Paulinho Muzilawa - Social Entrepreneurship in African Refugee Camps

PITY PARTY OVER

Paulinho Muzaliwa is a social entrepreneur passionate about regenerative agriculture and founder of the Unidos Social Innovation Center in Uganda, East Africa.

As a refugee facing personal setbacks and challenges, Paulinho’s dream is to transform refugee camps into regenerative communities where every refugee can access clean water, abundant food, and quality education.

He believes that change and progress come from within the community and demonstrates how refugees can become change-makers by leveraging their unique experiences and skills to develop innovative solutions.

In our conversation Paulinho emphasizes the importance of moving beyond reliance on humanitarian aid by fostering local leadership and sustainable practices.

Listen to the episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, Amazon Music, or your favorite podcast platform to learn how to become an authentic and emotionally engaging leader.

Subscribe to Pity Party Over for more insightful episodes. Questions? Email Stephen Matini or send him a message on LinkedIn.

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TRANSCRIPT

Stephen Matini: So Paulinho, I want to ask you just to get to know you a little bit. Growing up, were there any specific person, people, events that somehow have impacted who you are today?

Paulinho Muzaliwa: Not really. I grew up in a memory, which is a little bit modest, not so much poor and not so much rich. My dream was to be a pilot.

Once I was not being able to go to university, so I chose to being an accountant. I met in secondary school. I done business and demonstrative administration. After finish up, it was quite hard to push and walk him. And all my dream really disappeared. So I gave up to all my dream. Being a refugee is kind of starting a new life.

Stephen Matini: Going through challenges, life in general, how do you keep your spirit positive? How do you keep the hope?

Paulinho Muzaliwa: How I keep the or stay positive is understand that all my life have been challenging. And in order to be successful or in order to have a decent life, I need to be satisfied of what I have and cherish, also connect to myself. And the most of it is if things are not good right now, as long as I work hard, so I expect something positive will come no matter the time that we spend on these things.

So I try to be optimistic because the worst part of my life is what I have done. I just want to be more positive so that I cherish all the moments that I'm having right now.

Stephen Matini: And this is something that you also share with entrepreneurs. You know, to be an entrepreneur, you must have a vision. You must constantly fight self-doubts, challenges, insecurities and problems. How did you get to social entrepreneurship? What attracted you to this?

Paulinho Muzaliwa: Yeah, exactly. So I think there is so many facts that has motivated me to jump into this based on the challenges that are accounted in being a refugee. The first one was language barrier, which has been most affected young people here in refugee settlements to get access to employment.

Four percentage of refugee are unemployed. And this due to language barrier, lack of experience, rigid education. So all this prevents people to get access. Job markets is quite also low in Uganda. So we have been able to at least, while learning entrepreneurship, instead of relying on the system, better creates our own system, better creates our own opportunities as refugees.

So mostly from, especially from the country that I am. So the system, especially the education system, make us slaves of the system. You may be almost 100 people who are learning business and administration. And you are going to alert that the company in the city. So you are going to fund at only two companies.

So if you are not really a non-person or your parent is not a non person, so you never get a job. So this has been the fact that has motivated me a lot to, okay, let's create our own opportunities instead of relying on the system. And then we jump into this and then I get an opportunity to learn entrepreneurship at idea for Africa and path through different centers here in refugee settlement to foster my experience. And then this is where I start found Unidos Social Innovation Center.

Stephen Matini: How it is to live in a refugee community?

Paulinho Muzaliwa: It's quite hard. Psychologically, it's really hard to let it go. The life that you had in your home country and start a new one here in refugee settlements. And this is something that's traumatized most of people and not able to let it go and start a new page. But economically, they're living in refugee settlements, especially where I am in Nakivale Valley refugee settlements, Uganda.

As I've been saying, 44% of refugee are employed. So most of people are running small businesses to generate income and which is not really profitable enough to sustain their lives. So people are struggling currently due to humanitarian aid which I keep on decreasing every day.

In 2018, when I reached here, so we used to get food from the World Food Program, but currently there is no food. So they fast in when reaching COVID, they transition from getting food to get money. And then this money is keep on decreasing. And currently they give $3, which is roughly a that can buy a two liter of oil, cooking oil as they provide this as a monthly rationed food. So can someone sustain with $3 a week or month? Quite hard.

In term of education. So we have one secondary school and some private primary schools, which is not really provide the quality education. So for some parents who have at least some money, they take their children to go to learn out of refugee settlements.

I think this is how life looks like in refugee settlements. So people have been relying so much on humanitarian aid, and when this has keep on decreasing, so life becomes keep on being harder. And the food on the market keep on increasing the price. And we are going to realize that life is becoming quite hard in refugee settlements.

And some people decided maybe to go back to their countries and maybe starting hustling, no matter the insecurity that they are passing through there.

Stephen Matini: When I read your LinkedIn profile, I really loved what I read. It says, I dream about transforming refugee camps into regenerative communities where every refugee can have access to clean water, abandoned food, and quality education. Would you mind explaining what regenerated culture is?

Paulinho Muzaliwa: Yeah, sure. I think regenerative culture, I define it in two ways. So first of all, is to have access to abundance food, being able to grow food in an environment friendly way while taking care of the soil, but also growing organic and abundant food. And of course, why food? Food is currently the first need for refugees since the humanitarian aid, as I've been saying, keep on decreasing. So we need to make sure that we sustain ourselves in growing food instead of keep on relying on humanitarian agencies.

Access to clean water. I've seen people spending a week without having birth. I've seen people, young girls get raped while looking for water. And I've seen people not being able to cook. You may have a portion of food, but you don't have water to cook with it.

I've seen people struggling with typhoid and malaria just because of not having access to clean water. I've seen also people when I say about education. So education is not about only learning, but being able to co-create something which will impact as at least two people from what you have been learning.

Education is not about only learning, but it's to boost someone providing him resources that will enable these people to shift from the life that you reach or you have meet them. And when you will go and come back, you say, oh, there is a quiet difference. This person is no longer depending on someone. This is what I summarize about regenerative. Regenerative is to shift from humanitarian dependency and be able to sustain your life no matter the place where you are.

Stephen Matini: You say that in the refugee camp, there's a tremendous problem with unemployment as a result of a lack of skills. So in your experience, what are the most important skills that refugees should have?

Paulinho Muzaliwa: Yeah, so I think vocational skills are the best things that I can shift or can help them to not only learn, but also starting co-creating something that will not only impact their life, but also impact the community as a whole. When I say vocational trainings, I see about handmade skills, for example, making soap.

For example, teach people how to grow their own food. Teach people how he can make a dough or carpentry, for example, because when he will be able to do all with these skills, so he can generate money. For example, make soap making. So we empower women in terms of making and they're generating a lot of men to not only sustain their families, but also make saving for future needs.

Stephen Matini: One thing also that I believe I've read it in your profile, I think, one thing that you said is this one. You talk about that you believe in horizontal leadership and decentralization. And before, you pointed out several times that you cannot rely on the system. You know, we have to move it from dependency to be more independent. So why do you believe that it's important to have an approach to leadership that is more flat and decentralized?

Paulinho Muzaliwa: Everyone needs to have the opportunity to lead. Everyone has the opportunity to feel like, yes, I'm responsible on something that can impact the whole community. And everyone could have, we always look on inclusion and not, for example, when we go in the field, so we're not trying to think on behalf of people that are surrounding us, but let them own.

I mean, a project, for example, that we are bringing to them, being feeling, being part of that project or being part of that solution that will change their lives. Instead of being just beneficiaries, for example, just because we believe in everyone's uniqueness.

So I may have this approach, but when I involve someone else and give the responsibility to lead, it can innovate something greater than what I've been thinking and contribute to a positive impact of our community.

Stephen Matini: Do you think that everyone could be a good leader?

Paulinho Muzaliwa: Not really, but everyone can learn to be a good leader. The opportunity to provide this space is there. It's a transformation process, and it's always take time to become one. And this passion is what most of people are lacking with. And reason why is not a good leader, but everyone needs time to become one if he's really open to learn.

Stephen Matini: Would you mind telling me a little bit more about your project at Unidos projects, how that happened? Where did you get the first spark for that idea?

Paulinho Muzaliwa: Yeah, so I think what we need to start just as an English club. Most of us came from countries which English is not a first language. And reaching in Uganda, you must speak English so that at least you have, if you go to the market, you know what you need to buy. We start as an English club. And then after an English club, so we start sharing stories which can get us connected.

So Nakivale Valley Refugee Settlement is a host of almost five community, different communities, Congolese, Burundians, Somalian, Ethiopians, South Sudanese. So in order to be connected, we need to learn from each other, background and belief, culture so that we cohabit, so that we speak, we really know about, we practice well, the nonviolence communication.

And this was a way to get it together when learning together. So sharing story, sharing what is your culture, what's your belief? And so this help us. Oh, so if I do this to, for example, for Stephen, so he will get angry. If I do this, he will be happy. This has been really a great approach.

So when I finished to learn about entrepreneurship, so I added about some session about entrepreneurs, so how we can turn a problem into solution, how we can create our own opportunities, how we can start seeing a problem as an opportunity for us to bring a solution that will not only will benefit us as a group, but the entire community.

So this is where we have started Unidos. And then in COVID, we had a challenge in terms of accessing food. So this is where the World Food Program decided, okay, so we are running out of funds and then we are going to start diminish the food ration for refugee. And remember that in that day, there was lockdown.

So most of people didn't go to their field to collect food. So it was quite terrible moment. We get a mini grant of $200. And the one who gave us, he told us to buy a toolkit that will help us to prevent ourselves from COVID. And I told him, so, OK, buy toolkits. It's quite fine.

But hunger will kill people here before the COVID. So and they say, OK, do whatever you want. Once I decided with my team, so we bought some maize, flour, sugar, soap and distribute to the most vulnerable people in the refugee settlement.

And after this process, we have a lot that most of people start coming to the center, and it was quite a dilemma. So the money that's being sent to us was finished. But then people came and requests for food. And we sit together and say, OK, instead of providing food, how not to start teaching people how to grow their own food.

Because if in case that we get another extra are found and we buy food and distribute to these people, we are making them beggars. But if we're teaching them skills on how to grow food, we will make them being sustainable for their families, for the community, and for themselves as well.

In the group, we didn't know about there is no one who was experienced about agriculture, honestly. And so how are we going to do this? We are not experienced. Let's start looking for someone who can teach us first and then after teaching us so we can spread the message. So I was connected to Morag Gamble.

She's a permacultureist and has a lot of experience in regenerative agriculture and she won out. She's really an inspiration. So she trained me and I was also connected to a community, which is called Warm Data.

I was connected to introduced the Permaculture Design Course in Nakivale Valley Refugee Settlements in 2021. I trained the first courts and it gives a great outcomes seeing how people have started growing in a regenerative way.

They are gardens and produce enough food on a small space because in refugee settlements, there is no big space. This has motivated me again to train in other cohorts and keep this sustaining until now. But from this, we have also generated more projects.

We started focusing on solid regeneration because we realized that no matter the different approaches that we have implemented, so the soul was not healthy enough to grow more food. So most of people or most of refugee have been using chemicals to grow their own food.

Of course, at the first time, the first time you get food, but at the second one, so the production keep on decreasing. And most of people have reported this to us. We get challenged in terms of growing food. We do this and this and this, but it is not really sustaining. We sit with the community and say, so what shall we do so that we come up with a innovative solution?

So we then started, okay, let's try about applying organic fertilizer instead of chemicals. And the organic fertilizer that we opt on, we started producing organic fertilizer through the vemi compost. This is a process of collecting food waste from different markets around the community.

And then we decompose it with the help of worms and to get organic fertilizer. So this organic fertilizer help us to, when applying in the soil, it's regenerate the soil and balance the pH and add more microorganisms in the soil to make the crop being more resistant in term of climate change, especially along droughts and give you nutritious and organic food in return.

So we tried this and we have already built two vermicompost sites alongside with a community regenerative demonstration sites where we demonstrate the effect of this organic fertilizer. This will be will play as an inspiration for most of the community to see how regenerative this can transform the way that we have been compared to the way that we have been applying chemicals. This was our first project.

So another project was mushroom growing. So we have realized that mushroom is a nutritious and a regenerative food that can play a great role in a refugee settlement in terms of providing food in a short period of time, not only providing food, but also it gives it another way that could help women to generate income or selling the mushroom and generate income that can respond on the basics needs.

So we have also several projects in terms of soap making, so just organic soap. All this is just to empower women to be financially self-dependent in refugee settlements because women and children are the most vulnerable people in refugee tournament.

We come up with all these incentives to help them being sustainable and to contribute also on the change that they want to see in the refugee settlement.

Stephen Matini: You know what's interesting? The fact that the word sustainability, I believe, for a lot of people is something that evokes something that I do now to make sure that the future will be better.

So sustainability for a lot of people has this dimension of let's create something that has the ability to endure. And the way that you are living and breathing sustainability through your business is actually something that addresses an emergency in the present moment by creating the conditions also for the future, but it really provides a solution in the present.

And I love the fact that you mentioned several times the importance of networks and communities, working with different people that bring different experiences using each other's background and what we know together we can create solutions that nurture the soil and creates the background in which life can actually prosper. I really love that. On your website, one thing that I read, which I love is this one.

You wrote, "Our goal is to transform these young refugees into change makers who will drive the community and make sure that everyone will be heard when it comes to creating a better tomorrow for all of us." So for you, who is a change maker? What are some of the attributes of someone who becomes a change maker?

Paulinho Muzaliwa: A change maker for me is someone who, when people see problem, it's take an opportunity to come up with a solution that will transform this problem of how people have been seeing it as an impact driving. I've been thinking that, so if at least we get our 100 changemaker in refugee settlements coming with a diversity of innovation that will impact people.

I think we now need to depend on humanitarian aid or beg people to support us if we have really this commitment to reach that level of how I'm envisioning it.

Stephen Matini: You use a lot of interesting words, you know, including begging. And then you mentioned several times being independent. But anything you say is about taking responsibilities, is about not feeling that I need to beg someone to help me. I'm going to create my own opportunities, which is incredible. It's so remarkable.

Paulinho Muzaliwa: In reality, the fact that you are a refugee, you are directly or indirectly a victim of so many things. So you're going to realize that the time that we have been getting food, of course, it was not real enough or the time that we get this $3. And you need to spend all the day under the sun on a line to make sure that you get this portion of food.

And if you don't, you'll not get. Another thing is this dependency. Being dependent is quite really something terrible because everyone can treat you the way they want, just because you are dependent, dependent on them.

Being dependent is being out of control of your own life, because all the decision will be made, maybe for your benefit, but without your concern. And this can affect you positively or negatively. And people, they don't mind how you will feel about this. They will just, oh, it's a help and they will be excited about the help.

But will this be the first things that you need before? We have seen so many ridiculous scenarios of local organization. And I think this has been the things also that has opened eyes for refugee in starting their own incentives. So local organization always came in the refugee campus.

Okay, we come up with clauses and yet they didn't ask you is something that you need, but someone gave you a soap, yet you didn't eat in your home and then take your pictures and go and report. So this is what we have done. So we discovered this. We have all the fact that, okay, so these people get incredible amount of money.

Just they say, okay, we want to advocate for refugee, but the reality which is happening in the field is quite different from the concepts, not that they submit. So this has motivated us. And we are going to allow that so most of sustainable incentives are coming from and within the community, the refugee communities, just because we understand the struggle that we are passing through.

We understand the problem in deep of the community. And we come together with a solution that will benefit everyone. Not think on behalf of a group. Just because you see myself having so much bear or air on my head and say, oh, this place needs a salon. Maybe it's not something that I need.

So for this big organization, like for example, World Food Program to work directly with refugee service. But I think these people also understand that we can also trust refugees in making decisions on their lives.

So last year, we have a partner with UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) and in term of trained people in regenerative agriculture and ecological aspects. And this, we have made a great progress through this partnership. I believe that there are also so many incentives that are now supported by UN Syria from within refugee settlements.

Stephen Matini: So Paulinho, we talked about many different things. And hopefully a lot of people are going to hear through this important conversation because you do live and breathe sustainability. You show how applicable this is and how important it is to have a sustainable mindset. So I want to ask you, for those who are going to listen to us, to this episode, what would you say that is an important point they should focus on on our conversation?

Paulinho Muzaliwa: Normally, I would say on a perspective of refugees settlement and how people are seeing refugees.

There's so many incredible people, incentives, and courageous community here in refugee settlement, doing things which are really exceptional, worth to be supported or worth to be charmed. And unfortunately, this work is not seen anywhere.

And I would recommend people, if they really want to support amazing calls, it is in refugee where they should more focus, because these people are really doing things in a way that it's matter because the challenges or problem that they're explaining to or pitching in different audience of people.

So these people are being victim of this problem directly. And then when I talk about hunger, I know what mean hunger. I know that most of people, they advocate about, okay, we advocate about hunger, but have you felt before this feeling of just saying to your children that we today, my children, so we I didn't been lucky to get food for you.

So you should go to sleep and see what tomorrow will look like. As a parent, you sleep and figure out, spend all the nights figure out what the possibilities that I need to do so that these people or these children eat tomorrow. And this is how change makers, entrepreneurs from within the refuge when they talk about the problem that they are advocating for.

And for us, as Unidos, we are more specially focusing on soil regeneration with the goal of prevent hunger crisis in refugee settlements in time of growing ambient food and organic, empower women to be self-reliant through different entrepreneurial skills that will enable them to experience or being part of the change that they want to see and feel being empowered or having a word in terms of contributing on the economy of not only the refugee community, but also of the country that hosts us as a refugee.

Stephen Matini: Paulino, I think you are a phenomenal entrepreneur. You're a great leader. You're a fantastic change maker. And I believe your message is going to resonate and to be a shiny example for a lot of people, because everything and anything you said is something that is so relevant these days and is so needed. So thank you so much for your efforts. Thank you. And thank you for giving me your time. I've learned a lot today.

Paulinho Muzaliwa: Thank you as well for providing this space, it’s really meant a lot for us in terms of representing our community.