On our latest episode, I had a pleasure of sitting down with one of my childhood friends and entrepreneur extraordinaire, Christelle Kwizera. She is the founder and Managing Director of Water Access Rwanda, a social enterprise that exists to improve access to clean water for all.

She has been recognized for her work as the Fondation CHANEL 2019 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year, a Rainer Arnhold Fellow, a Princess Diana awardee, a Queen point of Light awardee-  all on account of her leadership in addressing social issues. 

Christelle was also awarded the Cisco Youth Leadership Award by Global Citizen in 2020 and came in third place at the inaugural Africa Business Heroes awards by Jack Ma. Our conversation covered a range of topics from building a company with internal and external impact, to navigating carbon markets, and finding love. I found her lessons on building a more resilient company post pandemic particularly insightful.

Christelle graduated from Oklahoma Christian University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and is currently pursuing a Master's in Climate Change Finance and Investment at the University of Edinburgh as a Chevening scholar.

The range of topics we covered already speaks to what happens when you sit with a friend who is equally curious yet unhindered in her expression. 

I hope you enjoy the episode!

You can find the work of Water Access Rwanda here: https://www.warwanda.com/