Impact Stories & Blogs

Falecia Massacky, Tanzania (Cohort 11)

The beginning of 2016 took me into major career shifts. I had started a new path as an assistant lecturer in economics at Ardhi University in Tanzania officially and I had started Mimi Ni Nani, a social enterprise that invests in African children and youth through leadership development so as to raise a generation of ethical, visionary, innovative and entrepreneurial leaders who will disrupt the status quo.

These tasks required a lot of tact and leadership skills to be effectively executed. I remember one day just as I was about to walk out of the office, I saw one of my friends in the next office sharing the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People with his team members. I asked to join in for few minutes and I ended up staying for the whole session in which I found to be so interesting and engaging, even though I had read the book before. This friend’s way of sharing inspired me greatly and when he told us that it was all from the YALI RLC EA, I decided to apply for the program.

The whole package of YALI RLC East Africa program was an added value to my life as it compelled me to become a better person, a change maker and a servant leader. I also got a better understanding of Africa in a more personal way that stirred me to be responsible. Additionally, through my experience I made friends who have turned into family over time. This network is my net worth for I am already exploring and benefiting from their resources in one way or another, and I am looking forward to doing business, projects and create stronger connections together.

All of what I do today and every other day is getting better because of some ingredients from my experience, such as training on business strategy and getting access to business mentoring and coaching, things that are quite useful to Mimi Ni Nani and to me personally.

The quality of Mimi Ni Nani work and products is also getting better every day. I utilized the methodology on how to run a group discussion from the trainings and went on to apply it with our kids in school. It worked really well and kids enjoyed it too. My pitching skills have also grown a lot especially after my YALI experience. We just had our first pitch presentation in an event recently and it was well put, on time, and given great feedback.

Through the knowledge and skills I got from YALI, Mimi Ni Nani has strategized its approach and now aims to disrupt the traditional education system and the gap of mentoring.