Noëlla Coursaris Musunka, a Congolese/Cypriot philanthropist and international model, and Founder & CEO of Malaika.
Founded in 2007, Malaika is a grassroots nonprofit that educates and empowers girls and communities in her home country of the Democratic Republic of the Congo through a school, a community center, a clean water, agriculture and technical program.
A unique and fearless spokesperson, and the face of leading beauty and fashion campaigns across the globe, Noëlla is a voice for the power of girls’ education worldwide.
Founded in 2007, Malaika’s education and health programs are today impacting thousands of lives and are all offered free of charge. Crucially, Malaika acts as a local model that can be replicated on a global level.
Noëlla Coursaris Musunka shared with Today Africa the story of Malaika, how it began, and where they are now.
Tell us a bit about yourself
I’m a mother, I have two children, a son who is 14 years old and my daughter, who is 10 years old. I was born in the Congo, I was five years old when my father died. As the only child, my mother gave me a way to give me a chance to be educated. And I’m very thankful to her.
I grew up mainly in Belgium and Switzerland. I had a tough childhood, but that’s what makes you very strong and makes you very focused in life. And I went back to Congo when I was 18 years old, 13 years after I left. And it was one of the most crucial moments of my life.
A pivotal moment where it shaped me, but I was so happy to come back to my country to know where I was from, my culture, the potential of this incredible country and continent, and to recreate a bond with my mother.
Then after that, I went to pursue my studies in Europe, and I started my modeling career in London, and then I went to live in New York for many years until I met my husband and we relocated in Europe.
What inspired you to start Malaika and how did the experiences shape the passion for empowering girls and communities?
I think we all know that Africa has such a huge potential, but we need vision, we need strong leaders, we need individuals to come all together. I do believe it is with high quality education, high quality education, and with the resources that you give to the youth.
We’re seeing a big explosion of the young generation in culture, in music, in tech, and they are very street smart. But we need to get the correct infrastructure.
The village where we work, where we set up Malaika, there’s no running water, there’s no electricity, there’s no access to the internet. When we started 17 years ago, even before starting to build the school, we needed to build a well.
And then after building the well, you have to maintain these wells. We need proper infrastructure in our continent to emerge and to compete with the world because the world is very challenging. So under Malaika, there’s two institutions.
There is the school that we have built. There is the educational community center that we have built and led. And the school, we had 517 girls that went through.
Malaika is a grassroots nonprofit, has five pillars operating in the Congo, and an accredited school that provides free and comprehensive education. A community center that offers education, health, and sport programs to over 5,000 youth and adults.
Technical classes that teach vocational skills to adults, a clean water program that has built and refurbished 31 wells that over 35,000 people can collect clean water, and an agricultural program where we teach out of work youth and the community at large about sustainable farming.
Malaika is really a sustainable ecosystem that can be duplicated in any context in the world, but you have to work with the communities and you have to embrace the culture of where you work because what works in the Congo in Kalebuka might not work in Nigeria or in Brazil or in different parts of the world.
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You spent your childhood outside Africa and coming back to Africa to start an organization came with some challenges. What were those challenges that you faced and how did you overcome them?
The Kalebuka where we work, no running water, electricity, infrastructure, there were no roads. We pushed the government to make the road. The bridge broke, I don’t know, many times. You couldn’t access the school. You had to stop the car, walk and go to another car and walk again. So it was important for us to start to address the barrier of education.
Fundraising is a big challenge because all of our programs are free. So we have to raise the fund needed to run Malaika each year. We have explored many avenues for raising funds and generated many partnerships with fashion brands, business, family foundation, corporate, and donation in goods.
How does Malaika’s holistic approach to education, community development and economic empowerment transform the lives of these girls and the people that stay in the community?
This question is incredible because Malaika has already two graduations from the school. The student arrived at five years old until 18 years old and last year and in August 2024 it was Madam Mandela that came.
It was a very special moment with her daughter. So we got two generations of Mandela coming to inspire our students. Then the year before it was Eve, the singer and actress and our ambassador.
So to see the girls flourishing from 5 to 18 and seeing the community center have every year a graduation in mechanics, electricity, sewing classes, catering, dance, art, it’s very powerful. Because when people are educated, they have the capacity to provide for themselves and their families.
They can also give back to the community and provide jobs for others and boost the local economy by running business. If we can mobilize women and girls to use their skill and give back, the impact will be far greater.
You are really doing an amazing job, you left your comfortable life and decided to go into the village. At least you should be awarded for that.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m based in England. I go two times a year. But I have to tell you that one of the students, Jouzian, came when she was five years old, finished Malaika School at 18, got a full scholarship abroad, and she’s at the top of the class.
When you see the condition where these girls come from, in this village, where they stay, where they sleep, and you’re seeing them growing and flourishing, full of confidence, but very humble, very determined and very eager to learn, and very eager to change and to play a role when they will go back to the country. And that is really beautiful.
