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Mozambican entrepreneur Patricia Vasco launches new children’s book project

April 7, 2024 Melanie Hawken

Patricia Vasco

A new book for children and adults to read together as part of an enjoyable learning journey has been written and launched by successful Mozambican serial entrepreneur Patricia Vasco. The book entitled, “O Kaio e o cão Panda” was inspired by her young son, and reflects her love of storytelling for children.


Patrícia Vasco was born on April 29, 1990, in the city of Maputo in Mozambique. She has a degree in Business Management and has a strong interest and passion for digital marketing. She has dancing and writing as her great and main existential refuges. She never considered herself a writer, but, from a young age, she wrote stories in her physical diary, which, perhaps, would be scripts for big films. Patrícia never wrote with the intention of publishing. Writing has always been, for her, a way to vent and train her storytelling skills. However, this time, Patrícia decided to express what she feels, sees, and thinks. She has always been enchanted by the universe of fiction and true stories. However, she is currently writing more about the world of children, because she is now the mother of a beautiful and smart 3-year-old boy.

Patrícia Vasco nasceu a 29 de Abril de 1990, na cidade de Maputo. É formada em Gestão de Empresas e possui um forte interesse e uma grande paixão pelo marketing digital. Tem a dança e a escrita como os seus grandes e principais refúgios existenciais. Nunca se considerou escritora, mas, desde a tenra idade, escreve histórias no seu diário físico, que, talvez, seriam roteiros para grandes filmes. Patrícia nunca escreveu com o intuito de publicar. Escrever sempre foi, para ela, uma forma de desabafo e de treino das suas habilidades de storytelling.
Porém, desta vez, Patrícia decidiu exteriorizar o que sente, vê e pensa. Sempre foi encantada pelo universo da ficção e das histórias verídicas. Contudo, tem, actualmente, escrito mais sobre o universo infantil, o que decorre do facto de ela ser, agora, mãe de um menino lindo e esperto de 3 anos.

What inspired Patricia to start this new publishing venture was for health reasons. Her beautiful and smart boy had his mother absent, so he had to be strong and learn to deal with the world without the noble and necessary presence of a mother. One year ago, Patrícia was suddenly diagnosed with a severe Pulmonary Embolism, which left her away from everything and everyone for a long period of time. During that period, she only thought about her son and the impact that her absence would have on him. Sometime later, after returning home, Patrícia had the beautiful surprise of seeing her son well and with a new companion, the puppy Panda, offered by the family to alleviate the mother's absence. To describe this beautiful friendship, Patrícia decided to write this children's work—O Kaio e o Cão Panda—, which is an incredible journey through space, in which she describes one of the adventures made by these two friends, using the power of imagination.

Por motivos de saúde, este lindo e esperto menino teve a sua mãe ausente, pelo que teve de ser forte e aprender a lidar com o mundo sem a nobilíssima e necessária presença de uma mãe. Há 1 ano, Patrícia foi, subitamente, diagnosticada com uma Embolia Pulmonar grave, que a deixou longe de tudo e de todos por um longo período de tempo. Durante esse período, só pensava no seu filho e no impacto que a sua ausência criaria nele. Tempos depois, após ter regressado à casa, Patrícia teve a bela surpresa de ver o seu filho bem e com um novo companheiro, o cãozinho Panda, oferecido pela família para atenuar a ausência da mãe. Para descrever esta bela amizade, Patrícia decidiu escrever esta obra infantil—O Kaio e o Cão Panda— , que é uma incrível viagem pelo espaço, em que ela descreve uma das aventuras feitas por estes dois amigos, usando o poder da imaginação.

The fact that there are few Mozambican writers of children's literature and the fact that it is also a collection of books where the characters are in fact real and the stories are based on the power of imagination, all of this makes this collection of books unique and special. The books are educational and children can color them.

O facto de haver poucas escritoras moçambicanas de literatura infantil e pelo facto também de ser uma colecção de livros onde os personagens são de facto reais e as histórias são baseadas no poder da imaginação, tudo isto torna esta colecção de livros única e especial. Os livros são didácticos e as crianças podem pintá-lo.

To realize this project, Patricia had the support of illustrator Sheila Pereira, a childhood friend, who managed to perfectly transform the text into beautiful drawings. She also had a linguistic review from a great friend Zeca Magaia.

Para a materialização desta obra, contei com o apoio da minha ilustradora Sheila Pereira, que é minha amiga de infância e que conseguiu transformar perfeitamente o texto em desenhos lindíssimos. Contei também com a revisão linguística de um grande amigo Zeca Magaia.

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Patricia has been a full-time entrepreneur since 2018 and launched her first fashion accessories brand in 2013. Since then, she has created a few more businesses in the areas of dance and Digital Marketing.

Sou empreendedora a tempo inteiro desde 2018 e lancei a minha primeira marca de acessórios de moda em 2013, desde então, criei mais alguns negócios nas áreas de dança e Marketing Digital.

Speaking about her future plans and aspirations for the project, Patricia says:

I intend for this book to cross the world and inspire many children and adults to use the power of imagination to create a better world for themselves.

Pretendo que este livro possa cruzar o mundo e inspirar muitas crianças e adultos a usarem o poder da imaginação para criarem um mundo melhor para si mesmos.

Patricia shares that what gives her the most satisfaction of being an entrepreneur is the possibility of being able to transform everything that comes to mind into reality.

A possibilidade de poder transformar em realidade, tudo que me vem à cabeça.

Her biggest advice for other women entrepreneurs looking to startup in business and launch new products and services is:

The only way to start is to start.

A única forma de começar, é começar.

Find out more:

E-mail: patriciavasco.pv@gmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/okaioeocaopanda?igsh=MW52dnJ1Z3VjeTFxeA==

In Lioness Launch Tags Mozambique, Publishing
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