By Linda Latsko Lockhart, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Global Give Back Circle*
The first time Hope Murera met Mirriam Mueni, she brought her whole family. Her children, her sister, everyone.
“I wanted her to feel she was coming into a real space, not just a formal meeting,” Hope told me.
It was 2014. Mirriam was a teenager from Kasikeu, a rural village in Makueni County, Kenya. She had lost her mother at the age of nine and was raised by her grandparents and an uncle, subsistence farmers, for whom educating children was a daily struggle. Despite these challenges, Mirriam earned a scholarship to Starehe Girls Centre, one of Kenya’s most competitive secondary schools.
Through Global Give Back Circle’s mentorship and scholarship program, Hope and Merriam were matched. Although Hope was CEO of ZEP-RE Insurance and one of Kenya’s prominent business leaders, she had once been ‘that girl’ herself and understood firsthand the challenges Merriam faced.
This is the story I return to whenever I am asked about the importance of private sector engagement in shifting the scales for gender equity.
Hope did not mentor from a distance. She showed up fully, guiding Mirriam through secondary school, university applications, and her first internship. Through ZEP-RE’s philanthropy, Mirriam graduated from the University of Nairobi. When she later applied for postgraduate studies, Hope stood beside her at every milestone.
Mirriam went on to become a Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. She later returned to Kenya, stepped into leadership, and today mentors the next generation of girls within our network.
“Hope did not just mentor me,” Mirriam told me. “She believed in me before I believed in myself. That changes everything.”
Hope put it simply: “I invest in Mirriam because I see myself. I was once that girl who needed someone to open a door. Now it is my turn.”
This is what a decade of investment in women looks like. Not charity. Not benevolence. Investment in people, in potential, and in a future that multiplies returns across families, communities, and economies.
Why African women
Africa is home to the world’s youngest population. More than 60 percent of Africans are under the age of 25, and by 2050 the continent’s population is expected to approach 2.5 billion. This demographic shift represents an extraordinary opportunity, but only if the right investments are made now.
Women make up more than half of Africa’s population and form the backbone of its informal economy. Yet they continue to face systemic barriers to education, finance, and leadership. In rural areas, many girls still contend with limited access to schooling, early marriage, and constrained economic opportunity.
And yet, when women gain access to education, capital, and mentorship, the results are consistently transformational. Development research shows that women are more likely than men to invest their income in the health, education, and well-being of their families, strengthening long-term economic stability.
The global economic case is equally clear. Analysis by the McKinsey Global Institute estimates that advancing gender equality could add up to 28 trillion dollars to global economic output. In Africa, where women led enterprises are more likely to employ other women, the multiplier effect is particularly strong.
Investing in African women is not only a moral imperative. It is a strategic economic decision.
Proven models that work
At Global Give Back Circle, with the support of partners and a global network of mentors, mainly from private sector organizations, including 700 mentors from Microsoft, we have supported over 6,000 girls and young women across Africa and Asia to gain economic agency and transition into dignified work.
In Kenya, evidence from the scale-up of our HER Lab model, in partnership with Mastercard Foundation, shows that 87 percent of young women who are given access to work-readiness skills are in paid employment, running businesses, or pursuing higher education. This progress is reinforced through community-based savings groups and our HER Financial Freedom SACCO, a partnership with Suze Orman, which has enabled over 700 unbanked rural women to access savings and credit, build assets, and strengthen financial resilience.
When you link all of this to our Give Back Commitment Model, you can see how these interventions generate ripple effects that extend beyond individual participants to families and communities.
The evidence is clear. The model works. What remains insufficient is the scale of investment needed to match the opportunity.
When public funding shrinks, private capital must close the gap
Today, these hard-won gains and similar others are under threat.
Global aid fell by up to 17 percent in 2025, following a 9 percent decline in 2024, as major donors, including France and Germany, made historic cuts. The United Kingdom, once a global leader in girls’ education, cut bilateral aid to Africa by 12%. The United States alone slashed overseas aid contracts by more than 90 percent, forcing programs across Africa, particularly those supporting girls’ education and health, to scale back or shut down.
As governments retreat from development assistance, responsibility is shifting. For private donors, foundations, and impact investors, this moment demands leadership, not hesitation.
Support organisations with proven track records. Treat investment in African women and girls not as a line in a philanthropy report, but as a stake in the future of the global economy.
When Mirriam became a Rhodes Scholar, Hope did more than open a door. She changed the trajectory of a family, a community, and a generation.
Now imagine what could happen if more of us decided that it is our turn.
Invest in African women and girls. This is not charity. It is one of the smartest investments we can make.
*Culled from April Edition of PAV Magazine. Linda Latsko Lockhart is the Founder and CEO of Global Give Back Circle, a serial social entrepreneur focused on the empowerment of women and girls in Africa and beyond. Named to Forbes “50 Over 50: Impact List”, she brings over 25 years of global leadership designing scalable, gender-based financial independence models. Through her organization, Lockhart helps marginalized women and girls gain education, financial tools, and lasting economic resilience.
Go Linda. You are a lives changer and you always keep the big picture and the human element in view.