I received a lot of messages from the students that finished at Malaika school. They call me Mama Noella. It’s quite powerful and emotional to receive a message and know how they’re flourishing. They will always be a huge part of my life.
How do you raise funds to keep running the Malaika school because you are doing a lot?
For 17 years, it’s not easy. I will tell you that you need a lot of drive, you need a lot of passion. There’s so many challenges every day and so many times I wanted to quit because it’s very tough working in Africa. It’s not easy to run a foundation, but when you see the results, it’s just incredible. And that’s what keeps me going and what keeps the team going.
The team is incredible. The international team, the volunteers around Malaika, the team on the ground, the supporters, the donors, the people. We have so many donors that came in the Congo and in Malaika. And that’s really special. They believe and they become loyal donors. We raise money through family foundation, through grants, through corporate, from people donating their time.
We have an amazing program of mentorship where we have a few successful individuals that donate their time to mentor the student and help them with their application with school and university. And it’s just fantastic to have all these individuals coming with their skills, giving their time, their knowledge and believing in the students.
What are some of the key factors contributing to the effectiveness of the Malaika School?
We have always prioritized quality curriculum, skilled local teachers and from the early days sought to access tech equipment that will support a 21st top-notch education. And we have recently built a science lab to support the STEM curriculum and our girls to study creative art.
We are visiting international schools and we have sent some teachers abroad to get training. And we got some teachers from abroad to train our teachers. And we have a great sports facility and partnership with excellent coaches. Some of our students have won tennis tournaments in the region. They went to play abroad. Some of them have very good football skills and are in Italy.
So addressing the wider needs of the girls without a clean water, health program, it will be impossible for girls to reach their potential. Even the best education available. So if girls don’t have access to clean potable water, they can end up walking for miles to get water and school attendance suffers.
They will also contract waterborne disease, use unsanitary water, etc. We make sure when the girls have the period, we are there to support them, to give them sanitary pads, and we give them psychological support too. Because they come from very underprivileged backgrounds.
We learn every day and I have two children in England and I see how the education system keeps evolving. And we want to make sure that Malaika is still evolving with the quality of the teachers, training the teachers, updating the curriculum, having the sport activity, giving two nutrition meals every day to our students, the breakfast, the lunch.
It’s very important because maybe they eat two or three times a week. So we make sure we are there for all these programs that we are offering. And we want them to be happy too. Because happiness is something that’s important.
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Malaika offers vocational training and STEM education How do these programs offered in Malaika school prepare these girls for the future?
STEM education is essential for education that provides them with a foundation for future learning and work. We’re looking to provide them with a basic education. But that will really prepare them for the career of the modern world for today and for tomorrow.
Educating girls doesn’t just benefit them as individuals, it’s a ripple effect to surround them. At Malaika, we teach at the school and at the center the leadership skills to our students. Education is just not a subject, but knowledge, confidence, self-awareness, and social values. Girls often go home and teach the children in their neighborhood how to read and calculate.
They learn the education to strengthen the communities. We encourage them to dream big. We bring speakers from all over the world and from the community, mothers, fathers, a CEO of an enterprise, a lawyer, a doctor, to speak and encourage them and share their experience. And we try to give them responsibilities.
The students at the universities now come back to Malaika for an internship. But it’s beautiful too to see the program of mechanics and electricity that we set up with Caterpillar Foundation. For instance, 35% of women enrolling in this program and after one year, we have between 25 and 40% of them finding jobs.
And that’s really incredible because you know they can then help their families. Not everybody has the capacity and the means and the budget to go to university. And it’s important to create a middle-class with skills and what we do is to give them the platform to learn..
For 17 years, you have run your organization and you have numerous success stories about these girls that have passed through Malaika. Can you share some of them?
There are so many stories, Marceline when she was coming every day, seeing the construction of the school. She’s at Malaika School, she’s amazing, and she finished last year.
She was part of the first graduation. Now she’s in second year at the university. She wants to be an engineer in metallurgy and it’s beautiful because her dream is to make mobiles and cell phones in the Congo.
You know we are one of the biggest producers of coal, cobalt, lithium, etc and we all want to see a country start producing phones and not only sending the raw materials. So she has a big dream. I see Louise that has a scholarship abroad, that she’s really pursuing what she wants to do.
I see Claudine that has a scholarship abroad too. She’s studying communication and journalism. She’s very eloquent and very confident. And it’s just fantastic. I see a multi-generation family that we impacted.
We have Abigail that is at Malaika School. She’s gonna finish next year. Extremely smart, extremely driven. Her brother, Strong, who was coming to our center. We saw a lot of leadership in him and paid his school fees, he studied sport education, and now he’s working at Malaika School.
