Join Us in Zanzibar For The ‘TRUST YOUR TRUTH‘ Retreat!
TRUST YOUR TRUTH
Use real, inspiring stories to go beyond raising awareness, to show practical ways to adopt more ethical business practices & build resilient cultures at work
Africa has an abundance of amazing initiatives by courageous women, communities, and social innovators.
We want to tell the stories of the unsung ‘sheroes’ of Africa…women who create amazing, successful social innovative, and community based projects.
We believe the way many African women create and maintain inclusive, collaborative and successful work environments can potentially have answers to many problems that western companies face today.
So Carolin is going to ride accross Africa to spend time with some amazing women, learn about their projects and co-create stories with these social innovators and purpose-driven entrepreneurs that have the power to inspire change in the way people create community, culture and connection at work. She’ll be joined by a film crew at regular intervals to capture engaging footage to better tell these emboldening stories.
We want to go beyond raising awareness, and show practical ways for companies to adopt more ethical business practices & build resilient cultures at work.
We Can Learn from Africa About “Community”
THE PROBLEM:
So many people/companies are facing problems like The Great Resignation, quiet quitting, burnout, overwhelm, isolation and loneliness, the rapidly widening gap between the rich and the poor.
These problems are societal issues as well as organizational issues.
We can no longer insist on separating work life and private life. They affect each other in so many ways.
So we need to consider new perspectives and business models to solve many of the challenges we are facing.
Social innovators do just that!
And they are incredibly creative in coming up with new ways of doing it.
We want to learn from them and share those learnings with the world.
@lulurayphotos
A POSSIBLE SOLUTION:
We believe that social innovation can help companies build inclusive and resilient cultures that focus on community, connection and impact. Through this project we want to create awareness that business can be done in more community-oriented, impact-centric ways. That our businesses can solve many of today’s problems for tomorrow’s society rather than creating them.
In many parts of Africa, particularly the more rural areas, women are often the backbone of the community as they are naturally more inclined to build community, to look for connection rather than competition.
We can learn a lot from many African cultures where community living is still the natural and organic way of life.
We want to relearn the skills it takes to create and maintain these inclusive and collaborative environments – skills that we have forgotten in the more individualistic societies in the ‘West’.
THE PROBLEM:
So many people/companies are facing problems like The Great Resignation, quiet quitting, burnout, overwhelm, isolation and loneliness, the rapidly widening gap between the rich and the poor.
These problems are societal issues as well as organizational issues.
We can no longer insist on separating work life and private life. They affect each other in so many ways.
So we need to consider new perspectives and business models to solve many of the challenges we are facing.
Social innovators do just that!
And they are incredibly creative in coming up with new ways of doing it.
We want to learn from them and share those learnings with the world.
A POSSIBLE SOLUTION:
We believe that social innovation can help companies build inclusive and resilient cultures that focus on community, connection and impact. Through this project we want to create awareness that business can be done in more community-oriented, impact-centric ways. That our businesses can solve many of today’s problems for tomorrow’s society rather than creating them.
In many parts of Africa, particularly the more rural areas, women are often the backbone of the community as they are naturally more inclined to build community, to look for connection rather than competition.
We can learn a lot from many African cultures where community living is still the natural and organic way of life.
We want to relearn the skills it takes to create and maintain these inclusive and collaborative environments – skills that we have forgotten in the more individualistic societies in the ‘West’.
@lulurayphotos
TRUST YOUR TRUTH
@lulurayphotos
We want to use storytelling to inspire people to change the way they work and build their businesses.
Journeying across Africa, Carolin is going to ride her motorbike to various projects across Southern and East Africa, including Zimbabwe, Zanzibar, Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Lesotho and Ethiopia.
During this time she plans to spend a month each with at least 8 socially innovative, women-centric projects that focus on community and social impact.
She’ll get to know them properly and co-create a mini documentary about these unsung ‘sheroes’ who have defied the odds and created an impact through their work and life.
She will show how each project is innovating and what challenges they have met and overcome.
