IGNITE Youth organisation and its founderTadzie Madzima and her organization have been recognized with nine awards at the beginning of 2023. Madzima, a multi-award-winning life and career coach, speaker, champion for youth-led innovation and a girl empowerment advocate founded IGNITE Youth, an organization committed to empowering and mentoring young people to reach their full potential.
A look into some of the awards bagged;
Zimbabwe Community News (ZCN) Community Trailblazers Awards
The Zimbabwe Community News (ZCN) Community Trailblazers Awards recognized Madzima as the Social Entrepreneur of the Year at the third edition of the event in January 2023. The award ceremony was held under the theme of Celebrating Zimbabwe’s Success Through our Diversity. The ZCN awards aim to recognize champions in community development and empowerment. The event was graced by high-profile individuals, including business mogul Nigel Chanakira, who is the ZCN Awards chairperson, and Information Deputy Minister Kindness Paradza, who was the guest of honour.
Zimbabwe CEO’s Network Women Leadership Awards
Madzima also won two awards at the Zimbabwe CEO’s Network Women Leadership Awards in March 2023, under Exemplary and Impeccable Professional Conduct in the Woman of Impact category. She scooped both a Gold Award and Platinum Award. These awards celebrate women who have made a vital contribution to the Zimbabwean business and economic space through their eminent leadership qualities seen through their business and the wider society they operate in.
Forty Under 40 Africa Awards
Madzima was also awarded the Forty Under 40 Africa Award in the Community Development Category on Saturday 26 March 2023. These awards identify, honour and celebrate a cross-section of the continent’s most influential and accomplished young business leaders under the age of forty from a wide range of industries, who are committed to business growth, professional excellence, and community service and have risen up the ranks of their companies or industries at a relatively young age as a result of this. Hundreds of submissions were received from across the continent, with 126 being shortlisted from 24 countries on the continent. Madzima was one of 12 nominees in the Community Development Category. The Awards Ceremony took place at the 5-Star Leonardo Hotel in Johannesburg on Saturday 26 March.
Women Economic Forum in Lagos Nigeria
In addition, Madzima was selected as a Speaker and Awardee of the 88th Women Economic Forum in Lagos, Nigeria. The forum was initially supposed to be hosted in March 2023, but it has been postponed to August this year because of the elections that were taking place in Nigeria in March. Women Economic Forum (WEF) is an international platform enabling women and leaders from all walks of life worldwide to expand business opportunities and enhance personal influence through engagement across borders while being inspired by some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs, policymakers, thought leaders, change agents, and celebrities. WEF curates conversations, connections, community and collaborations toward women’s greater influence and impact in relentless inspiration and initiatives. It conducts editions globally encouraging its sister platforms and networks to gather for peer exchange and networking enabling “Business Beyond Borders” in a spirit of support and sisterhood.
Women Changing the World Awards, UK
Madzima is also a finalist for the Women Changing the World Awards, UK, in the Women in Education Category. The Women Changing the World Awards presented by Oprah Winfrey’s all-time favourite guest, Dr. Tererai Trent, celebrate and recognize women achieving outstanding success in areas such as sustainability, humanitarian work, leadership, advocacy, tech, product development, education, health, and innovation. The awards are designed to recognize the growing number of women who are leading the way in making the world a better place for us all and inspire other women to answer the call to take action. The winners will be announced in April 2023.
AWARDS IGNITE YOUTH ORGANISATION HAS BEEN RECOGNISED FOR
Her organisation IGNITE Youth has also been recognised with three awards this year.
Zimbabwe Community News (ZCN) Community Trailblazers Awards
The Organisation also won the Most Outstanding Youth Empowerment Organisation Award at the prestigious Zimbabwe Community News (ZCN) Community Trailblazers Awards in January this year.
Poetry Red Carpet Awards
The organisation also won a second award as the Best Organisation Supporting Youth in the Arts from the Poetry Red Carpet Awards, a red carpet event centred on noticing and recognizing Poets across Zimbabwe.
Acquisition International 2023 Non-Profit Organisation Awards
IGNITE Youth Organisation was also nominated in the Acquisition International 2023 Non-Profit Organisation Awards, which seek to reward the most innovative, creative and compassionate NPOs, and provide a platform for NPOs to demonstrate that they are a true leader within the non-profit sphere. Acquisition International is a UK-based monthly magazine by AI Global Media Ltd, a publishing house that has reinvigorated corporate finance news and reporting. The magazine has a global circulation, which brings together all parties involved in deal making and, in an increasingly global deal market, it is uniquely positioned to reach the deal makers that matter.
A HISTORY OF AWARD-WINNING
Tadzie has been recognized for numerous accolades over the past few years, in addition to the awards she has received so far in 2023.
In 2018, she was chosen as a Fellow of the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders and spent six weeks at the University of Texas Austin McCombs School of Business.
In 2020, Tadzie was one of the honorees of JCI Zimbabwe Junior Chamber International’s Top Outstanding Young Persons, and she won in the category of Contribution to Children, World Peace, and Human Rights. She also won the Youth Mentorship Award in Shield Foundation’s 2020 Zimbabwe’s Women of Excellence Awards.
In 2021, Tadzie was selected as a Gratitude Fellow by The Gratitude Network, a US-based leadership development organization. She was also named one of the Young Iconic Pacesetters of Zimbabwe by The Business Connect and recognized by The Nyaradzo Group for innovation for the next generation. Additionally, she was featured in Bulawayo-based Amahle Magazine as one of Zimbabwe’s 25 Influential Women.
IGNITE Youth Organisation
Tadzie established IGNITE Youth to help young people from underserved communities receive career guidance, mentoring, mental health services, and other opportunities for personal development. She was inspired by her own upbringing, as she did not receive these services in the public school she attended.
IGNITE Youth offers holistic youth development programs, including a purpose-centered career guidance curriculum, during and after-school or university. The organization focuses on serving underserved and underprivileged communities where such services are often not provided. After-school programs are essential for promoting social, emotional, cognitive, and academic development, reducing risky behaviors, and providing a safe and supportive environment for youth.
Through IGNITE Youth, Tadzie helps young people access mental health, career guidance, entrepreneurship training, and mentorship support services. She aims to help young people discover and pursue their purpose, unlock their creative and innovative potential, and think critically and creatively about how they can contribute solutions to the issues their communities and country face.
Tadzie’s work has benefited over 22,500 Zimbabweans since 2018 through workshops, seminars, coaching, and other programs that empower women, youth, and communities. IGNITE Youth has helped numerous youth access scholarships, fellowships, internships, and jobs, and has trained over 15 public schools and 10 universities, matching African adolescents with mentors from all over the world.
Tadzie’s mother and grandmother have been her role models and inspired her tenacity and hard work ethic. She believes that living life with a purpose empowers individuals to control their long-term happiness and avoid the feeling of just drifting towards vague goals.
Tadzie’s purposeful path guides young minds on their journey to find their purpose and live life with passion.
