Monica Musonda | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | c. 1976 (age 47–48) |
| Education | University of Zambia University of London |
| Occupation(s) | Lawyer, businesswoman, entrepreneur |
Monica Katebe Musonda is a Zambian businesswoman, lawyer and entrepreneur, who resigned a well-paying job as a corporate attorney to start and then lead a Zambian-based food-processing company, Java Foods Limited, where she is the chief executive officer. [1]
Musonda was born in Zambia c. 1976. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Zambia and a Master of Laws degree from the University of London. At the time she started her food-processing business in 2012, she was described as "a dual-qualified English solicitor and Zambian advocate". [1] [2]
Musonda's legal career started in the United Kingdom, after her second degree. She was an associate attorney at Clifford Chance in London. She relocated to South Africa and was promoted to partner at Edward Nathan, in Johannesburg. [3]
While in South Africa, she was persuaded to move to Washington, D.C., as the in-house general counsel at the International Finance Corporation, a component of the World Bank Group. While there, a position opened up at the Dangote Group in Lagos, Nigeria. She was hired as the director of legal and corporate affairs and was soon promoted to general counsel of the group. [3]
On one of Aliko Dangote's trips to Zambia, with Mosunda in his entourage, Dangote asked her why the majority of the financial institutions and general merchants in the country were owned and operated by non-Zambians. She felt challenged and decided to start a business of her own. She resigned as General Counsel to the Dangote Group and launched Java Foods Zambia Limited. [3] [4]
Aliko Dangote, the wealthiest person in Africa, was setting up a cement factory in Zambia. He asked Musonda who had traveled with him on the trip, why there was hardly and Zambian-owned bank, insurance company or equipment/raw material suppliers. Feeling both challenged and inspired, she resigned her corporate job and using money saved and borrowed from family and friends, she contracted a company in China to manufacture noodles with the Java Foods brand. [3] [4]
Four years later, she decided to expand her product line. She also decided to manufacture locally, and source the raw material within Zambia. Her next product is a "fortified instant cereal", which she refers to as "porridge". It is made from corn flour. [3]
She enlisted the help of Partners in Food Solutions (PFS), a "consortium of leading global food companies that include" General Mills, Cargill, DSM, Bühler, Hershey and Ardent Mills. PFS engineers, business managers and food scientists from General Mills and Cargill, worked with Java Foods staff over the course of one year, pro-bono, to get the food processing plant in Zambia off the ground. The consultation provided for free, is calculated at US$50,000. [4]
As of June 2017, Java Foods limited employed 25 full-time staff. That number had trimmed down to 19 full-time employees by 2020. The products on offer are (a) eeZee Instant Noodles (b) eeZee Supa Cereal, a "fortified instant cereal" and (c) Num Nums corn snacks. [3] [4]
Monica Musonda was appointed as a member of the CAF Governance and Ethics Committee, in July 2019. [5] Musonda sits on the jury of the Cartier Women's Initiative. [6]
Musonda sits on the boards of the following enterprises, as a non-executive director (a) Airtel Networks Zambia Plc. (b) Zambia Sugar Plc. and (c) Dangote Industries Zambia Limited. [7]
Associated British Foods plc (ABF) is a British multinational food processing and retailing company headquartered in London, England.
Black billionaires are individuals who are of predominantly African ancestry with a net worth of at least US$1 billion.
Hakainde Hichilema is a Zambian businessman, farmer, and politician who is the seventh and current president of Zambia since 24 August 2021. After having contested five previous elections in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2015 and 2016, he won the 2021 presidential election with 59.02% of the vote. He has led the United Party for National Development since 2006 following the death of the party founder Anderson Mazoka.
Aliko Dangote is a Nigerian businessman and industrialist. He is the first man who built a private refinery in Nigeria. Dangote is the 221st richest individual in the world, with an estimated net worth of US$11.2 billion as of December 2024, according to Forbes and US$27.6 billion according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Maureen Mwanawasa was a Zambian legal practitioner who was first lady from 2002 to 2008. She was also a member of the Association of Women Lawyers in the United Kingdom, a serving council member of Law Association of Zambia Women’s Rights Committee, and the vice chairperson for the Habitat for Humanity, Zambia Board. She was the patron of Breakthrough Cancer Trust and the Child Care & Adoption Society of Zambia.
