Inspiring Women’s Leadership in Business, the Private Sector, and Beyond

International Women’s Day (IWD) 2025 in Malawi was marked by high-impact events that embraced a “business unusual” concept to promote women’s leadership as a catalyst for transformative growth and development across sectors—including business and the private sector.

In collaboration with partners, UNDP Malawi hosted a Women-Led Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Clinic in Blantyre. The clinic, led by the Deputy Minister of Gender, Halima Daudi, brought together notable women leaders from the private sector, academia, and the UN system.

SME Clinic: Women Entrepreneurs Taking the Lead

The clinic featured motivational stories from successful women, sharing their journeys to leadership in influential spaces. Over 100 women-led SMEs participated, with a shared vision to contribute to the transformation of Malawi’s business landscape.

Among the featured entrepreneurs was Ruth Kalima, CEO of Roseberry Farms, who shared her experience of being supported by the UNDP. She spoke about being inspired to participate in a fund previously dominated by male entrepreneurs and how the banking sector supported her in meeting the matching fund requirements.

Roseberry Farms partnered with the Malawi Innovation Challenge Fund (MICF) to establish a supply chain for smallholder farmers of high-value horticultural crops in Thyolo district. With a US$500,000 contribution from MICF and a US$250,000 investment from the company, the project responded to the growing demand for quality vegetables. It strengthened the out-grower program, constructed an anchor farm with greenhouses, established a packhouse for processing and packaging, and implemented a robust sales and marketing strategy.

The project enabled a competitive new brand to launch that secured retail partnerships with Shoprite and Peoples Trading Centre while increasing smallholder farmer incomes to over $2,311. The initiative underscored Roseberry Farms’ commitment to inclusive agricultural development and its leadership in Malawi’s horticultural value chain.

UN IWD in Lilongwe: Leadership Reflections and Strategic Calls

In Lilongwe, the UN International Women’s Day celebrations featured UN women leaders, representatives of women traditional leaders, and notable women from the banking and private sectors.

During a high-powered panel discussion, the UNDP Resident Representative, Ms Fenella Frost, shared success stories of women entrepreneurs supported by UNDP’s private sector initiatives. In her remarks, she said:

“I cannot hide both my excitement seeing women growing in the business sector and my disappointment seeing that their businesses are not yet growing to big corporations and traders.”

She emphasised the need for collaborative strategies to elevate women-led SMEs, especially as the country pushes toward achieving the 2030 Agenda and fulfilling commitments under the Beijing Platform for Action.

The UNFPA Resident Representative, Ms Nelida Rodrigues, emphasised the importance of empowering young girls to realise their full potential and to make informed choices regarding their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). She addressed structural and traditional barriers such as teenage pregnancies and underage marriages, which remain prevalent in Malawi and the SADC region, with a child marriage rate of 37%, a slight reduction from the previous assessment.

She highlighted the newly adopted Ending Child Marriage Strategy (2024), which aims to reduce child marriages by 20 per cent through initiatives that promote girls’ education, transform harmful social norms, and strengthen legal protections.

She stated:

“It starts at the lower stages of life of the Malawian girls, just like any girl globally. If most girls are not able to make good choices or access comprehensive sexuality education, teenage pregnancies and underage marriages will remain a huge barrier to the realisation of the girls’ full potential to contribute to this world’s leadership spaces.”

Traditional Leadership and Positive Cultural Change

Group Village Head Zilanie Gondwe, a former leader in the tourism industry and now a traditional leader, shared her efforts in promoting safe spaces for girls and women. She underscored using positive traditional norms as a long-term approach to transform societal stereotypes about women in leadership.

She also acknowledged that fellow women's traditional leaders and male chiefs actively promote gender equality and lead transformative change in their communities.

Mentorship and Inspiration: Women Lifting Women

The Deputy CEO of NBS, the UN Women Resident Representative, and a female representative from the Reserve Bank of Malawi shared inspiring stories of how mentorship played a vital role in shaping their careers.

Ms Letty Chiwara, UN Women's Resident Representative, recounted:

“One time in Turkey, I met a woman who happily greeted me, saying I inspired her back in Zimbabwe. She had grown into a big trader and was always grateful for my motivational coaching and mentorship, which inspired her to grow in the business sector. I was shocked to see she could remember me from several years back and hear that my mentorship helped her to challenge all odds in the business sector and excel in life.”

Ms Temwani Simwaka, Deputy CEO of NBS, emphasised that mentorship remains one of the key strategies for unlocking the potential of young girls in the workplace and supporting them in pursuing bigger dreams.

A Reserve Bank of Malawi representative, Ms Hema Honde, shared how the NBS Deputy CEO inspired her journey, from Personal Assistant to Head of Public Relations, through resilience, continued education, and career growth.

UNDP Showcases Women-Led Enterprise Support

Some examples of women-led enterprises supported by UNDP include:

1. Drone Link – Rachel Kumwenda

UNDP invested $40,000 through the Growth Accelerator Project, which was matched with a $12,000 contribution from the entrepreneur.

Founded in 2021 by Rachel Kumwenda, a University of Malawi graduate, Drone Link is a female-led tech start-up offering affordable, efficient geospatial data services through drones and digital tools. The company has worked with clients such as UNICEF and GLOBE, mapped over 270 hectares, and introduced STEM training in drone operations, robotics, and coding.

2. Estrell Trading – Ms. Cecelia Rice

Under Malawi Innovation Challenge Fund (MICF) Round 4, Estrell Trading Ltd received a $311,938 grant to develop a groundnut supply chain and produce peanut butter sachets for low-income households. Between 2019 and 2022, the project engaged 2,500 smallholder farmers (63% women), sourced 144MT of groundnuts, and created 50 jobs. Estrell launched 150g and 400g sachets, sold over 1.4 million units, and earned MK432 million (US$421,000) in revenue.

3. Mtende Women’s Cooperative – Elesia Kalua

Over 200 rural women were supported in business management, entrepreneurship, and clean energy use.

Elesia Kalua, Chairperson of Mtende Women Cooperative, said:

“In the beginning, our spouses and community used to ridicule us and say we could not run successful businesses being women. However, they were surprised that following the training we got, we run successful businesses and have been able to support our families – now our spouses and community provide more support while others come along for us to train them in what we learnt – we have trained over 150 more women who are now operating several businesses as well and with improved livelihoods. We appreciate UNDP support through this project, and we are asking for the project to continue – we are growing to high levels – next, you will see us buying a bread van to deliver our products to several sites – we are unstoppable.”

The Power of Sisterhood

The IWD 2025 celebrations reinforced the message from UN Assistant Secretary-General Ahunna Eziakonwa during the IWD 2024 Gender Equality High-Level Dialogue:

Women leaders have the responsibility to support and mentor young women and girls to realise their full potential.

This year's events echoed that powerful call—underscoring the importance of collaboration, mentorship, and strategic investment to break barriers and accelerate progress toward gender equality by 2030.