Marynsia and her love for footballing, reading

You may not have heard of Marynsia Mangu but you probably have heard about Ndondo Cup Tanzania Tournament.

Going to the point, Marynsia is the executive director of Success Hands Initiative. She also co-leads the Ndondo Cup Tanzania Tournament as a chair for women and under 17 footballers. She holds a master’s degree in Business Administration after having attained a degree in Procurement and Supply Chain Management.

She holds a certificate of profession from the national procurement board of Tanzania PSPTB (Professional Supplies and Procurement Technicians Board) and CPA (T). And she is a member of the African Women Leadership Network and one of the safe online space diplomats in Tanzania.

The Citizen’s SALOME GREGORY held and interview with her under the Rising Woman Initiative. Here are the excerpts:

Question: You co lead the Ndondo Cup Tanzania tournament as a chair for women and under 17 footballers what are your roles and how are you empowering women with this title?

Answer: Football is often described as a non-feminine sport. I and my team aim to change that notion. Ndondo Cup are tournaments that take place every year to empower street team players. My role is to make sure more girls participate, teach them on life skills and make sure they do not encounter any gender-based violence.

You are passionate about community development specifically goal 4, quality education. How are you pushing for quality education and what are the positive results attached to your passion?

I basically push through two main things. First creating the reading culture. Knowledge is hidden in books and people perish due to lack of knowledge. I link the two thus enhance quality education. Second, I create awareness on children’s rights and the channels they can use to report if faced with adversities.

You are a co-founder of Success Hands Initiative fostering children’s reading culture and unleashing children potential talents why did you come up with this idea and what are the tangible outcomes of this Initiative?

This idea started after seeing many of the people who surround me did not have a reading culture mine was bestowed by my family in my childhood years. I decided to inflict the same to other children. We have been able to create children’s book clubs in Mwanza and Mbeya in six different schools.

You advocate fighting violence against children and young women what are the lessons you have learned over the years and how are they shaping your career?

I have leaned that some people consider women and girls as objects, that they can neither make their own decisions nor take care of themselves. Most of the women and girls’ major reason of facing violence is due to lack of financial freedom. I have learned that financial literacy and freedom is so important in empowering a girl thus thriving to achieve the same even for myself.

What is your leadership style?

Delegative leadership style. I believe in my team’s competence and ability to accomplish a task. My style focuses on delegating initiative to team members with a touch of constant follow up.

Being a banker, corporate events planning and management and other roles mentioned above. How are you balancing all these roles in one plate?

I decided to quit banking industry and remained doing corporate events planning and community development activities. It is not easy, in few years I have been able to acquire a good number of clients. It gets busier such that there are times I skip lunches. One thing that has assisted me consistently is prioritizing. I plan my whole week ahead. I plan all my tasks ahead and do not let destructions in between hinder the accomplishment of the plans. Nevertheless, I enjoy the fact that I can accomplish all tasks on my hand.

What are the challenges you go through and how are they shaping your leadership journey?

Being a girl, it is a challenge. I have been seduced and approached by so many men that I look forward to work with, I must say without proper values I would have fallen by now. Some of the men I work with tend to belittle my abilities until they see otherwise. Another challenge is time, it gets to a point where I have so much on my plate that I have to sleep less hours.

In 2019 you launched a campaign #MaleziChanya and #MzazisomanaMwanao why is it important to have these campaigns?

These campaigns are important for the community development activities I do. Malezi Chanya advocates children’s rights and Mzazi Soma na Mwanao advocates reading culture.

What is your advice for young girls who aspire to become leaders?

They should believe in themselves. They should be aggressive and work on the ideas they get fiercely. I also tell girls when talking to them that any developmental idea that comes in your mind also comes with a breakthrough to achieve it. They should stand tall and perform unapologetically. They should trust on God and lean to him.