Meet Mumpreneur Angela Kamanzi-from Rwanda. She shares her story on motherhood and her passion for business and empowering women in enterprise.

“I am from Rwanda and settled in Kenya 18 years ago with my family and am enjoying every bit of the experience. I am 47 years old, married and a mother of two young men aged 20 and 16.
In my journey in business, I’ve learned a lot though I feel I’m still in kindergarten given the size of my dreams, the knowledge I need to acquire and the mistakes I have to make in order to achieve them. I’m blessed with a group of supportive family members and friends who inspire and encourage me all along.

I started as a freelance writer in 2001 after reading What Colour Is Your Parachute by Richard N. Bolles. Doing the exercises in this book rekindled my passion for writing and, tired of tarmacking I decided to assist the government create jobs by creating mine! After two years of contributing to local and international publications, I started wondering how I could make the kind of income I wanted as a writer. That’s when I was introduced to network marketing through GNLD. Through this venture that lasted three years I got exposed to lessons in sales and marketing and books like Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Poor Dad, Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich and George S. Clason’s The Richest Man In Babylon; as well as stacks of audio tapes and videos from Jim Rohn, Zig Ziglar, Nassir Siddiki, Bob Proctor and many others. By the time I stopped network marketing to start Arkad World Limited with my husband, I was a completely different person; more focused, confident and with a clearer idea of what I wanted and how to achieve it.

The name of our company was inspired by Arkad, the richest man in Babylon. Not only was he rich but he also was humble and he freely shared his wealth of financial knowledge in order to empower his fellow Babylonians so that they may accumulate as much wealth as they wanted to.
Arkad World Ltd provides professional conference interpreting, translation and conference management services.  When we started this company, I wanted to publish a magazine aimed at empowering the African enterprising woman. To raise capital and understand how publications make money, I started by selling advertising spaces for some magazines. At the end of this experience I realised that I could only run a print magazine but the required funds were much higher than I initially thought. Locally the internet was taking its baby steps and a digital publication wasn’t viable. Fortunately today, seven years later, things have evolved and the internet offers loads of opportunities for online publications. At the end of this month we’ll be launching Mkazi-The Enterprising African Woman, a digital magazine for African women entrepreneurs.

In 2009 I also partnered with a friend to start Dafina Housekeeping Executives, a company that offers training and mentorship for the employed house helps. Ensuring that homes of women entrepreneurs are run by professionals  is another way of empowering them.

The conviction that God is present in my life and that we’re co-creating every episode together inspires me and gives me the strength to carry on.
Family is very important to me and I try to balance motherhood and business especially since I work from home and it’s easy to be carried away and work long hours. I try as much as possible to stop work at 6pm latest, to leave my phone in the office after working hours and to avoid switching on the laptop over the weekend.

I am inspired everyday by my sons. I want them to know that faith in God and in yourself, determination and consistency lead to achieving your dreams.  I strive to give them a good lifestyle.
To mums who might feel with motherhood they have to put plans to go into business on hold, I would say motherhood is a lifetime job and pursuing your dreams will make it even more enjoyable. Work out ways of balancing work and free time. Your family needs a happy you, and doing what you love will greatly contribute to your happiness.

(To learn more about Mkazi Magazine get in touch with Angela Kamanzi on 0707621802: editor@mkazi-magazine.com)
Visit their page: https://www.facebook.com/MkaziMagazine