Post-graduate student contributes to Social Entrepreneurship Summit in South Africa

Shola Precious Mwamulima is a post-graduate student with the Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development following the MSc Sustainable Development programme doing research on Comparative Food Consumption. The research is funded by the Climate Action Scholarships offered as part of the Government of Malta's commitment under the Climate Finance Package to provide support for capacity building in developing States through academic research.

Shola is a Mandela Washington Fellow, a flagship programme launched in 2014 by former American President Obama to invest in the future of Africa and in honour of Nelson Mandela. It empowers outstanding Sub-Saharan African leaders with a record of accomplishments to improve their skills at US universities.

Shola was the first Zambian female fellow selected to study Energy Policy at the University of California-Davis for her work in linking renewable energy in offgrid communities to advance education with the creation of a rural school offering free primary edu- cation to 324 children and, a Biodiesel Mine project which is a world first for tailing phytoremediation using Pongamina.

She was recently nominated as top two Mandela Washington fellows to speak at the First Impact Africa Social Entrepreneurship Summit in South Africa co-hosted by the British Council and Ashoka, the largest global network of Changemakers.

The summit focused on advanc- ing economic, social and environmental change through leadership, strong ecosystem and collaboration. The premise of her talk hinged on the creation of solutions that make Africa the protagonist in the global ecosystem of players in sustainability, education, digital innovation and opportunities for young people to fulfil their potential to accelerate innovative solutions to Africa’s pressing challenges.