UNCDF partnered with Zoona Malawi to implement the Leveraging Gender Balance Project.

The project intended to help agents and tellers (especially women) understand and pursue entrepreneurial opportunities within Zoona. Often, Zoona agents and tellers saw themselves as “employees” of Zoona and did not realize their entrepreneurial status, role, or opportunities within Zoona. For the first time, in partnership with UNCDF, Zoona rolled out the Zoona Entrepreneurship Academy that introduced modules such as Foundational (Basics on finance, financial services and relevant technology), Zoona Products & Services, Customer Service and Customer Satisfaction, Cultivating an Entrepreneurial Mindset, Life skills (time management, setting goals, managing personal finances).

For the first time, this also included a formal description of a career pathway that a teller or agent has access to when working within Zoona (see below).

Agents at Zoona

This has had a strong impact on agents and tellers working on Zoona. Quotes from Agents and Tellers who received the first training from the Academy are listed below:

“I feel confident about myself. I feel I can achieve anything I want. Being a woman, I feel I can compete with men now.”

"The joy that comes with owning your own business is unexplainable."

“I now walk with my head high.” “I now believe that I can be whoever I want to become in life.”

“I learned things that I have never been taught: I had no idea what it meant to be an entrepreneur until the training. I learned that customer care is key to having a successful business.”

“I feel empowered as a woman and believe that can do even better. Zoona should not stop this act of empowerment. This is what we needed as women to showcase our importance in our communities.”

“I want to go back to school, open more outlets and be a motivational teacher.”

This has been an important learning for Zoona that will likely scale within their Zambia operation as well. It is the first time the Academy was fully launched to help train a better, smarter, more agile set of entrepreneurs within Malawi. It is hoped that this initiative has not only changed Zoona Malawi but will also assist other DFS players and other employers in general to emulate this example on and learn how to communicate to employees, especially women on the potential for growth and career pathways within their organizations. This will be key to building Malawi’s Digital Economy.

Watch this video to learn more.