Recognising entrepreneurs at the WCW Annual Summit
In November 2024, more than 200 women from nine African countries gathered in Johannesburg for the Trust’s three-day Women Creating Wealth Summit. T The event, themed “Breaking Barriers, Building Wealth,” brought together entrepreneurs, policymakers, and leaders to share ideas and shape Africa’s future prosperity. During a gala dinner, several entrepreneurs were honored for their sustainable business models. Among them were Victoria Msowoya, founder of Homes Industries Ltd in Malawi, and Sarah Ngwenya, founder of Kalomo Grains in Zambia.
Victoria collaborates with over 8,000 smallholder farmers to grow sunflowers, rice, and ground nuts.
Photo: Theo Sowa, Interim CEO of GMT (left); Victoria Msowoya, Founder of Homes Industries Ltd in Malawi (centre); and Caroline Komey, Senior Programme Officer of GMT during the WCW 2024 Summit.
Photo: Victoria works with farmers in Karonga, in the northern part of Malawi, to cultivate and process sunflower, rice, and groundnuts—creating sustainable livelihoods for over 8,000 smallholder growers and providing job opportunities for local youth.
Sarah advances food sovereignty through legume seed production, engaging over 3,000 rural women and youth.
Photo: Photo: Theo Sowa, Interim CEO of GMT (left) and Sarah Ngwenya during the WCW 2024 Summit. Sarah works with young farmers to grow and process legume seeds—supporting over 3,000 rural women and youth to build a sustainable food supply.
These awardees highlight the far-reaching social and economic impact of women-led enterprises.
Connecting entrepreneurs with funding opportunities
Accessing funding can be a significant hurdle for entrepreneurs, but WCW’s customised technical assistance program simplifies this journey. The WCW programme has helped women gain skills to navigate the funding landscape, understand various financing options, and craft compelling business pitches. In 2024, WCW supported women entrepreneurs across Kenya, South Africa, Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, and Zambia to secure $1.73 million in funding—a 15% increase from 2023’s $1.5 million. Highlighted success stories include Dipuo Phakathi, founder of Denic Cabinet, and Vutlhari Chauke, founder of VT Harvest.
Photo: Shiphra Chisha, Director of Programme at GMT (left); Dipuo Phakathi, founder of Denic Cabinet (centre); and Thelma Bambhare, GMT WCW Project Lead (right) during the WCW 2024 Summit award giving ceremony. Dipuo raised $170,000 through the National Endowment Fund to expand her business.
Photo: Denic Cabinet workshop, where Dipuo is creating new job opportunities for women and youth.
Photo: Shiphra Chisha, Director of Programme at GMT (left), Vutlhari Chauke, founder of VT Harvest (centre), and Thelma Bambhare, GMT WCW Project Lead (right), at the WCW 2024 Summit award ceremony. Vutlhari secured $220,000 to grow her hydroponic vegetable farming business, which also employs local youth (pictured on the right side of the image).
An inspiring celebration: WCW November graduation 2024
WCW celebrated the achievements of over 110 programme participants who completed the Ignite Training Programme. This milestone reflects their personal growth, skill development, and business success journey. The ceremony provided a platform for graduates to network, exchange ideas, and inspire others with their stories of resilience. Read more.
From Startup to Market Leader: Impact on a Senegalese Entrepreneur
Meet Aissatou Fall, AF Goods and Services director in Senegal’s agri-food sector. Starting without specific entrepreneurial skills, she transformed her business through the Women Creating Wealth Intergenerational programme. “This programme exceeded my expectations,” says Aissatou. “It provided all the necessary skills—from finance to marketing and leadership. It was exceptional.” With newfound confidence, she expanded her market, designed new products, and grew her team from two employees in 2017 to ten by the end of 2024. Read more.
Photo: Aissatou, a WCW-I project participant in Senegal, has gained the skills needed to expand her business. She now produces a variety of plastic solutions—such as crates and pallets—ensuring safer and more practical support for local industries.
