By Paschal Norbert
CALIFORNIA, APRIL 11,2023 (CISA) – Three Catholic Sisters from Zambia and Uganda have each been awarded an investment grant of $25,000 from the US African Development Foundation (USADF) to support their various community-based projects in the just concluded Builders of Africa Future’s Awards by the Africa Diaspora Network (ADN).
Sr Jane Frances Kabagaaju of the Congregation of the Daughters of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus (Uganda), Sr Christabel Juunza Mwangani, a member of the Religious Sisters of the Holy Spirit (Zambia) and Sr Rose Thumitho, LSOSF, of the Little Sisters of St. Francis (Uganda), were among the 11 entrepreneurs in the Builders of Africa’s Future (BAF) 2022 Cohort selected from African led and owned organizations across the continent: Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, Morocco, Tanzania, and Zambia.
According to ADN, “This funding will be used to support the African organizations honoured in the BAF 2022 cohort. Each organization is impact-oriented, African-led and -owned, and represents the healthcare, education, agriculture, renewable energy, and menstrual health sectors. Since 2018, ADN has recognized and catalyzed 53 African startups in 5 cohorts, recognizing the rising stars of African entrepreneurship as they build the continent’s future through nonprofit and for-profit businesses addressing the needs of their communities.”
Sr Jane Frances Kabagaaju, a healthcare professional is in charge clinical officer of Nkuruba Health Centre, located in the rural area of Kabarole District, Uganda, while Sr Rose Thumitho is the co-founder of Mother Kevin Providence Social Enterprise, Uganda, a social enterprise reaching out with compassion to vulnerable communities to empower them to grow their income and transform their livelihood through organic poultry and sustainable means of farming while caring for Mother Earth.
Sr. Juunza Christabel Mwangani leads the Emerging Farmers Initiative and also currently serves as Senior Hospital Administrator at Monze Mission Hospital, where she coordinates and supervises all the non-clinical departments and manages all developmental and income-generating activities of the Hospital.
“The future of Africa is in the hands of Africans. It is up to us to build our future; I will return home as an African to show concepts and African solutions for Africa”, said Sr Juunza at the awards.
The founder of the Emerging Farmers Initiative (EFI) says her project, which is situated in Mulando village, Mazabuka District, Zambia, “is meant to run in the context of a secondary school, as a production unit. Most schools focus only on academic learning. Through the Emerging Farmers Initiative, which houses our poultry, swine and egg production units; vegetable garden; fruit tree orchard; maize field and fish ponds, we will offer hands-on training to our pupils and life-transforming skills to young school dropouts and young families at risk. In the EFI, we prepare our students to face the real world.”
She explains “There are about 73 households in Mulando village with an average of eight members each. The main trade is subsistence farming, cattle rearing and crop production. Due to frequent droughts and total dependence on farming, the levels of poverty are still high. The illiteracy level is also still high, estimated at 25 percent and half of the population in the area is under 20 years of age.”
The Builders of Africa’s Future program (BAF), according to ADN, provides the opportunity for entrepreneurs to pitch their businesses at the annual African Diaspora Investment Symposium. Itcelebrates innovation and impact in early-stage African enterprises and identifies African entrepreneurs running early-stage nonprofits or for-profit businesses that address key community needs through technology or differentiated business models.
Founded in 2010, the African Diaspora Network (ADN) is a Silicon Valley-based nonprofit that promotes entrepreneurship and economic development on the African continent and in the communities where the African diaspora lives. We bring together Africans on the continent, in the diaspora, and friends of Africa to actualize their full potential, activate their entrepreneurial spirit, and strategically mobilize financial and intellectual resources to ensure a brighter future for the African continent.
