Startup Story
Goretti Kat is the founder and CEO of Minzoto Club, an educational cultural centre for teenagers in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She has a degree in organizational and corporate communications and is a member of the global network of educators HUNDRED.org. She is also a facilitator and trainer in entrepreneurship, leadership and personal development. Goretti first worked for young people’s development as an activist for 5 years. During this time, she acquired 3 leadership certifications after helping to set up 4 youth support structures in universities. After that, she then set up Minzoto Club in early 2021. In 2018, she was awarded the title of "100 young pages of hope in the DRC", an annual diploma honouring the 100 country's most active young people of the year.
LoA spoke to Goretti Kat about her entrepreneurial journey and her vision of empowering young people through entertainment, education and inspiration.
What does your company do?
Minzoto Club is an educational cultural centre whose mission is to create the ideal environment for teenagers (aged 12-19) to flourish. The centre offers creative workshops in coding, robotics, photography, slam, science, art, literature, together with more personal and professional development workshops for young adults (18 - 35), and various types of programmes. Minzoto Club also organises a number of events to express the 9 types of intelligence, talents and skills of these young people, such as exhibitions, sports and cultural tournaments. The aim is to create activities that are attractive, fun and, above all, educational for young people.
“Minzoto Club is an educational cultural centre whose mission is to create the ideal environment for teenagers (aged 12-19) to flourish.”
What inspired you to start your company?
Although there are a few schools with access to innovative programmes, they are generally elitist or at least highly structured schools that are not accessible to everyone. There is a gap between the theoretical concepts learned in this education system and the practical requirements on the ground, as well as a lack of infrastructure and specialized cultural and sports facilities for teenagers.
Personally, I was lucky enough to study in better organised schools. But when I arrived in the capital, we encountered the problems listed above. After carrying out some on-the-spot research, we decided to create a cultural centre that would play the three roles of entertainment, education and inspiration.
Why should anyone use your service or product?
Apart from the fact that our workshops are accessible at an affordable cost, they are unique and some are given by no other structure than us. The cultural centre improves its activities every year by drawing inspiration from local culture, the latest innovations in education and a methodology of creativity, i.e. each young person creates a work of art at the end of each programme or workshop.
The workshops are not long in terms of time so as not to tire the young people, and are varied in such a way that everyone is free to find what interests them.
Finally, the young people can sell their creations at our quarterly exhibitions and even earn more than they paid to take part in the workshops. More than just workshops, we inspire, guide and develop skills and the mindset to express those skills freely.
“After carrying out some on-the-spot research, we decided to create a cultural centre that would play the three roles of entertainment, education and inspiration.”
Tell us a little about your team
Our team is made up of experienced facilitators who all have a profile of young people who have achieved great things before joining the team to do the same with other young people. The facilitators help to create and improve the programmes, run the programmes, and accompany the young people until the end of the various activities. Then there's the administrative, technical and commercial team.
Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?
My initial background was in social entrepreneurship. But then I moved into a business that makes money and that above all has an impact on people's lives. For me, entrepreneurship is a mentality and a marvellous meeting of giving and receiving: the entrepreneur and the customer are winners.
“For me, entrepreneurship is a mentality and a marvellous meeting of giving and receiving: the entrepreneur and the customer are winners.”
What are your future plans and aspirations for your company?
We intend to expand our activities in 3 other cities and have a national and international positioning. In addition, the originality of our activities is a priority for us: the cultural centre intends to add the educational methods used in our culture for generations to incorporate them into our activities in order to increase the experience of our customers. These are still interesting, unique and fun methods.
What gives you the most satisfaction being an entrepreneur?
Impact lives. Nothing satisfies me more than when our customers are happy to have trusted us.
What's the biggest piece of advice you can give to other women looking to start-up?
The advice I will give to other women in entrepreneurship is to believe in the process: it is not easy today but there will be results tomorrow.
Contact or follow Minzoto Club
WEBSITE | FACEBOOK | INSTAGRAM | YOUTUBE | EMAIL theclubinfoscontact@gmail.com
Why LoA loves it…
Goretti Kat is an impact driven entrepreneur with an ability to see a gap in the market requiring an innovative solution. Her business is doing just that, empowering teenagers by creating a vibrant educational cultural centre offering activities that are attractive, fun and, above all, educational for young people. Goretti and her team are making a real difference, positively impacting the lives of young people by equipping them to fulfill their potential in society. — Melanie Hawken, founder & ceo, Lionesses of Africa