As a secondary storyline, Carolin is going to create a multi-sensory memoir that tells the story of the whole journey. The challenges and the joys, the excitement and the fears, the laughter and the tears – everything she goes through on this epic, dream-fulfilling adventure.
She calls it a multi-sensory memoir because it won’t just be a book, there’ll be videos and photos, playlists and recipes – lots of ways to fully immerse yourself in the experience, to feel like you are right there with her!
Carolin Zeitler
Culture Alchemist, Business Coach and Writer with a passion for social innovation
Her vision is to make millions of people aware of how businesses can be run in more inclusive, future-conscious and impact-driven ways, and to thereby inspire them to change the way they work.
It’s also been a long-term dream of hers to ride across Africa on a motorbike.
So now it’s time to bring the vision and the dream together.
Awesome Team & Community
Too many people to mention here are volunteering time and energy to help us get this project on the road. I want to thank everyone who has made an introduction, shared their expertise with me, encouraged me and/or opened their home to me. Thanks everyone for being so generous with your time, energy, knowledge and contacts.
Our Awesome Team
Lindy Mkhize, who is supporting us with business liaison and partnership inquiries. Thanks for opening your home to me, Lindy, and for the laughs we had amidst all the serious business talk
Francis van Wyk, who has designed this wonderful website and supported me with some structure and being my accountability partner. Thanks again, Francis, this is not our first rodeo 😉 – I’m so grateful for your continued support.
Some of the Projects We’ll Visit
Kufunda.
KUFUNDA is a place of learning, where people can recover their sense of pride, diversity and capacity in working with their own knowledge to create a healthy and vibrant community.
Kufundu cares about people creating their own solutions. They care about working with the diversity and wealth that we have, to create what we need. They believe that change begins with conscious and confident people, coming together to explore what matters most to them. Then healthy action can flow.
If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.
~African Proverb~
@lulurayphotos
Together
we can
Together we can
Your support is invaluable to make this project a reality, to give people hope that their everyday work life can be a lot more fulfilling, that they can work in environments that support their personal growth as well as their mental health, that a workplace can be nurturing, empowering and engaging.
Ready to get involved?
Donate
Support us by giving a donation.
We need funding to be able to make this project happen and investing your money in a meaningful project can change not only a few lives but the way business is done globally.
Or dedicate your birthday to our project (by choosing to collect funds for us instead of getting presents).
Sponsorship
Introduce our project to high-networth individuals in your network. Or introduce us to potential corporate sponsors.
We hope to get some in-kind sponsorship for equipment.
Spread the Word
Spread the word about this campaign in every way you can:
- post about it on your social media channels
- talk about it with friends, families and acquaintances
- share, share, share by using the share options on our donate page in indiegogo
Insights & Introductions
Insights & introductions are also received with gratitude. If you have traveled anywhere along our route before, if you know what obstacles we might encounter, if you know people that can help us plan better or if you know an awesome women-centric project along our route that we should feature, then please let us know about these.
Here’s what people say
We’re so excited to have finalised our first episode after a lot of ‘iterations’ to get it just right.
Now we’re sharing it in private screenings and watch parties with all our most ardent supporters.
Big thanks to everyone who has been supporting us on this journey so far. Welcome to anyone who would like to start supporting us now.
Here are some of the comments we’ve gotten about our first episode:
“WOW 😲😲😲😳😲 Carolin that was so amazing and so inspirational. Thank you so much for inviting us to watch this with you. It really makes us feel so special and part of your inner circle. Absolutely epic. I have no doubt we’ll be seeing the whole series on DStv very soon. WOW. So proud.”
“I loved it. Actually, I love it!!!! Thank you once more Carolin for sharing with us.”
“Great work, Carolin & team! 👀 Glad I jumped in to experience that. What a beautiful share.💙 🙌
“For those of you that didn’t make it. Y’all missed out on an amazing adventure. This series is going to be incredibly epic.”
We truly appreciate any contribution you can make to our project, whether that is by spreading the word, sharing our stories on social media, giving a financial contribution, making introductions or helping us out in any other way.
We’re sending you big virtual hugs and tons of gratitude!
@lulurayphotos
@lulurayphotos
@lulurayphotos