Four of Notre Dame’s 2019 cohort of Mandela Washington Fellows have received grant funding for their developing businesses. Simba Mubvuma (Zimbabwe), Benedicta Adwoa Koranteng (Ghana), Michael Malusa Kimollo (Tanzania), and Sithole Bertha (eSwatini) are among the 42 young African social entrepreneurs who will receive at least $10,000 in seed capital to support the growth of their company.
The funding has come from The U.S. Agency for international Development (USAID) and The U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF), with support from Citi Foundation, and will provide young entrepreneurs with the tools they need to invest in their own communities. All of the awardees are 2019 Mandela Washington Fellows under the U.S. Government’s Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI).
The four Fellows took part in a six-week Business in Leadership Institute as part of the program at Notre Dame:
- Sithole Bertha (pictured bottom right), Kuanza Dreams Delivery PTY LTD: a platform for people to order fresh, organic fruits and vegetables grown in the community and delivered using bicycles to their home.
- Michael Malusa Kimollo (pictured bottom left), Clean Collect: building a transparent, easy and accountable way for small and medium sized solid waste management companies in Tanzania to receive payments and manage financial and administrative records for their clients.
- Benedicta Adwoa Koranteng (pictured top right), CitiFoods Limited: a premier agri-food business adding value and finding market for fresh farm products through committed partnerships with smallholder rural farmers in Ghana.
- Simba Mubvuma (pictured top left), LawBasket: an access to justice enterprise that hedges legal risk for small businesses, startups, and community non-profit organizations.
More details about the award, including a complete list of award winners, can be found on the USAID website.
This piece was developed from a press release originally published by The U.S. Agency for international Development (USAID) on January 22, 2020.
The Pulte Institute for Global Development – an integral part of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame – works to address global poverty and inequality through policy, practice, and partnership.
Contact: Heather Asiala, Communications Program Manager, Pulte Institute for Global Development, h.asiala@nd.edu.