AYC Helped Me Find Confidence to Lead and a Purpose in Empowering Other Women: This is Violet’s story

23 Oct

By Annabel Mumba
Annabel Mumba is AYC’s Donor Relations Coordinator in Zambia. She is a Scholarship Fund recipient, high school graduate and current college student, and also one of our Success Stories.

Co-written by Pamela O’Brien, African Education Program’s Development Director, who is mentoring Annabel as she pursues a journalism degree.

Violet Mukumbwa embodies the power of giving back. As the Entrepreneurship Manager at the Amos Youth Centre (AYC), she has successfully trained 10 cohorts and empowered over 270 women through the Women’s Business Training.

Violet’s connection to AYC is deeply personal: she is a successful alumna who returned home. Today, she is not only a key leader at the Learning & Leadership Center but also a university student pursuing a Bachelor of Administration at the University of Zambia. Her journey, from a shy student to a confident manager, is a testament to the transformative environment AYC creates.

The Power of Mentorship and Enterprise

Violet's work is focused on sparking economic independence within her community. For her, the Women’s Business Training is more than a curriculum; it is a source of profound personal fulfillment.

"What makes the program special to me is that I get to interact with women one-on-one," Violet shares. "Most of them are older, and they encourage and bless me, that’s something I find very special."

*The Women’s Business Training has graduated 10 cohorts to date with 270 women completing the four-month impactful program.*

The training is an intensive four-month, hands-on program that includes weekly classes and critical one-on-one coaching and mentorship. The result is immediate: women become more confident in their business decisions, gain skills, and often launch businesses where none existed before. To date 171 women have graduated with at least a business. The classes are conducted in Nyanja, one of Zambia’s local languages, because the majority of the women cannot speak or understand English well.

The impact of this confidence is vividly illustrated in the story of one graduate. Violet shared, "One woman who lost her husband and did not have a business. After going through the training and learning about ways to raise money, she sold her solar panels and used that money to start her business." This shows how the program provides the skills and knowledge necessary to overcome the biggest challenges facing women entrepreneurs, primarily access to capital and lack of business education.

Finding My Voice: From Shy Student to Staff

Violet’s journey with AYC began in 2014, when she was a Grade 6 student who was introduced to the Learning & Leadership Center by a friend. While she benefited from the free academic tutoring, her greatest hurdle was her own self-doubt.

"When I first started coming, I was very timid and shy, scared to speak English and unable to raise my hand even when I knew the answer to a question."

Through the Music Club, Girls' Talk Club sessions, and the information she learnt in the Annual Life Skills and Leadership Camp, Violet slowly broke out of her shell. She credits the entire community for nurturing her potential, especially mentors like Mr. Fred Kamanya, a former employee of AYC, whose ethics and encouragement were inspiring. "In the clubs, we often talked about goal setting and how important it is to set goals. I took that seriously and practiced what I learned."

The opportunity to transition to staff came at the end of 2020 when AYC was looking for solutions to help families affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Violet and Bernard, both fresh from high school and university respectively, were selected to travel to Uganda for two weeks for a train-the-trainer workshop by Street Business School, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women in impoverished communities worldwide by providing entrepreneurial training and resources to help them lift themselves and their families out of poverty. At the conclusion of the workshop, Violet and Benard became certified business coaches. Upon their return, they tailored the modules to better suit the local community.

Identifying Potential

Lumuno Mweemba, AYC’s Co-Founder and Director of Programs, who had also mentored Violet since high school, was able to identify the traits that made Violet a suitable candidate for this role. Violet was selected because of her dedication and commitment to AYC programs, which demonstrated her potential and eagerness to learn and grow.

Lumuno shared, “At the time, Violet was still exploring her interests and unsure of what she wanted to study. I believed this opportunity would be a great fit for her, given her love for reading and her curious nature. Although she was on the shy side, I knew that working with the women through the eEntrepreneurship tTraining would help her find her voice and build confidence. It was an opportunity to nurture her growth and potential.”

*Violet enjoys the special friendships she has made.*

The Transition to Employee

Moving from a student to an employee was initially daunting. "Transitioning from a student to a staff member was not easy. I was straight out of high school, with no experience," she admits. However, the leadership lessons, the confidence gained from various AYC clubs, and the support of patient mentors ultimately prepared her for the role. "My time as a student at AYC played a huge role in the role I have today."

Balancing Ambition and Giving Back

Today, Violet manages her Entrepreneurship & Financial Literacy Department duties while pursuing a Bachelor of Administration degree at the University of Zambia. She acknowledges the necessity of sacrifice to achieve her long-term goals.

"Balancing work, school, and personal life is not easy," she says. "Some parts of my personal life have to be sacrificed so that I can focus more on work and school."

Crucially, her academic and professional lives reinforce one another. What she learns at university provides deeper knowledge and understanding of administrative and business concepts, which she immediately shares with the women she trains. She is motivated not just by her own aspirations, but by the impact of her work and the strength of the community she has built.

Her life has changed "for the better," both personally and professionally. "I am no longer afraid to take on new tasks that I once feared. AYC taught me compassion and empathy," Violet reflects.

Wider Impact and Vision

To Violet, seeing former students and community members succeeding in business brings "absolute joy, it shows the impact of my work and reminds me why it is important and why it exists."

Her influence at AYC extends beyond Women's Business Training. She is actively involved in integrating entrepreneurial thinking and financial literacy across other AYC programs, ensuring that skills like saving, budgeting, and business ideation reach the high school students and high school graduates in the College Prep Program. She teaches them how they can find career prospects in entrepreneurship and develop a crucial business mindset for life after secondary school.The Young Learners Program is also introduced to financial literacy lessons, instilling foundational financial concepts early.

Her long-term vision is expansive: she wants the Entrepreneurship & Financial Literacy Department to grow and expand to other underserved communities and schools, not just within Kafue but beyond. To ensure this growth, she plans to use program graduates as ambassadors and seek external partnerships to keep the training relevant and accessible.

To the young girls looking up to her journey, Violet's advice is a mandate for self-belief: "Own it—it starts from within. Believe in yourself and work hard to achieve your goals. If it doesn’t work the first time, try again."

Violet's story is the AYC mission in action: turning academic support into confidence, and confidence into leadership that transforms an entire community.