We’re seeing their mother, Anastasia, she came to study at our center, where she studied sewing classes, literacy, and digital classes. So we’re seeing a multi-generational, and they all play sports, and they all because our center is a happy place where they all come to meet.
And it’s just beautiful when you impact an entire family and we have built a well close to the community of Abigail, Anastasia and Strong. And they don’t have to walk for hours to fetch water and they help us with the maintenance of the well.
You have collaborated with different organizations like Caterpillar Foundation, Apple, and UNESCO. How did these collaborations help in scaling Malaika’s impact?
The first five, six years, nobody believed in Malaika. You’re gonna work in a village, in a remote area in the Congo. It was such a male-dominated area for philanthropy. And I had this voice in me that, yes, I want to give back. I want to work with my community, with my country, and they will become the voice.
We’re so blessed to have incredible partnerships, Caterpillar Foundation, we put the program of mechanical electricity together. With Apple, it was a part of the environment program. We upgraded the solar panel and the green energy at our school.
And we work with L’Oreal Front for Women, with the Obama Foundation, Girls Opportunity Alliance. We work with amazing platforms of fashion like Her, Vray, Diornet, Roxanda, and a lot of luxury platforms give a percentage to Malaika.
We’re working with a beautiful brand called Olivella where every month a percentage of their sales are given to Malaika. So this is the way we do the work that we’re doing with Malaika. Every year I donate my birthday to Malaika. I hope you will join me on my birthday on the 3rd of December.
So we have people all over the world that log in and donate and learn and share experience. But this partnership happens because we are transparent. Our work is efficient. We have a strong monitoring evaluation. Our work is very meticulous.
And a lot of the partners came to Malaika and really see the impact that we have in the community, in the work that we’re doing in the country. And thousands of lives are being impacted with the program that we created.
What strategies have you implemented to ensure long term sustainability and growth?
We have taken to build sustainability facilities that use sustainable power sources. We have an incredible local team and experienced teaching staff and leaders. This team is a chancel part of our resilience and our growth.
We have created a network of community around us with volunteers, supporters, donors, advisors who help us to grow sustainability and according to what we do.
We are working now on the 20 years plan of Malaika, the succession plan of our executive team. And we are working through the Andalman Fund, the student funds that will allow our students if they want to go to professional careers or university.
How did you build systems and processes that help in the smooth running of Malaika?
It started with getting the right people in place one by one. At the beginning, I always sought out advice just because I have the passion. I’m a quick learner. But it’s important to have the best people around you. I’m invited to a lot of panels and conferences.
I go to visit a lot of schools and I volunteer for a lot of organizations. And I’m sitting on a few boards. We send our staff to get training and yes, the only way that you can grow is through learning nonstop. Equip yourself and your team and give them the platform of knowledge.
Why do you stay motivated and inspired in the face of setbacks and failures?
Failure is important. I had a lot of failures during my career. My career has everything that I do, in my fashion career, in my business career, and in everything. And you learn every day,
I have two children at home. They’re my biggest advisor. We laugh together. We have a lot of emotions and my children come with me every year to the Congo.
You have to first look after yourself in order to be able to do everything that you do. I have a lot this week, I’m just at home, and I’m working from my house. You need a lot of your time by yourself and you need a lot of time to resource yourself.
I love to watch series, and see my friends and that’s what kept me going. And it’s important that you learn from your mistakes, you learn from your failures and you grow with it and you try just to give your best.
You learn every day and you have to adapt yourself. You have to adapt yourself consistently. It’s very important.
And you have to be a listener – a listener of what’s happening in the world, a listener to your team, a listener to your family, a listener to the community that you serve, and being there for them emotionally.
And you have to take days where you don’t do what you do every day because you come back fresher and faster in your mind.
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What are your future plans for Malaika?
Malaika is 17 years old, so it’s the big 20 in three years. It’s going to be some students leaving university, some of the students from the center working in companies. Like I said, it’s strengthening all the programs we have, celebrating all the programs we offer.
I’m so looking forward to seeing some of the students that will come out of university or professional careers, what they will do in the society, and they will be the one taking over Malaika.
That would be very beautiful. And like I say, we’re working on the succession plan, the student fund plan and the longevity of Malaika. I didn’t create Malaika for me. It doesn’t have my name. Malaika means angels. It’s about empowering. It’s about being there for many years.
What advice would you give to women who are just starting out with their organizations?
Just be yourself. Always listen to your instinct and your voice. Be passionate in everything you do. And we’re living in a world where you don’t have only one career. I see a lot of my friends, they are big CEOs, and then they become yoga teachers, or they become beauty nutritionists. You can have a few careers in your life now.
And don’t let anyone judge you. Just be yourself, be confident, be powerful, and don’t be afraid to show your emotion. Don’t be afraid to take some step back and reflect on your journey. Always be positive and give the best of what you can offer and never accept no for an answer.
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