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From leaders to Leadership – Sold their possessions to invest in Women Leadership in Africa

Living at the edge to personal and professional potential starts at home. At the beginning of 2011, Suzanne and her husband, Michael K Gingerich embarked on an incredible journey they call ‘Mission Africa’.  They sold most of their worldly possessions, and invested their savings into projects they believed would Invest, Inspire and Develop African women leaders of today for tomorrow.

They built on both of their entrepreneur spirit, leadership capabilities and desire to celebrate, educate and cultivate African women leaders. They started many initiatives, all with the intention of depicting Africa through the lens of opportunity.  Most of their 20 months of travel and their 14 African country in-depth tour was dedicated to conducting interviews for the Wisdom Exchange TV (www.wisdomexchangeTV.com), raising funds for the Ignite Excellence Foundation (www.igniteexcellencefoundation.org), and Africa Business Women Summit & Expo taking place in Ethiopia in 2014 (www.abwconneted.com).

Suzanne and Michael’s mandate is to celebrate all that is good in Africa. They focus on the beauty and possibilities of Africa for the world stage to appreciate.

As a result of creating the Ignite Excellence Foundation in 2007, their two-year journey and continued work within Africa, Suzanne has further insight into the following issues and their international impact.

1. Consistent conscious contribution
2. Effective communication is the key to engage people and influence outcomes.
3. That investing in women leadership in emerging countries can minimize injustices done to many women in children internationally.

Suzanne F. Stevens host and producer Wisdom Exchange TV

Wisdom Exchange TV- Wisdom Exchange TV is a resource to help African women to learn, lead and succeed in life, business, and community.  It is a forum where women of all disciplines will be inspired from the achievements of pioneering African women in business, education, philanthropy and politics. These are the women that are the Change Agents of their communities, countries and continent. They will inspire us to stretch our vision of what we can do, and what WE can be. New interviews and Expert Perspective blogs are updated regularly with the insights of the women leaders of today for tomorrow.

Wisdom Exchange TV is a free resource and has subscribers from over 50 countries, more than half of which are African.

Suzanne F. Stevens and her husband, Michael K. Gingerich, founded Wisdom Exchange TV in 2011 and traveled through Africa uninterrupted for two years. They have recently returned from backpacking through Africa interviewing women leaders for Wisdom Exchange TV (www.wisdomexchangetv.com). This initiative is self-funded and is an investment in future women leaders. Suzanne is the host and co-producer of the first African focused web-enable platform to educate, cultivate and inspire future African women leaders. To date, Suzanne and Michael have interviewed 63 African women pioneers and Wisdom Exchange TV is being watched in 77 countries and growing.

Suzanne and Mike are continuing to interview African pioneer Leading Ladies as they are committed to this platform and investing in the change agents of Africa – women.

As a result of working in and visiting Africa over five years, Suzanne builds on her expertise in influential communications and uses conscious contribution insights and leadership lessons as a foundation for her I AM HERE, and Diamonds out of the Rough keynotes.

Investing in tertiary education for women in emerging Countries

The Ignite Excellence Foundation- Suzanne F Stevens founded the Ignite Excellence Foundation in 2007 (advised by Tides Canada – Charity number: BN 86894 7797RR0001).  The mission of the foundation is Leadership, Advocacy and Education; the vision is to Invest, Inspire and Develop African women leaders of today for tomorrow. In the past, the foundation achieves it’s objectives by empowering African women to present their messages with confidence, providing scholarships for tertiary education, investing in bricks and mortar, and raising funds and sponsorship for women leadership initiatives in emerging countries. The foundation has also supported Frontier College, a foundation promoting Canadian Literacy.

Moving forward the foundation’s funds will only go toward providing tertiary education scholarships to perspective women leaders. Other initiatives will include be building capacity through various resources, (such as Wisdom Exchange TV) and events, (such as African Business Women Connected Summit & Expo).

The Ignite Excellence Foundation has several initiatives to raise funds and is seeking partnerships with well- aligned organizations or Foundations to continue their efforts.

Fund raising initiatives:

1. Hiking Heights for Higher Education – This is an initiative that calls on anyone in the West or Africa who wants to change the landscape of leadership to assist many of the injustices done to women and children in Africa. We often invest in girl and boy child’s primary education, but to change policies we need leaders with integrity. By equalizing the leadership landscape by providing more women with the skills to lead in business, education, or politics we will create a ripple effect of women’s voices being heard, and more importantly, listened to in the communities, countries and on the continent. This is why Ignite Excellence Foundation invests in tertiary education for African women. We offer scholarships to individuals who have demonstrated leadership ability and have insight in how they will create a positive ripple effect either in their community, country or continent.The goal of the Hiking Heights for Higher Education campaign is to raise funds. The execution is to ‘hike’ to the highest point of as many African Countries as possible. We hike to the highest accessible point.
2. Suzanne donates a portion of her speaking fee to the Ignite Excellence Foundation and Clients charity of chose.  http://suzannefstevens.com/keynotes/
   
   
3. The Ignite Excellence Conference – This conference is in support of the Ignite Excellence Foundation and raises funds for tertiary scholarship for perspective women leaders in emerging countries. The conference brings together top Canadian women experts and professional speakers to provide personal and business strategies and inspiration for attendees to reach their personal and professional potential.

Ignite Excellence Inc. Group of Initiatives

We would be happy to discuss other story options regarding any related topics of the Ignite Excellence Inc. Group of Initiatives.

Ignite Excellence Foundation – www.igniteexcellencefoundation.org

Wisdom Exchange TV – www.wisdomexchangetv.com

You Me & We – www.youmewe.ca

Ignite Excellence Inc. – www.igniteexcellence.com

IgniteU – Online influence University – www.igniteu.ca

Africa Business Women Connected Summit & Expo – www.abwconnected.com

To learn about these initiatives, you can review the information on the Initiatives page of this site.

Or contact Suzanne F Stevens at info@suzannefstevens.com or 1 519 488 7141 or toll free in Canada 1 855 333 3303.