Graça Machel Trust

15/10/2026

12/10/2026

Welcome to the Movement, Cameroon! 🇨🇲
Cameroon is now the 15th country to join the Pan-African Adolescent Girls' Movement - My Kiota. We launched in Yaoundé with our partner Women for a Change Cameroon, and the pilot aims to reach more than 1,000 girls by December.
We grow one country at a time, alongside local partners Women for a Change, Cameroon, who know their communities and walk with girls for the long journey. In Cameroon, girls are leading from day one: 11 young facilitators are already training to reach their peers in schools and communities.
The girls are eager, excited and ready. We could not be prouder.

Read the full story by Scholar Maloke in The Guardian Post Daily: https://theguardianpostcameroon.com/post/7959/fr/homecameroon

11/10/2026

On the International Day of the Girl Child, we are reminded that a girl’s future should be shaped by her own ambition, not by the circumstances of where she is born.
Through the Graça Machel Trust’s Pan-African Adolescent Girls’ Movement , girls as young as 14 are stepping into spaces where they were once excluded, advocating for their rights, taking on leadership roles and shaping the decisions that affect their lives. With the right support, they are building the confidence to lead and the determination to challenge the barriers that hold them back.
This work takes collective action. Across the continent, organisations, communities and advocates are working to change the attitudes, practices and policies that limit girls’ opportunities. Together, we can build environments where every girl is supported to learn, lead and shape her own future.
Today, we celebrate girls not only for their potential, but for the leadership they are already demonstrating.
Let’s give girls the microphone — and keep it in their hands. 🎤

09/10/2026

Women’s experiences hold valuable lessons for the entrepreneurs coming after them.

Through Femmes Créatrices de Richesses, WCW Senegal is creating space for women to share the realities of building businesses, the lessons they’ve learned and the knowledge that can help others along the way. 🎙️

Discover the podcast on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

Since its implementation in Dakar in 2023, the Graça Machel Trust’s Women Creating Wealth programme has grown into a powerful platform for women entrepreneurs in Senegal. Through capacity building, access to markets and finance, job creation and advocacy, the programme has supported women in stre...

06/10/2026

Congratulations to our partner and CEO of Fasset Ms. Mafuleka Ayanda on this well-deserved recognition as one of the Mail & Guardian Power of Women in Banking & Finance 2026. 💐It’s always inspiring to see women leading, shaping and making an impact across the financial sector. 🤝🎉

Celebrating leadership and impact!

Congratulations to our CEO, Ms Ayanda Mafuleka, on being named among the Mail & Guardian Power of Women in Banking & Finance 2026.

A recognition of leadership, impact and contribution to the banking and finance sector. We are proud to celebrate this achievement.

06/10/2026

We’re hiring!

The Graça Machel Trust is looking for an experienced Finance Manager to join our team in Johannesburg, with a hybrid working model.

The successful candidate will provide leadership across financial management, accounting, reporting, budgeting, procurement and risk management.

Applications close on 16 October 2026.

For more information about the vacancy and how to apply, click here: https://bit.ly/4hOwASv

02/10/2026

Our Founder, Mrs. Graça Machel , reflects on the importance of intergenerational leadership in shaping Africa’s economic future.

“What makes a gathering like this powerful is its intergenerational spirit. We are mothers and daughters, mentors and learners, dreamers and doers. Our wisdom must flow downward; our energy must rise upward. Together, we are building a bridge between generations.”

Her message highlights the responsibility of one generation to create the conditions for the next to lead, contribute and shape change, while recognising the power that comes when experience, knowledge and new ideas move across generations.

As Africa considers its economic future, building stronger pathways for women across generations is essential. This means creating space for mentorship, learning and leadership, while challenging the social norms and systems that continue to constrain women’s ability to realise their full potential.

The future we are shaping must not only create opportunities for women today, but ensure that the generations that follow are better positioned to lead, contribute and shape Africa’s future.

02/10/2026

As Chair of the Graça Machel Trust Expert Leaders’ Group, Mrs. Aishah N. Ahmad, CFA, OFR is setting the agenda for a critical conversation on what it means for African women to move from participation to influence in shaping the continent’s economic future.

Her message speaks to the urgency of moving beyond representation towards meaningful influence over the decisions that shape Africa’s financial architecture. As she puts it, “Participation is no longer enough. Women must shape the decisions that direct capital, build the systems economies depend on, and reform the institutions that govern them. This Forum is about turning that influence into action.”

This perspective is central to the Forum’s agenda, which looks at the practical changes needed across three interconnected areas: directing capital towards women-led businesses, building inclusive digital and financial infrastructure, and reforming institutions to strengthen women’s leadership and influence.

The conversation therefore goes beyond increasing women’s participation in existing systems. It asks what needs to change in the policies, institutions and decision-making structures that determine how resources are allocated, how opportunities are created and who has influence over Africa’s economic future.

For the Graça Machel Trust Expert Leaders’ Group, moving from participation to influence means ensuring that women are not only present in these spaces, but are positioned to shape the decisions that will define Africa’s economic reset.