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After attracting wide acclaim for their innovative approach to raising literacy rates in Sierra Leone, College seniors Fatmata and Mariama Kabia are ready to launch Memunatu Magazine to fulfill their mission of education and female empowerment.
Upon noticing the literacy discrepancy between young girls and boys in Sierra Leone, the twins decided to create a magazine to “introduce [girls] to subjects they might not initially gravitate toward,” Fatmata said, explaining that magazines “are creative, fun and educational, so the girls are interested.”
Memunatu will juxtapose stories about girls pursuing interesting projects with features on successful adult females who can serve as role models. Other sections will focus on health, trends, and math and science, and will include supplements to books in the school curriculum.
This summer, the twins traveled to Sierra Leone to conduct focus groups in Lunsar and the capitol Freetown. They also discussed their idea with Mass Communication professors and students from University of Sierra Leone in addition to recruiting staff members.
The twins first began to convert their idea into an international venture after receiving a small grant and mentorship from Weiss Tech House in the spring of 2010. With the help of several Penn connections, Fatmata and Mariama were able to visit the offices of Teen Vogue, Seventeen, Self and Glamour.
“We saw all the different steps that go into the making of a magazine,” Fatmata said. “[The editors] showed us how to keep a demographic hooked [and] what makes a magazine so attractive.”
Last April, Fatmata and Mariama presented Memunatu Magazine at the Clinton Global Initiative University Conference in San Diego, Calif. where they interacted with students pursuing similar projects and landed an interview at Sierra Leone’s national radio station for the following summer.
In the 2011 Dell Social Innovation Competition, Memunatu Magazine was also chosen as one of 15 semifinalists to receive year-long fellowships out of the 1,450 global social entrepreneurship projects submitted.
http://thedp.com/index.php/article/2011/12/penn_twins_launch_educational_magazine
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