Bridging the Finance Gap for Women in Tanzania
Many women in Tanzania struggle to secure loans from traditional banks. The WCW programme helps women access funding by providing alternative financing options and essential business skills to women-led businesses. Through the Trusts’ Afrishela Investment Fund, women are learning how to obtain flexible capital tailored to their needs. Success stories like Maida Waziri and Patricia Kakorozya highlight the positive impact of these efforts. WCW and Afrishela drive growth and create jobs in Tanzania by supporting women entrepreneurs. Read more.
Catalysing entrepreneurial growth and job creation across Africa
Tackling youth employment through entrepreneurial support
Recognising the continent’s youth unemployment crisis, WCW prioritises young entrepreneurs aged 18–35. By delivering tailored business training, the programme enables participants to transform ideas into viable ventures. In the second half of 2024 alone, WCW entrepreneurs generated over 30,000 direct and indirect jobs across Africa—double the job creation recorded in the year’s first half. These efforts underline WCW’s role in shaping a more inclusive and prosperous economic landscape.
Ignite Training: Equipping entrepreneurs for success
Our capacity-building programmes provide women entrepreneurs with essential business knowledge and personal skills. Participants gain clarity on their strengths, values, and goals, helping them build strong business identities. We understand the importance of financial literacy, digital skills, and market strategies training for sustainable business growth. The Ignite Training Programme has achieved impressive results, with 92.5% of women-led small and medium businesses reporting significant improvements in skills, confidence, and leadership. This training enhances individual companies and contributes to community growth and economic development.
Participant stories:
“After learning about relationship management, I realised my communication skills needed improvement. I use effective listening techniques and maintain eye contact, which has enhanced my interactions at work and home. I feel more confident and motivated.” — Participant from Uganda.
“WCW gave me a voice and showed me that my passion for clothing manufacturing and training can create jobs and inspire future entrepreneurs. I now train unskilled individuals in my community to become employable.” — Participant from South Africa.
Why does breaking market barriers for women entrepreneurs’ matter?
Women in agribusiness and agro-processing often face challenges accessing markets. The Trust’s Women Creating Wealth (WCW) programme equips them with the tools and skills to make their brands competitive and secure essential offtake agreements. The programme has helped women-led businesses build strong market connections and addressed some of their key challenges. Our research provides insights that drive our efforts to create more inclusive and accessible markets. As a result, women-led businesses are achieving sustainable growth across Africa. Look out for our report in the next issue of The Catalysts!
Driving job creation across Africa
As part of WCW’s mission to support 10,000 women entrepreneurs and generate $1 billion in revenue, the programme is committed to creating 200,000 youth employment opportunities across the continent. To achieve this, WCW has introduced innovative initiatives like the Job Creators Challenge and the Youth Jumpstarters Challenge. These initiatives will provide catalytic grants and technical assistance to entrepreneurs with high potential for job creation.
In November 2024, WCW honoured Anaty Kokushubira Kombeson, founder of Sebadom Enterprise in Mbeya, Tanzania, as the top job creator of the year. Sebadom Enterprise specialises in producing fresh milk, probiotic yoghurt, and cultured sour milk (Mtindi).
Photo: Shiphra Chisha, Director of Programme at GMT (left); Anaty Kokushubira Kombeson, founder of Sebadom Enterprise (centre); and Thelma Bambhare, GMT WCW Project Lead (right) during the WCW 2024 Summit award giving ceremony. Through her efforts, Anaty has successfully created 165 direct and indirect jobs, demonstrating the far-reaching impact of women-led businesses in transforming local economies.
Youth Jump Starters Challenge: Sparking innovation
The Youth Jump Starters Challenge, introduced under the Women Creating Wealth pilot programme inspired young entrepreneurs to spot pressing problems in their communities and quickly create practical solutions. Within a single week, these participants not only developed their ideas but also generated early revenue, showing how innovation can meet urgent needs. After careful evaluation by technical coaches and our Afrishela Investment Fund, three winners emerged, each receiving funding to grow their businesses. They now have the support to strengthen local economies, help others overcome obstacles, and spark greater opportunity for everyone in their communities. Meet the winners who were announced during the recent WCW 2024 Summit is South Africa!
1st Place (R50,000): Zakithi Ethel Dladla, (left) Founder of Royal Grand Camagu Farmers
2nd Place (R30,000): Gugu Masondo, (centre) Founder, of The Blend Wellness
3rd Place (R20,000): Patience Edward, (right) Founder of Uncle Wiz Fresh Produce
This initiative highlights WCW’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of changemakers.
Training gender champions for inclusive entrepreneurship
Promoting gender and social inclusion is at the heart of our Women Creating Wealth Programme. Supporting women entrepreneurs drives economic growth and transforms communities. Our programme has trained gender champions to advocate for equity, mentor others, and create lasting change. Research in six African countries revealed key challenges, including socio-economic barriers, cultural norms, restrictive policies, and limited support. Through targeted training, the gender champions will continue to work to overcome these challenges, strengthen entrepreneurial networks, and promote inclusive business practices across Africa.
Join our next cohort and become a gender champion. Look for upcoming opportunities in our next issue!
Providing opportunities for women in agribusiness
WCW’s agribusiness initiative creates exciting pathways for women entrepreneurs to succeed and thrive. The programme helps participants overcome challenges like limited market access and underrepresentation of women-led brands by providing export readiness training, data-sharing platforms, and capacity-building. Chama Bwalya, a Zambian entrepreneur, exemplifies this progress by expanding her product range and market reach with WCW’s guidance. Read more about how WCW is inspiring success in agribusiness.
Why the ‘Connect and Inspire’ series matter
The Connect and Inspire series by WCW creates a supportive community for women entrepreneurs by addressing challenges like cultural barriers and work-life balance. Through sessions featuring expert speakers and shared experiences, participants gain practical strategies, build confidence, and foster resilience. Recent sessions on leadership and managing stereotypes equipped over 250 attendees with tools to drive positive change in their businesses and communities. This initiative highlights WCW’s dedication to personal growth and economic advancement for women across Africa. Read more.
Transforming connections through WCW’s Business Community closed Facebook group
Launched in 2024, the WCW Business Community Facebook group has become a key platform for African women entrepreneurs. By providing a space for networking, sharing resources, and accessing motivational content, the group helps members overcome common challenges. During the recent WCW’s Breaking Barriers, Building Wealth Summit, over 680 entrepreneurs joined virtual sessions and secured valuable supplier opportunities. This community boosts brand visibility and revenue and encourages meaningful partnerships. Platforms like these are critical to the Trusts’ mission, enabling women to connect, grow, and succeed together! Read more.
The Trust supports and mobilises civil society networks on issues of ending child marriage, ending violence against children, ending female genital mutilation and promoting children’s rights, to carry out advocacy and action across Africa. Special focus is placed on Malawi, Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia where child marriage continues to be a problem largely driven by poverty, gender inequality, harmful traditional practices, conflict, low levels of literacy, limited opportunities for girls and weak or non-existent protective and preventive legal frameworks.
Education is a fundamental right for all children, which is also a vehicle for social, economic and political transformation in communities, countries and the African continent at large. Recent studies indicate a lack of progress in some of the critical commitments aimed at improving education quality, access, retention and achievement, particularly for girls. In most African countries, girls may face barriers to learning, especially when they reach post-primary levels of education. By implementing multi-dimensional approaches to education which includes core education, personal development, life skills and economic competencies, the Trust partners with funding partners, governments, civil societies and the private sector to improve education access.
The Nutrition and Reproductive, Maternal, New-born, Child and Adolescent Health and Nutrition, (RMNCAH+N) of the Children’s Rights and Development Programme aims at promoting the Global Strategy for women, children and adolescents’ health within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda. The strategy emphasises on the importance of effective country leadership as a common factor across countries making progress in improving the health of women, children and adolescents.
Through its Early Childhood Development (ECD) plan, The Trust will seek to put into action the new science and evidence Report that was presented by Lancet Series on Good and early development – the right of every child. This will be achieved by mobilising like-minded partners to contribute in the new science and evidence to reach all young children with ECD. The Trust’s goal is to be a catalyst for doing things differently, in particular, to rid fragmentation and lack of coordination across ECD sectors. In response to evidence showing the importance of political will in turning the tide against the current poor access and quality of ECD. Even before conception, starting with a mother’s health and social economic conditions, the early years of a child’s life form a fundamental foundation that determines whether a child will survive and thrive optimally.