the pride of Africa's women entrepreneurs
Lily Katumba, founder, Zuri Styles (Uganda)
Startup Story
Lily Katumba is the founder of Zuri Styles, an accessories design and manufacturing business in Uganda creating jobs and restoring hope to vulnerable people. Lily’s mission is to stop Human Trafficking and empower those most vulnerable by creating sustainable employment, providing coaching and mentorship, and empowering girl children.
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Helm, an impact driven enterprise promoting the full inclusion of persons with disabilities
Amena ElSaie co-founded Helm in 2012, an organisation which to date now serves more than 200 companies and 2,700 persons with disabilities in Egypt and the region. Amena drives the organization’s vision, strategy, and growth as it provides sustainable and unique solutions for public and private institutions to foster policies and strategies towards effective and sustainable inclusion of persons with disabilities in the workplace and marketplace.
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Pendo Galukande, Co-founder, Dis N Dat (Uganda)
Startup Story
Pendo Galukande is one of the original three co-founders of Dis N Dat (Uganda) Ltd and the current Managing Director. She has been featured several times on National Television and print media as a positive example of a social entrepreneur. Her social enterprise having started out creating hand crafted greeting cards, and now has expanded into providing the youth access to skills and employment through the provision of premium gift services. Dis N Dat was launched in 2007 and employs 2 full time people, 4 consultants, and provides about 25 placements for part-time positions for youth annually. Pendo has a track record in Health Management having been the first manager of the leading private hospital in Uganda. She also managed a pharmacy in a rural hospital and oversaw refugee programs in rural Uganda.
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Seynabou Dieng
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MAYA, a food processing business in Mali integrating local producers into its value chain
Seynabou Dieng is a social entrepreneur and the founder of MAYA in Mali, a food processing company founded in 2017 which uses raw materials from local agriculture and integrates small producers into its value chain. The finished products are distributed in Mali, Senegal, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast. Seynabou is committed to the cause of women and young people; 80% of her staff are women and and she devotes a great part of her time to coaching young entrepreneurs. Seynabou’s leadership in entrepreneurship and her social commitment have earned her several distinctions, the latest being the Cartier Women Initiative, she was 2021 laureate for Sub Saharan African.
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Bih Adelaide, co-founder, African Initiative For Health and Research Promotion (AIHRP) (Cameroon)
Startup Story
For victims of conflict and low income people who cannot access affordable healthcare in Cameroon, help is now at hand, thanks to social entrepreneur Bih Adelaide, co-founder of African Initiative For Health and Research Promotion (AIHRP). Her venture is now providing pro-bono health care services to those who need it most.
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Amina Slaoui
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AMH Group, positively changing lives and overcoming barriers for people with disabilities
Amina Slaoui is the president and founder of AMH Group (Morocco), a pioneering leader in social entrepreneurship in Morocco and a non-profit association founded in 1992. She is a leading figure in the fight against disability and inequalities and an award-winning social and inclusive entrepreneur. Her involvement with the AMH group, formerly known as Amicale Marocaine des Handicapés - Friendly Moroccan Association of People with Disabilities, has been awarded several prizes, such as the Takreem Prize for “Philanthropy and Social Acts” in 2014 and the prestigious Schwab Foundation’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year award during the World Economic Forum in 2015.
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Marina Rakotondrasoa Ralaivaomisa, founder, Massöva (Madagascar)
Startup Story
Most of the population of Madagascar lives in rural areas relying on farming to make a living, but the majority live in poverty. Marina Rakotondrasoa Ralaivaomisa, founder of Massöva, is on a mission to help change their situation through her entrepreneurial approach to agribusiness and extending the local value chain.
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Estelle Dogbo, founder, Yawoa Foundation (Nigeria)
Startup Story
For many African artists, the challenge is ensuring their work is visible, getting their work and names known, and connecting with potential curators and buyers in their own countries and abroad. Estelle Dogbo, founder of the Yawoa Foundation in Nigeria, is looking to make these ambitions happen.
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Noëlla Coursaris Musunka
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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.
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Rahel Mwitula Williams,lead designer, ILAVA (Tanzania)
Startup Story
Rahel Mwitula Williams serves as lead designer of ILAVA, a socially responsible lifestyle brand that uses fashion to empower women and inspire change around the world. Her role within ILAVA has not only reinforced her passion for seeking global change, but it has also led to her ability to impact women and leaders across the globe through various opportunities. To name a few, ILAVA was invited to showcase its latest collection at LA Fashion Week in 2017, and in April 2018, she had an opportunity to represent ILAVA at Northwestern University through a TEDx Talk (Redefining Philanthropy: Faces of Change Makers).
