Lutea Magaia, a Mozambican entrepreneur contributing to environmental education and the green ecosystem  — Lionesses of Africa

What inspired you to start your company?

After a few years of working with environmental education, I felt I had knowledge that was only being shared within a restricted corporate environment and the reality outside the company was very different. People had no information about why it is important to take care of the environment and how our daily actions can have negative impacts on the environment. At that time, I decided I needed to take this information out of my workplace and create more real action for the Mozambican people.

Why should anyone use your service or product?

Made by Mozambicans for Mozambicans, we have years of work experience and the knowledge of the Mozambican reality, in addition to being pioneers in the search for environmentally friendly alternatives, so that people not only have the information but that can make decisions that will help them to have more positive actions in relation to the environment.

Tell us a little about your team.

Mentes Sustentáveis team is currently formed by 3 women: Lutea Magaia, environment and agribusiness  specialist, is the company’s general manager. Shena Magaia, organizational psychologist, holds the position of administrative manager. Sharmilla Mussagy, student of the agriculture course, responsible for administrative support.

Share a little about your entrepreneurial journey. And do you come from an entrepreneurial background?

I do not come from an entrepreneurial background. The decision to become an entrepreneur came in 2019 after identifying a great desire to work with environmental education outside the corporate environment that I was in. It has been a walk with many challenges but also a lot of support from key partners. After the creation of the company in July 2019, in September of the same year we participated in the first edition of the Climate Launch Pad in Mozambique, a global competition of green business ideas, where we stood out in the TOP 4 of green business ideas. From there we received support from organizations for business development and funds for research and investment. The next year, 2020, was a very challenging year mostly because of Covid-19, with many of our environmental education plans which could not be effective and the volume of sales of eco-friendly products which dropped. But we still managed to keep going, and we used that time to work on our presence on online platforms. We were also part of programs and debates around the green ecosystem in Mozambique. In 2021 we were able to resume plans for environmental education activities.