Our Social Impact

Powering Women locally and Globally. Igniting a Social Impact—Since 2007

At the YouMeWe Foundation Fund, we don’t just believe women leaders are the future—we invest in them like the future depends on it.

Through our two-year journey interviewing over 70 women Wave-Makers across 17 African countries, and continuing to interview women changemakers internationally, one truth became undeniable: women are the catalysts of sustainable change. But the gap persists—across borders, systems, and sectors. Until intersectional women’s voices are equally heard in our institutions, corporations, nonprofits, and communities, we will fall short of a truly inclusive and thriving society—a YouMeWe society.

Here’s how we’re making waves:

• • 30+ Higher Education Scholarships awarded to aspiring African women leaders in Kenya, Congo, and South Africa

  • Micro-loans invested in women-led businesses to fuel local economies and financial independence (youmewe.ca/your-contribution-counts/)

  • Donations to women’s shelters in Canada to protect and empower women and children escaping violence

  • Book proceeds reinvested into scholarships—because every page turned powers a future leader (store.youmewe.ca/)

  • YouMeWe Amplified Podcast—amplifying the voices of women making sustainable social impact worldwide (podcast.youmewe.ca/)

  • Celebration with Purpose—every time someone makes a difference, we celebrate them with a micro-loan donation in their honour (youmewe.ca/your-contribution-counts/)

  • Fundraising conferences & panels that elevate underrepresented voices and spark community transformation (youmewe.ca/youmewe-events/#youmeweconferences)

  • Coaching & training provided to emerging African leaders—helping them amplify their voices persuasively and powerfully (https://youmewe.ca/potential-assessment/)
  • Supporting women’s political representation—amplifying women’s voices in decision-making spaces, particularly in government, and contributing to a women’s political group that champions equity and ensures women’s rights remain front and centre.

We are not just witnessing change. We are fuelling it.

🚫 While our donation portal is being upgraded, you can still make waves.
👉 Stay in the know—and in the momentum.
Subscribe to YouMeWe Infusions—your surge of strategies & inspiration to propel you to:

• • Elevate your conscious leadership

  • Amplify your authentic voice

  • Accelerate sustainable social impact

Contribution Recognition — Suzanne F. Stevens

Our story

January 20, 2007, eighteen Canadian women arrived in Kenya. On our first day at African International University we attended a welcome ceremony. Our host, Lois Shaw, an American missionary, the late Dr. Douglas Carew, the Chairman of the Africa International University, along with a dozen wives of PhD students gathered in the chapel.

At the welcome ceremony, Dr. Carew shared what he believed to be the biggest issue in Africa. “The biggest problem in Africa today,” he said, “is not AIDS, poverty, disease, education, or urbanization; the biggest problem is leadership. When moral leaders with integrity and justice arise, then Africa's problems will be solved.”

Within a month after receiving this reflective message I was training a professor, PhD students, and ambitious women on how to fundraise and communicate as leaders. A few short months later, I founded the Ignite Excellence Foundation fund, (renamed in 2016 to YouMeWe Foundation Fund), with the goal to raise funds to provide tertiary education scholarships for prospective women leaders in developing countries. The goal is to create more leaders with integrity, while addressing injustices suffered by women and children in developing countries.

After returning to my influential communication sales and leadership training organization, Ignite Excellence Inc., back in Toronto, Canada, I couldn’t kick a nagging feeling. By offering free training to the students and professors at African International University, was I taking a much needed African person’s job? Was there an expert in influence in Kenya or surrounding area who could have been paid to provide training services?

A couple years later I became very unsettled. Leading a team of consultants and training corporations whose primary focus was to win business to optimize profits was not filling my soul. The recession also kicked in, which lead me to work in industries that may have filled my bank, but not my ambition. I craved to immerse myself into an experience that was more fulfilling than seeking the mighty dollar and more significant than my professional achievements.

I remember sitting on my couch, looking at all my stuff, and contemplating: “What contribution was I really making? What impact was I really creating?”

I wanted to do something bold.  I need something that would stimulate a trajectory to something that would instil more meaning in my life.  I spoke with my husband (Micheal K. Gingerich) with the pleading eyes of a wife, “Let’s take one, two or three years and go back to Africa. We could create a platform for African women with integrity to share their insight to educate future African women leaders.”

“What do you think?”

Mike hesitated for what seemed like a lifetime, and then smiled,

“You know, you will have to take the lead...but I will follow.” (Music to a woman's ears.)

It took time for us to get organized. Mike left his leadership position and I reorganized my training team. Then we sold almost everything.

In March 2010, we were ready to start our adventure of a lifetime. We embarked on a journey with a mission, which was to create an initiative that would cultivate, celebrate and inspire future leaders in emerging countries. My passion leads us to interview pioneering women in countries within Africa for YouMeWe Amplified Podcast. The unsung heroines who were, and in many cases still are, suppressed; whose voices needed to be amplified. The uncelebrated mentors, for the future African women leaders. A bridge over the chasm needed to be built, from African young women seeking to learn, lead and succeed in life, business, and community to easy access to African women’s inspiration and wisdom.

Our strategy was to create a website where we interviewed pioneering African women leaders who would inspire and educate future African women leaders - YouMeWe Amplified Podcast.

After interviewing over seventy pioneering African women from seventeen countries, we were awe-inspiring.

Each of these pioneers demonstrated perseverance, tenacity, belief, and unwavering dedication to uplift the lives of others through their contributions to their community, country and continent. Most of these women came from very humble beginnings, and yet they were rich in an ability to address a human rights violation or creating sustainable opportunities for fellow citizens all while creating a ripple effect. Their aspirations are realized because of their courage, their character, and their choice to serve society.

We felt humbled next to these pioneering women. I questioned, what had taken me so long to actively contribute? All I can come up with is, in the West, we often talk about leaving a legacy; that is something we think about doing later in life. African women live their legacy; it is a philosophy of how they live their life. These women are on the propitious of transforming African societies – because they make their contribution count - everyday.

YouMeWe was a website that started as nothing more than Mike and my attempt to share our experiences on our twenty-month journey through Africa. With each interaction on our African journey, our perspective, and beliefs were transformed. The focus on ‘Me’ evolved. ‘You’ and ‘We’ captured our curiosity and took us on a unique adventure, which developed the intention of YouMeWe, from a journal of our journey to a social enterprise. Its new mandate is to focus on igniting consistent conscious-contributions™, in which individuals and organizations are made aware, inspired, and provided strategies on how to contribute to fill a gap in society, and ensure their intentions are having a positive impact long-term.

Through creating awareness of YouMeWe social enterprise, it will morph into a movement where social enterprises and organizations that adhere to the manifesto of YouMeWe are celebrated.  The intention is to inspire citizens to shift the focus from ‘Me’ to ‘We’, consciously.   Through this lens, we hope to inspire you with insights and tools on how to contribute to your organization, community, country, or beyond while creating a positive ripple effect. On this journey of optimizing your impact, you will also live your most meaningful life.

The goal of the YouMeWe mindset is to raise consciousness and inspire individuals and organizations to lead or participate in contributions that positively impact their community, country, or beyond long-term, promoting a more caring and more inclusive human race. Please join us on this journey of YouMeWe.

join us on YouMeWe journey.