities in her home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo through a school, a community centre, and a comprehensive clean water program. A unique and fearless spokesperson and the face of leading beauty and fashion campaigns across the globe, Noëlla is a voice for the power of girls’ education worldwide. Noëlla has shared her insight at a number of world-class forums spanning the World Economic Forum in Davos to the university halls of Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, and MIT. She is an Ambassador for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, an Advisor at Concordia, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Segal Family Foundation.
LoA spoke to the inspirational Noëlla Coursaris Musunka to learn more about her vision for girls’ education in the DRC and her belief in the power of community impact to positively change lives.
What does your company do?
Malaika is a grassroots nonprofit organization employing 54 people that is working to transform people’s lives in the Democratic Republic of Congo by providing access to education and health. We built a free school that now educates 400 girls with a holistic curriculum that teaches literacy, languages, STEM, health, civics, and arts. We also have a community center that offers education and sport programs to over 5000 youth and adults. Malaika is based in the rural village of Kalebuka where there is very little infrastructure. We built and refurbished 21 wells so that 32,000 locals have access to clean water and have a sustainable agriculture program that helps feed students and staff two nutritious meals each day. Malaika is a community-driven ecosystem that can be duplicated in any context around the world.
What inspired you to start your company?
Malaika was born out of my own story. I was born in Congo. My father died when I was five, and my mom did not have the education to be able to support me on her own. She sent me away to live with relatives and receive an education. She sacrificed so much so that I could have more opportunities. When I returned to Congo again, I was 18. During my visit, I met many girls whose stories could have been mine. After talking with them, I decided that I wanted to do something to provide them with opportunities -- an opportunity to learn and to be empowered to expect the best from their lives.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
We partner with the community and have built a community-driven ecosystem, which is one of the reasons Malaika has thrived and grown its impact over the past 14 years. It is also an ecosystem that can be duplicated in any context around the world.
Tell us a little about your team
I have a dedicated and passionate team. They are the reason that Malaika is going from strength to strength. We have an incredible Congolese team on the ground. They are gifted people and we have invested in training and development so that we have a skilled and qualified team of teaching staff and management. During COVID, they showed so much resilience—I’m very proud of them. We also have staff based in the US and UK who support the running of the organisation, though we have the minimum number of operational staff possible so that most of the funds raised go directly to funding the programs. I myself work on an entirely voluntary basis. We also have an incredible cohort of volunteers who are so generous with their time and skills and we are hugely grateful for them all.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
I wouldn’t say I do, no. As I shared before, what came first for me was not a desire to be an entrepreneur or a founder, but a passion to see change. A passion to make a difference in my home nation and that led me down a challenging but rewarding path of learning and building something from the ground up alongside a fantastic team I could not have done it without.
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
I would love to see us continue to strengthen our programs and grow. To have a bigger capacity so more girls can learn at once would be incredible. I want to see our girls achieving their dreams. Take Gabriella, who plans to be a journalist one day, or Syntiche, who’s working toward becoming a lawyer. I would also love to see the Malaika model duplicated elsewhere in the world.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
Seeing the impact, we are having on people’s lives. Our girls now have aspirations to do careers they’d never even imagined could be possible before coming to Malaika. They are healthier, happier, and passionate about giving back to their communities. Also, it’s wonderful to see the Congolese members of our team growing professionally.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
Ask questions. Talk to people who are a few steps ahead of you so they can still remember what it was like at the start and how it felt. Keep learning when it doesn’t go right and don’t give up when there’s a setback- and there will be many!
To find out more about the inspirational story of Malaika, contact founder Noëlla Coursaris Musunka via email: noella@malaika.org or visit the Malaika website and on social media:
