Growing up in a Village and raised by great grandmother, i studied under a kerosene lamp and every month i missed school due to sickness caused by the fumes from the kerosene lamps. Its an experience i don't wish any child or woman to go through. My great grandmothers meager earning she used to have was mostly spent on my medication, while my uncles were busy abusing my aunties and spending their money on beers. I grew up knowing the challenges women go through. I grew up knowing that when a woman is empowered then the whole village is empowered. I saw it through my great grandmother Sofia and through my aunties.

Its this experience that has shaped my career path. I chose to be a Social Entrepreneur so that i can create opportunities for women and girls. So that i can enable women and girls have equal accesses to products and services that can put them on a road to economic prosperity.

For the past 3 years i set up Kukula Solar, a social business that seek to distribute 100,000 solar products to rural and peri urban communities of Zambia. 90% of these solar products will be put in the hands of women and girls so that they can be empowered to do more. For girls, to study for longer hours and for women to work for longer hours. Its here at Zidisha were we launched this social business and together we have distributed over 3,000 solar lanterns. We still have 97,000 solar lanterns to distribute, thats why i invite all our lenders here to help us get these life changing products to the women and girls I'm so passionate about!

With this microloan, I plan to restock clean cookstoves and solar lanterns to distribute to my customers in Lundazi and Petauke District of Eastern Province.

The total units I will buy with this loan will be 600 and will help families in rural communities of Lundazi and Petauke to be able to use solar lanterns instead of kerosene and also cook under a smart clean stove using biomass such as cow dung instead of cutting trees.

This business continues to create benefits for families we distribute to and also to the environment. We are encouraging people to stop cutting trees and using dirty sources of energy for lighting and cooking. This helps us to conserve our forest and also help combat climate change.