THE JURY

Tadzie Madzima was raised by a single mother who worked extensive hours to provide for her children’s needs. Her mother did her best to balance the duties of caring for her children and spending time with them but her busy schedule prohibited her from providing Tadzie and her siblings with psychosocial and career support as frequently as she would have liked.

Moreover, Tadzie did not receive career and mental health counseling at the public school she attended. Thus, the emotional and psychological components of Tadzie’s life were neglected.

Public schools in Zimbabwe rarely provide vocational/career counseling, mental health services, or after-school programs. Realizing there were many other youth in a similar or worse predicament, Tadzie decided to offer opportunities for young people from underserved communities to get career counseling, mentoring, and mental health services in order to assist their total personal development, enable them to attain their full potential, and foster them into future leaders.

Today, Tadzie Madzima is an award-winning Zimbabwean life and career coach, speaker, servant leader, youth-led innovation and social change advocate, and women’s rights campaigner. Her story is a clear example of how pain can become purpose. Tadzie established IGNITE Youth to equip youth to create a vision and purpose for their lives, find meaningful careers, contribute positively to their communities and develop into the African leaders of today and tomorrow.

Her organization helps underprivileged adolescents with mental health, career guidance, and mentorship. Over 22,500 Zimbabweans have benefited from her workshops, seminars, coaching, and other programs to empower women, youth, and communities. Tadzie has helped thousands of youth to access scholarships, fellowships, internships, and jobs.

She trained over 15 public schools and 10 universities. Her work has gone international with her matching African adolescents with mentors from Sweden, Mexico, USA, UK, and Canada.

Tadzie Madzima has received numerous nominations, featured in news headlines, and been granted numerous interviews. She is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow and did her fellowship at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas, Austin. She is 2021 Honoree and Winner in the category of Children’s Rights for Junior Chamber International’s (JCI) Top Outstanding Young Persons Awards, a 2020 Winner of the Youth Mentorship Award in Shield Foundation’s 2020 Zimbabwe’s Women of Excellence Awards, and was also featured in Bulawayo-based Amahle Magazine as one of Zimbabwe’s 25 Influential women. She is also a 2021 Gratitude Network Fellow and was named as one of the Young Iconic Pacesetters in Zimbabwe by The Business Connect and the Nyaradzo Group. The Nyaradzo is one of the largest corporate group of companies in Zimbabwe.

Ignite Youth Organisation was nominated by the Eatout Movement in 2018, Glam Awards in 2019, and Teach a Man to Fish UK in 2020 as an organization that is going the extra mile in helping prevent and fight social ills that affect youth.

Tadzie also provides mentoring and coaching services to other businesses and organizations. She has taught pitching, human-centered design, and branding at the Plan International Zimbabwe Youth Innovation Challenge, the Youth Empowerment and Transformation Trust 2022 Winter School, and the UNICEF ImaGen Ventures Innovation Challenge planned by The Boost Fellowship and supported by Plan International and the International Labour Organization.

She’s been a judge at the UNICEF ImaGen Ventures Innovation Competition, the Enactus Zimbabwe National Competitions, the 2022 Usawa Equity Competition hosted by Usawa Institute’s Community Leadership Program, and the 2022 Miss Africa MAIA Beauty Pageant where she was the Guest of Honor and Judge.

Finally, Tadzie is also a marketing and communications guru. She has held Chief Marketing Officer and Director-level marketing leadership roles for multinational organizations in Africa, Europe and the United States.

She has a Bachelor’s in International Relations and Diplomacy from the University of South Africa, is a Certified Chartered Public Relations Practitioner from the PR Academy in the UK, and is a Peace, Trade, and Development Fellow through the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California, USA. She has trained over 300 African social entrepreneurs from Tanzania, Ghana, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Chad, Senegal, Ethiopia, and globally in skills such as pitching, marketing, storytelling and branding.

Tadzie has chosen a purposeful path, one that empowers and guides young minds on their journey in life. “When you live your life with a purpose, you are much more in control of your long-term happiness. You won’t have the feeling like you’re just drifting, working towards some vague goal that doesn’t make you happy.” – she says.