Raised Blue Collar

Ellen Chilemba- My interests keep expanding

It may take forever for others to make a difference for various reasons, while others feel they are too young to get involved, some others feel they are too old to do something. It is all about missing out on an opportunity to impact a life.To most people, taking an entrepreneurship  class or lesson is the last thing they could think of. Most University students and graduates today are on the look out for white collar jobs. Everybody wants to be attached to some tittle and office as an affiliate of some institution.While this is true with many students and graduates today, 20 year old Ellen Chilemba chose to be different. She chose to brand herself in a unique way. She took the path most young people  would admire to venture into only if they have the zeal. At 17, Ellen never felt to be too young to set up a project that changed lives of people who were a number of years older than herself. Today, Ellen is known beyond Malawi because of her "TIWALE" initiative.

It all began when she was 16. Ellen Chilemba was born and raised in Malawi. Like every other Malawian child, Ellen went through the Malawi system of education untill she was 16 when she had to leave Malawi for Johannesburg in South Africa.One may be wondering what took Ellen to South Africa? Well,doors had opened for Ellen to continue her studies at the African Leadership Academy (ALA), an institution that seek to enable lasting peace and prosperity in Africa as it develop and connect the continent's future leaders. Her enrollment at African Leadership Academy was more less a default push for Ellen into a pool of future leaders as she was now at a right place to be molded into the leader she could imagine to be.Whilst at African Leadership Academy, Ellen pursued studies in leadership, entrepreneurship and African Studies.

Soon as Ellen got into this program, her interests expanded. "With every aspect of my studies, it kept fueling my interests in art, entrepreneurship, women and youth Empowernment." she said. Before an academic year past,Ellen already became one of the 60 youths from around the globe to patronise the Global Changemakers global youth Summit where she convened with other young global changemakers exchanging best practices and developing action plans for projects that tackle issues ranging from AIDS & HIV, corruption to education and human rights.

Ellen- Presenting her project

Something extraordianry happened soon as Ellen graduated.She was 17 then.She decided to take a year off. She got back home to Malawi and launched her own project branded "TIWALE" (Let us shine). In an effort to empower youths and women, Ellen made a choice to set Tiwale as a youth-led community based organisation that sought  to empower young Malawian women by providing entrepreneurship opportunities through leadership workshops, microfinance loans, and vocational skills training as well as school grants. 

In recognition of her passion and contribution to development, Ellen was In April 2013, granted the Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Development Work. She was also one of We Are Family Foundation’s 2013 Thirty Global Teen Leaders. As Ellen continues with her entrepreneurship, it keeps getting better daily, weekly, monthly as well as yearly. The impact is notable and one can never miss a part of Malawi  being shaped by such a young and brave mind. In 2014, Ellen was named Young Entrepreneur of the Week by the International Youth Forum. As of 2015, Ellen is named on Forbes top 30 young entrepreneurs list. The young Malawian is now a rising sophomore at Mount Holyoke College in the United States of America (USA) pursuing a special digital art major in combination with economics besides running Tiwale.

Tiwale is still growing and changing many lives for the better. So far, Tiwale has helped 40 women start small businesses through microloans, it has sponsored secondary school education for two women and taught entrepreneurship skills to 150 participants. Tiwale has also set up a new project that focus on teaching women how to design and dye-print material that is sold to Malawi's fabric-export traders and shipped worldwide.

Fo all the young people out there who feel too young to make a difference and lead greater impacts, Ellen has set a very good ground to let everyone know its possible, to take the challenge and lead an impacting change in our communities.

NB : This profile is shared for motivational purposes, feel free to use it to motivate young women and girls who you know are still not aware of their potential. If you are looking for mentorship or need more details please contact the blog owner (alibewawo@gmail.com). young women achievers are also welcome to share their profiles and achievements:Are you one or do you know a young woman whose achievements and story will motivate and encourage girls to stay in school? send me an email and the story will be featured here.

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