HerStory Podcast Series
HerStory Podcast Series
Episode 29: Meet Mwanaidi, YCI's HerStart Operations & Finance Manager in Tanzania
In this episode, Riley Chervinski, HerStart Communications Fellow, speaks with Mwanaidi Abdulla about her role as YCI's HerStart Operations & Finance Manager in Tanzania.
Mwanaidi discusses the challenges faced by women in Zanzibar, including low financial literacy, negative societal norms and unemployment. She shares how YCI's HerStart program collaborates with Canadian volunteer fellows and local partner organizations to support young women to start their own businesses, gain economic empowerment and break gender barriers.
Welcome to Youth Challenge International's Hair Start Hair Story podcast series Youth Challenge International OYCI launched the Hair Start Innovate the Future program in 2020 as part of our initiative to advance women's equality globally, our goal is to provide 10,000 women in Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda. With the resources and supports they need to successfully launch and grow their social businesses. We are sharing real stories of young women who are leading change in their communities. Y C's , hair Start Innovate. The Future program is funded in passed by the government of Canada to progress Canada's feminist International assistance policy. Learn more@y.org or hair start.org .
Speaker 2:Hello, my name is Riley and I'm a communications fellow with Youth Challenge International's, her start program in Tanzania. Today I'm speaking to Moana Abdullah about the Transformative Her Start program here in Zanzibar. Juana is the finance and operations manager. With her start and her journey with her start began in 2020 when the program was just beginning. Juana plays a pivotal role in guiding Canadian volunteer fellows through their journeys, leveraging their skills to support her Start's mission to help young women entrepreneurs grow their social and environmental impact through business skills, coaching, mentorship, and training. Throughout the episode, Juan and I discussed the challenges that Zanzibar women face in finance and entrepreneurship and the evolution of her start in Zanzibar, sharing success stories that underscore the program's influence on the community. Looking ahead, Juan shares her vision for hers Startts next phase in Zanzibar, and makes a compelling case for why Canadians, especially potential funders and volunteers should engage with and support the Hers Start Initiative. Juan and I are speaking today in the YCI Hers Start Office in Zanzibar. Join us as we uncover the stories of empowerment, innovation, and collaboration that are shaping the future of Zanzibar women entrepreneurs. Moana . To start off, can you share a brief overview of your journey and how you became involved with Y C's her START program in Zanzibar?
Speaker 3:Hello, my name is Juan Abula from Zanzibar Tanzania. My education background is International Business Administration and I specialized in accounting previously working with Youth Challenge International Hair Start Program in Zanzibar. I was working with the local organization as a grant manager, but I was more interested in working with international organization where there's gender inclusion, flexibility, learn centered and multicultural environments where people from different country come together with innovative ideas to make positive impact for the community. Over the past three years, I hear witnessed a dramatic changes to young women in term of their leadership, potential confidence building, business ownership, and the multiplier effect , um, of their business in the community.
Speaker 2:So what exactly is your role within her start?
Speaker 3:My role with has START is , is operation and finance manager is to oversee the project plan is implemented, is per the budget, and ensuring that the overall program and office operation are running smoothly in general.
Speaker 2:So in Zanzibar specifically, what are some of the key challenges that women are facing , um, especially regarding finance or entrepreneurship?
Speaker 3:Through my experience , um, the key challenging that women face in regard to the finance and entrepreneurship, firstly we can say lack of financial literacy. Um, women have a limited knowledge in term of record keeping of their business finance , uh, doing budgeting for their business and also personal finance , uh, management. And we can see most of , uh, women who engage in entrepreneurship use their business finances for their , uh, home expenses. So this limited them to sustain their business and to grow their business, but also , uh, lack of financial support. And this can be in two ways. Uh , first we can say like , um, the loan requirements that are required by the bankers, for example, women has to submit like , um, the house ownership is a collateral , um, behind them because most of , uh, this woman who are engaging in the small business do not own house or they don't have , um, physical thing that can , they can use as a collateral , uh, but also this financial institution, they are providing loans and this loan have high interest and as we can consider like the religion belief of women in Zanzibar as a Muslim. And if they understand like , um, this loan have interest, which in regard to the religious , uh, is not allowed and they become resistant to you this , uh, opportunity that's a available in the market. And we can also say like , um, the key challenges is this woman, they have no innovation in their business. Most of them, they pursue business that is already in the market . Everyone is doing it. They don't use , um, innovation or innovative idea to like differentiate themself , uh, with other business owners. And this also limit them to assist the market because of low quality of product they produce and the competition and everything else that is in that uh , aspect. So , um, they cannot compete with other business as the result. Re they remain small for a long time and at the end they end up clothing their business. So those are the key challenges they are facing.
Speaker 2:So how does the local culture and societal norms impact women's opportunities and their aspirations?
