Matte with a colleague. Her organisation focuses on solving African problems. PHOTO by Isaac Ssejjombwe
African dream: Her dream is to see African women embracing their beauty and feeling comfortable in their skin. Although her organisation is still limited with resources, Sinelisiwe Matte has hope she will achieve this.
What is the name of your business?
Africa Elevation.
Why did you choose that name?
Because our objective is to elevate African youth to their utmost potential by creating and establishing platforms.
When did the organisation start and how much did you invest?
Africa Elevation is a social enterprise that was founded in 2013. I would say I invested a lot of my time and a sizeable portion of my salary from my job as an organisational psychologist with Trans African Management Institute.
Where did you get the idea from?
Essentially, the idea of Africa Elevation was derived from a deep seated love and hope for a better future, one that we all can achieve if we work together.
Where are your offices located?
We are located at Bukoto Street, Plot 100, Kamwokya.
What events have you handled so far?
My Crown My Pride is our debut event and given the high turn up and how well it was received, we definitely have more in the pipeline.
Why did Africa Elevation come up with such an event?
My crown, My pride is about celebrating the African woman. As a women-led and youth-led organisation, we were very excited about this event. Essentially, we conducted a one-hour dialogue that addressed concerns around perceptions of beauty about women of colour and how this has affected our pride in our ethnicity. A number of questions were asked, such as why we are buying more weaves and more skin lightening creams as women of colour.
What challenges do you face in this organisation?
Well, we face one major challenge and that is insufficient resources to push Africa Elevation’s impact and scope on the number of African youth and women we aim at empowering.
How different is Africa Elevation from other NGOs?
We are a social enterprise, not an NGO and our niche would be the design of projects and platforms that strictly multiply and spread the African contribution to African affluence. It is our firm conviction that African problems need African solutions and we hope to be one of the key players who support that.
Where do you see Africa Elevation in the next five years?
We are expanding to other countries and relentlessly tackling issues around poverty as that in essence sums up our focus, which is to gradually design and establish platforms and projects that will provide and make room for African affluence.
