Chimwemwe Chitambala
My name is Chimwemwe Chitambala, a third year student at the University of Zambia. I am passionate about working with young people and women who strive to be better people through learning and sharing with others.
I believe young people are today’s agents of change; hence, I have decided to take up any opportunity to create the change I want to see in my community, country, and Africa at-large. Being a young person at this time is a privilege that will only once live in my life. With that said, I have spent the last five years of my life creating the community I envision by being a solution to various challenges faced in the community.
Early last year, I spontaneously found myself interacting with UNZA Veg (traders that knock door to door selling vegetables and fruits in student hostels) asking them how they generally run their business. From our conversations I was hit by the fact that these people work from sunrise to sunset rushing to get orders (vegetables and fruits) from farms and dedicating the whole day to selling and the routine continues every day of the week yet their businesses are at the same level because of limited funds, lack of basic budget, saving, and borrowing information, and a huge scale of personal responsibilities.
Being passionate about community development, the personal conversations I had with traders prompted me to write a project concept note on young women's social and economic empowerment which I submitted to the Pollination Project. I was fortunate enough to be awarded a Seed Grant. Consequently, the Seed Grant opened doors to Embrace Her, an organization that my friends and I established to foster the social and economic development of young people in the community.
In view of the aforementioned, Embrace Her (a youth-led non-profit organization) was established with a commitment to eradicating poverty in Zambia, and hopefully the rest of the world. The organization fosters the social and economic development of women and youth through progressive programs in order to create sustainable development. Additionally, the organization provides opportunities to increase economic participation for both young people and women to bridge the gap of financial inclusion.
Currently, we are implementing two projects in Lusaka, and Chongwe district. Embrace Her was our first project and inspiration behind the organization’s name. Embrace Her (Young Women Empowerment Initiative) was designed to help young women to tap into their potential and actively participate in social and economic activities aimed at transforming their lives. The project targets young women between 18-30 years running small businesses in the informal sector for survival. Through this project women easily access business loans with very low interest rates which relate with their business, learn and apply financial literacy and business management principles in order for them to generate funds to reinvest in their business for growth and expansion. This project aims to see young women become financially independent, manage to take their kids to school, obtain a trade skill if they desire to get education, meet their basic needs at home, and overall, realize their potential personally and business-wise.
Additionally, our project offers monthly business evaluations to women and gives them a chance to share their challenges, with a view to finding long term solutions. We want to see women improve and grow their business so they can be socially and economically independent, especially in poor communities where gender based violence, HIV/AIDS, malaria, unemployment, teenage pregnancy, and low literary are thriving.
Our second project, the Young and Smart financial education project was birthed after concluding that young people have the zeal, drive, passion and need to conduct business, but they lack personal and business financial management knowledge and skills to grow their finances for personal use or business use.
Moreover, with a high number of emerging young entrepreneurs, we believe that financial education is essential for young people as they make a shift from dependence to independence. Also, we are in an era where the economically strong are guaranteed stable business and lives. Therefore, understanding the importance of financial education is important. To catch up with the times we are living in, Embrace Her is implemented in schools, and community outreach financial education programs for young people between the ages of 15-24 years (as a complimentary program).
I am #LivingForChange because I want to see communities where young people and women are financial included and are fully participating in the social and economic development of their countries.
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