For revolutionary change-making through entrepreneurship, consciousness-raising and citizen-building
Swaady Martin is the kind of woman that we think of when we say “changemaker”. As she says herself: “I was born in a family of changemakers. My parents nurtured a strong sense of consciousness and responsibility to make the world a better place, starting from within.” Today, as a serial entrepreneur, consciousness activist, author and international speaker, Swaady is no doubt a changemaker by all counts.
For starters, Swaady’s worked with various corporations and numerous entrepreneurial initiatives for over two decades, in company management and strategy, new business model development and brand building. She carried her expertise into founding one of Africa’s most admired brands, YSWARA, an African tea company. YSWARA manufactures elegant, high-end products using Africa’s natural resources, all of which are handcrafted by African craftsmen. With YSWARA, Swaady aims to not only recover Africa’s endangered cultural legacy and distinctive ancestral craftsmanship but also champion women’s economic emancipation in Africa: she only hires women and purchases raw materials from female producers.
Beyond her entrepreneurial work, Swaady believes in elevating community consciousness. A new leadership, she believes, is needed to lead the necessary revolution to create a more loving and compassionate world where all can thrive: humans, animals, nature, cosmos. She wants to connect leaders who transcend the illusion of separation, who have a humble and reverent approach to the world, who lead from a profound and serene place of alignment with All—so she launched Tounché Global Consciousness Summit, an invitation to a universal pilgrimage to connect us all to each other and the planet.
On top of all that, she’s also started LovingKindness Boma, an independent publishing house that creates and sells children’s books that entertain, educate and enrich the whole family. The stories within these books celebrate the diversity of the world and contain social-emotional, spiritual and cultural conversation starters to connect more deeply and support the development of children as caring global citizens. For all of this work, Swaady’s been widely profiled in the media, appearing on several magazine covers and receiving various awards, including inclusion on the Forbes and Oprah Winfrey O Power lists for Africa, and she’s a board member of the African Leadership Institute.