Speaker 3:There is local culture and social norm that also impacts , uh, inspiration for women and opportunity to do their dream or to pursue their dream. Um, we can say women in Zanzibar are more likely to be unemployed and on low income , but also the priority system , uh, in Zanzibar culture constitutes barrier to assessing decision making role. And this can be in their home, it can be within the community and also it can be within the Constitution. Um , this, most of women stay as a gatekeeper. They are just , uh, depending on their husband to provide with them for them, but also negative community perception where people perceive women as marginalized and so they are limited to , uh, to do any of economic activity for themself . There should be someone to take care of them. So these , uh, kind of , uh, social norm , uh, really impact young generation to pursue their dream and , uh, contribute to the economic activity. Uh , previously it was difficult for someone , some woman to be in my position, but as you can see, I am , uh, here in Zanzibar office as operation and finance manager. So I am a role model in the society, but also we have a female , uh, president, president. So there's a dramatic changes in term of , uh, how the local culture and social norm was before and now the kind of , um, uh, improvement. But some of this , uh, practice still exists or maybe we can say in rural area.
Speaker 2:And you've been with her start since the very beginning, so in 2020. Um, so how have you seen the Hers Start program evolve over the last three years?
Speaker 3:The Heart Start program evolve over the, over the last three years. And this is because of how we are responding to the society need . So through the implementation we learn, we unlearn and we relearn to adapt new strategies on the best way to engage and deliver to the community. Um, for example, previously we are providing the catalyst fund to young women is one category, but as we learn , um, now we differentiated the funding into two category . Now we have the validation fund where we are giving an opportunity for this young woman to validate their ideas and then they can apply for the growth funding where they come with the strategy , uh, the six month strategy, one year strategy on how they can use the fund to grow their business. So as regards , uh, with the Has Start program, my role also is to coach this young woman on their business, on how they manage their finances, but also to assist and manage the overall project in order to ensure that we are binding to the value of money as party YCI policy.
Speaker 2:And are there any particular success stories or transformative moments that really highlights the impact of her start on women in the Zanzibar community?
Speaker 3:The success story, we have a lot of success story, but I want to charge on one of our Catalyst fund recipient. Her name is Monira . She is doing an environmental , um, business where she is collecting a garbage at Juliane area and then she transformed this garbage into fertilizer and chicken feed mine's business, employ more than 10 young women in in her region and also her business contribute to the value chain of other economic activities.
Speaker 2:How does her start specifically address the following international development issues, including gender equality, environment and climate change and human rights and inclusion?
Speaker 3:So the HASAD program specifically focusing on marginalized group , uh, such as widow that do not have alternative source of income to empower them to start their own social business. Um, and in term of environment and climate change, the kind of business that we are funding are those social business that are environmental friendly. There are , uh, there is gender inclusion and they provide economic benefit for the community at large. But also within the the program we are partner with Practical Permaculture Institute, Zanzibar, our , our partner focused champion championing the environmental issue, food security and organic farming. So in term of environmental and climate change , um, also we are providing the partner innovation fund where the partner institution design and implement program that are tackling environmental challenges here in Zanzibar . Um, they are also come up with a project that empowering young women, specifically those who experience gender-based violence. So this, you can see there's also, we are focusing on inclusion in different angle of the program. Women economic , uh, uh, program economic ownership so that this woman, they can control their own income. So the HAS START program specifically charge , uh, this development issue gender equality, environmental and climate changes, human rights and inclusion , um, in a different element in a different angle.
Speaker 2:Thanks Moana . Is there anything else you wanna add that I didn't ask you or any last kind of thoughts or final words that you wanted to share with everyone?
Speaker 3:I have , uh, seen how we are changing , uh, the manual. We are changing the, the way how we deliver the training. We are changing the way how we are engaging the young women , the way how we are defining the element of the program so as to be able to to, to reach those , uh, people that we are targeting to . So the program actually impacted , um, this young woman in a different way. And yeah, it's really amazed seeing , um, their business actually come to life and they are growing up. It really something that , uh, really touched my heart. Yeah. So that is my, my story. Thank you.
Speaker 2:Thank you Moana .
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us today and learning about how you challenge International has partnered with young women to advance gender equality globally and create a social entrepreneurship ecosystem with the positive impact for all. If you enjoy this hairstyle , innovate the Future podcast episode, please subscribe and share our episodes on social media. A special thanks to the fellows that volunteer their time in Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda, who help create these episodes, Y C's , hair Start Innovate the future and fellowship programs are funded through the government of Canada's volunteer corporation program, providing skilled Canadians opportunities to volunteer with global partners and advanced Canada's feminist international assistance policy. Join us and thousands of young people around the globe creating a better future together. Learn more@y.org or .