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Victoria Orr, founder and CEO, Amandla Ubuntu Limited (South African/UK)
Startup Story
Victoria Orr is the founder and CEO of Amandla Ubuntu Limited, a South African/UK social enterprise that works with South African artists, crafters and female owned businesses to provide a platform to showcase their talents to the world. The enterprise ethically sources beautiful arts and crafts, providing sustainable incomes and sells online in the UK, with plans to move into Europe and USA.
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Adri Williams, owner, Khayelitsha Cookies (South Africa)
Startup Story
Khayelitsha Cookies is an impact driven, hand-made cookie manufacturing business making a difference to reducing employment in South Africa, and empowering women to look after their families.
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Claudia Castellanos
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Black Mamba, an award-winning, Eswatini-based, specialty food brand making a sustainable impact.
Black Mamba is an ethical business from Eswatini in Southern Africa, co-founded by Claudia Castellanos and her husband Joe, that manufactures specialty foods that are good-for-you, good-for-the-planet, and good for the rural communities they work with. The range includes chilli sauces, pestos, chutneys and jams, all made with organically grown ingredients and “no added nonsense”. Through a partnership with the local NGO Guba, Black Mamba trains small holders in permaculture and regenerative farming and buy their fresh produce to make our products. To date, 60 farmers are part of the value chain, and the direct positive impact reaches over 1000 individuals in Eswatini. Black Mamba has won several Great Taste Awards in the UK for its chilli sauces, and currently exports its range to countries such as South Africa, the US, the UK, Germany, Norway and Taiwan.
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Mayra Pereira, founder, Gaia EES Consulting (Mozambique)
Startup Story
Many companies are now actively thinking about sustainability in their businesses and in Mozambique, impact driven entrepreneur Mayra Pereira, founder of Gaia EES Consulting, is helping them to make the move towards more sustainable action.
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Noreen Asenkenye, founder, Tell a Story Foundation (Uganda)
Startup Story
Stories have always had the power to enthrall, to engage, and often to change lives, and for Noreen Asenkenye, founder of Tell a Story Foundation Uganda, that is her motivation. She is passionate about looking out for the vulnerable, and through storytelling she is helping them deal with their distress. Noreen is an enthusiastic fundraiser, and through Tell a Story Foundation, she has successfully run fundraising campaigns for children with autism, two young girls raised by single mothers, and the current Together for Good campaign, a Covid-19 relief fundraiser benefiting vulnerable families with income relief. Noreen is a cohort 35 Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) Fellow, Cohort 18 Reignite Africa Young Leaders Fellow, and a recent graduate of the 2020 Zimba Women Business Program.
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Startup Story
Girl Spectrum is a non-profit organization movement founded by Nicole Natasha Magerman. Nicole founded Girl Spectrum at the age of 25 running it as a labour of love and devotion for gender equality. Girl Spectrum was founded in 2021 and has a world scale vision of creating awareness around not only women empowerment but also building confidence in our women of today. "Self-Care is Health Care", believes Nicole Magerman. As she says, “Feminists, women activists, let us gather here and conquer!”
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Amanda Obidike, founder of STEMi Makers Africa (Nigeria)
Startup Story
The impact that STEM can make in the lives of young people, particularly women and girls, on the African continent cannot be underestimated. STEMi Makers Africa, founded by Amanda Obidike, addresses the existing leaky unemployment pipeline, the underrepresentation of young women and girls in STEM. and the fragmented education system by training teachers and students in STEM Education.
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Charzade Araujo, founder of Teen Mentors
Startup Story
Everyone needs a mentor in life and in business, but often for young people in particular, mentors can be hard to find. One woman entrepreneur, Charzade Araujo, founder of Teen Mentors in Mozambique, has made it her goal to provide that solution.
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Essma Ben Hamida
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Enda inter-arabe and Enda tamweel, transforming lives through micro-finance
Getting access to finance and access to markets and opportunities continue to be significant challenges for women on the African continent, and in Tunisia, this was particularly a challenge for low-income women. For Essma Ben Hamida, this was the motivation and inspiration for her to embark on a journey of impact driven social entrepreneurship. Her aim, to change the narrative and change lives through the provision of micro-financing for women and young micro-entrepreneurs, empowering them to improve their lives through business.
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Christelle Kwizera, founder of Water Access Rwanda
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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 projects and environmental activism. She has been globally recognised for her work and leadership in addressing the urgent need for clean and affordable water access for East Africa’s citizens. Christelle was awarded the 3rd Africa Businesses Heroes award by Jack Ma, recognized as Foundation Chanel's 2019 Woman Entrepreneur of the year, and appears in Vital Voices 100 Women Using their Power to Empower Book alongside Hilary Clinton, Late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Christine Lagarde, and other leading global women figures.
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