Kilakoze Kigadle & Wanawake Wote
Kilakoze Kigadle is a feminist community leader and small-scale seafood entrepreneur based in Bagamoyo, Tanzania, and the leader of Wanawake Wote (the Women Wote Feminist Collective). Having seen women fish traders struggle with low, unstable income and little access to finance, she works to organize women, including Lesbian, Bisexual, and Queer (LBQ) women, into formal business groups, connecting them to financial institutions and markets so they can move from trading alone to building collective bargaining power and economic independence in the seafood value chain.
With our $500 Giving Joy microgrant, (generously donated by ARC Collective, a woman-founded and led media company), Wanawake Wote is organizing 25 to 40 women fish traders across Bagamoyo's landing sites into formal groups, running a week-long training program in business management, financial literacy, and cooperative governance, and distributing training materials like manuals, notebooks, and record-keeping books. The grant also supports formal group registration and meetings with microfinance institutions and the Tanzania Women Chamber of Commerce, building the credit and market linkages women need to grow their businesses well beyond the grant period.
The Expected Impact
This grant is expected to directly benefit 25 to 40 women fish traders through training, group formation, and financial linkages, supporting an estimated 120 to 200 family members through improved household income and stability. An additional 250 to 400 community members are expected to benefit from stronger women-led trade networks and greater local economic activity in Bagamoyo.
Looking Ahead
Wanawake Wote will begin with community outreach to mobilize and organize women fish traders into groups, then run the training on business management, financial literacy, and cooperative governance. Over the remainder of the grant period, Wanawake Wote will provide regular follow-up and mentorship so the groups can operate independently through member savings, elected leadership, and the financial and market linkages built along the way.