The Dangote Group is a Nigerian multinational industrial conglomerate, founded by Aliko Dangote. It is the largest conglomerate in West Africa and one of the largest on the African continent. The group employs more than 30,000 people, generating revenue in excess of US$4.1 billion in 2017.
Mizinga Melu is a Zambian businesswoman, accountant, and bank executive. She is the current chief executive officer of Absa Bank Zambia Plc, effective February 2017, based in Lusaka.
Margaret Mhango Mwanakatwe is a Zambian politician who was the Minister of Finance from 14 February 2018 to 14 July 2019. She worked previously as a businesswoman, accountant, and bank executive. She was the director for business development in Anglophone Africa at the United Bank for Africa at the bank's headquarters in Lagos, Nigeria. In this role, she supervised business development in Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia. Before that, she served as the managing director and chief executive officer of the United Bank for Africa Uganda Limited from March 2009 until May 2011.
The Zambia women's national association football team represents Zambia in association football, participating in qualifying tournaments for the FIFA Women's World Cup and other African-based competitions. It made its debut in the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, becoming the first landlocked nation in Africa to qualify for a senior World Cup in either men's or women's soccer.
Sylvia Banda is a Zambian business woman, restaurateur and social entrepreneur. She is an Ashoka fellow. Banda promotes local food use, choosing ingredients for her restaurant from local and small-scale farms. She started her own business, Sylva Professional Catering in 1986. By 2009, she had 16 restaurants in Lusaka. In 2014, she invested $105,000 in US dollars to open a food processing plant in Zambia.
Inonge Mutukwa Wina is a Zambian politician who served as the 13th Vice President from 2015 to 2021. She was the first woman to hold the position, which made her the highest ranking woman in the history of the Zambian government.
Gwendoline Noreen Chomba Konie was a Zambian poet, diplomat and politician. She was the Zambian ambassador to Scandinavia, the United Nations and Germany. She formed her own party in 2000 and stood as a candidate to be the President of Zambia in 2001. When she died she was given a state funeral.
Lulu Haangala, also known by her married name Luyando Haangala Wood is a Zambian media and communications consultant, TV personality, local government-certified Master of Ceremonies and is also US Embassy Zambia Youth Ambassador, Pizza Hut Zambia and Samsung Zambia Brand Ambassador and the founder of #WeKeepMoving Foundation and in December 2014 Lulu become partners with Dagon Holding Media. Lulu has also been featured in the 2016 May issue of a South African Magazine Mamas & Papas as the cover story.
Victoria Kalima Phiri was a Zambian politician who was Minister of Gender and member of the National Assembly for Kasenengwa from 2016 and 2011, respectively, till her death.
Elizabeth Nkombo Chona Muyovwe, commonly known as Elizabeth Muyovwe, was a Zambian Supreme Court Justice.
Yvonne Khamati, is a Kenyan politician that was nominated to the East African Legislative Assembly as Member of Parliament by Ford Kenya Party aged 21 and a diplomat who was appointed by President Mwai Kibaki to serve as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to Ethiopia and African Union at 24. She has served in the past, as the Chair of the Committee of Permanent Representatives and Rapporteur of the African Diplomatic Corp, in the Kenyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She has worked in various missions. As of November 2018, she served as the deputy ambassador of Kenya at the Kenyan Embassy in Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia. She is currently the C.E.O of the Kenya National Heroes Council, a parastatal under the Ministry of Sports, Culture and Heritage
Chileshe Mpundu Kapwepwe, is a Zambian accountant and corporate executive, who serves as the Secretary General of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), effective 18 July 2018. She was elected at the 20th Heads of State COMESA summit in Lusaka, Zambia's capital city.
Halima Aliko Dangote is a Nigerian businesswoman. She is the executive director, commercial operations of Dangote Group, an African industrial conglomerate. She is the second daughter of Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote. She is on the board of Dangote Group, NASCON Allied Industries Plc, Aliko Dangote Foundation, Endeavor Nigeria, and a member of Women Corporate Directors and president of the board of the Africa Centre in New York.
Thomas Bwalya was a Zambian footballer who won several trophies with Mufulira Wanderers and is one of the club's most decorated players. Featuring as an attacking midfielder, he played a key role in Wanderers’ dominance in the sixties and seventies and also represented Zambia. He was the younger brother of another Wanderers and Zambia forward Willie Kunda.