Ellen Chilemba founded her social enterprise, Tiwale, which teaches women craft and business skills, when she was just 17 years old. Now, at 21, she is hoping to build a state-of-the-art women’s center in the Ntsiriza Community in Malawi.
What’s the best part of your job?
It is the ideas that burst up once we get together. It’s amazing the strength we find in a community. Whenever our community meets, business ideas and education aspirations are always floating around. We are a positive group. My favorite moments are when a member has an idea and another member suggests a connection or supplier. Even though money is essential to sustain our opportunities, the biggest benefit is mobilizing each other.
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Hello everyone!
I know this isn’t what I usually post, but I wanted to bring attention to this amazing campaign that I am working with.
The organization is called Tiwale and they’re raising funds to build a women’s education center in Malawi for women who didn’t have the opportunities to go to school when they were younger due to poverty, social stigma, and early marriage. There is more info on the campaign, as well!
Feel free to message me with any questions you might have.
When Ellen Chilemba was 12 years old, she started her own baking business at a local church. She sold cakes and cookies for a profit and was able to grow her small business into a successful bakery. This was the beginning of Chilemba’s exciting journey in entrepreneurship.
In 2012, Chilemba was featured by the social media phenomenon Humans of New York with a post quoting her intention to start a “micro-finance organization to help women in Malawi get interest free loans”. Fans were redirected to her Facebook page a year later and the social enterprise quickly collected followers and established a significant presence in the online community.
This micro-finance organization is called Tiwale.
It aims to help women lift themselves from poverty to achieve financial freedom and realize their dreams. So far, the group has helped 40 women start small businesses and trained over 150 as part of their entrepreneurship program. Tiwale's newest project shows women how to design and dye-print material that is sold to Malawi's fabric-export traders and shipped worldwide from Chilemba's MHC dorm room. The fabrics design project will result in the creation of a new market, which will bring in new income into the community.
By eventually increasing the daily income from $1 to $7 daily, women will be able to afford more daily expenses and on top of that be able to afford educational fees for themselves and their children. This will mean at least 3000 children will definitely be educated.
For all her success, Ellen Chilemba was honoured as one of Forbes “Africa’s Top 30 Under 30,” a list highlighting Africa’s most promising social entrepreneurs. She is thinking ahead to a future in which Tiwale has grown independent of her. She hopes to invest herself in the tourism industry and the education system in Malawi and ease the difficult economic circumstances that people face in her country. This young, budding social entrepreneur is driven to create change.
Stay tuned for a VEREA exclusive interview with Ellen Chilemba!
