On Air with Julia Hakspiel on building a social enterprise that helps women traders in Africa

On Air: Podcast by Femme Palette

Julia is an expert on market systems development and trade with a focus on gender and women’s economic empowerment. She works as Senior Specialist at MarketShare Associates. Its a global firm, which believes that both public and private institutions should contribute to social transformation. Julia works with clients such as the IFC, World Bank or USAID to integrate gender into their development aid programs.

Julia‘s passion for women's economic empowerment and gender equality was so strong that she decided to leave Europe and move to Africa. Now, she has been living in Kenya for almost 6 years, where she co-founded Sauti, an award-winning social enterprise that disseminates trade and market information to East African SMEs engaged in cross-border trade using mobile technology.

We spoke about Julia’s life-changing experiences in Kenya and what challenges she faced moving to a different continent. We also discussed the main issues plaguing women in Africa, how her start-up helps them, and what the beginnings of a social impact business looks like along with her plans for the future.

Julia’s social business Sauti: http://sautiafrica.org/