Monica Katebe Musonda is a Zambian businesswoman, lawyer and entrepreneur, who resigned a well-paying job as a corporate attorney to start and then lead a Zambian-based food-processing company, Java Foods Limited, where she is the

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Background and education

Musonda was born in Zambia . She holds a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree from the

University of Zambia The University of Zambia (UNZA) is a public university located in Lusaka, Zambia. It is Zambia's largest and oldest learning institution. The university was established in 1965 and officially opened to the public on 12 July 1966. The language of ...

and a

Master of Laws A Master of Laws (M.L. or LL.M.; Latin: ' or ') is a postgraduate academic degree, pursued by those either holding an undergraduate academic law degree, a professional law degree, or an undergraduate degree in another subject. In many jurisdi ...

degree from the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a collegiate university, federal Public university, public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The ...

. At the time she started her food-processing business in 2012, she was described as "a dual-qualified English solicitor and Zambian advocate".

As a lawyer

Musonda's legal career started in the United Kingdom, after her second degree. She was an associate attorney at

Clifford Chance Clifford Chance LLP is a British multinational law firm headquartered in London, England, and a member of the " Magic Circle", a group of leading London-based multinational law firms. In 2022-2023 Clifford Chance was the third largest law fir ...

in London. She relocated to South Africa and was promoted to partner at ''Edward Nathan'', in Johannesburg. While in South Africa, she was persuaded to move to

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, as the in-house general counsel at the

International Finance Corporation The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is an international financial institution headquartered in Washington, D.C. and a member of the World Bank Group that offers investment, advisory, and asset-management services to encourage private ...

, a component of the

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Group ...

. While there, a position opened up at the

Dangote Group The Dangote Group is a Nigerian multinational industrial conglomerate, founded by Aliko Dangote. It is the largest conglomerate in West Africa and one of the largest on the African continent. The group employs more than 30,000 people, generat ...

in Lagos, Nigeria. She was hired as the director of legal and corporate affairs and was soon promoted to general counsel of the group. On one of

Aliko Dangote Aliko Mohammad Dangote (born 10 April 1957) is a Nigerian businessman known for his key roles in Dangote Group and Dangote Refinery, Refinery. In 2011, he was appointed as member of the economic management team by President Goodluck Jonathan. D ...

's trips to Zambia, with Mosunda in his entourage, Dangote asked her why the majority of the financial institutions and general merchants in the country were owned and operated by non-Zambians. She felt challenged and decided to start a business of her own. She resigned as General Counsel to the Dangote Group and launched Java Foods Zambia Limited.

As an entrepreneur

, the wealthiest person in Africa, was setting up a cement factory in Zambia. He asked Musonda who had traveled with him on the trip, why there was hardly and Zambian-owned bank, insurance company or equipment/raw material suppliers. Feeling both challenged and inspired, she resigned her corporate job and using money saved and borrowed from family and friends, she contracted a company in China to manufacture noodles with the ''Java Foods'' brand. Four years later, she decided to expand her product line. She also decided to manufacture locally, and source the raw material within Zambia. Her next product is a "fortified instant cereal", which she refers to as "

porridge Porridge is a food made by heating, soaking or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, fruit, or syrup to make a sweet cereal ...

". It is made from

corn flour Cornflour or corn flour may refer to: * Corn starch or cornflour (in the UK), from the endosperm of the kernel of the corn (maize) grain * Maize flour or corn flour (in the US and elsewhere), very finely ground cornmeal, ground from dried maize ...

. She enlisted the help of ''Partners in Food Solutions'' (PFS), a "consortium of leading global food companies that include"

General Mills General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...

Cargill Cargill, Incorporated is an American multinational food corporation based in Minnetonka, Minnesota, Minnetonka, Minnesota, and incorporated in Wilmington, Delaware. Founded in 1865 by William Wallace Cargill, it is the largest privately held c ...

, DSM, Bühler,

Hershey Hershey may refer to: People * Hershey (name), a list of people with the surname, given name or nickname Places * Hershey, Nebraska, a village * Hershey, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community, home to the chocolate company * Hershey, Cuba ...

and ''Ardent Mills''. PFS engineers, business managers and food scientists from General Mills and Cargill, worked with Java Foods staff over the course of one year, pro-bono, to get the food processing plant in Zambia off the ground. The consultation provided for free, is calculated at US$50,000. As of June 2017, Java Foods limited employed 25 full-time staff. That number had trimmed down to 19 full-time employees by 2020. The products on offer are (a) eeZee Instant Noodles (b) eeZee Supa Cereal, a "fortified instant cereal" and (c) Num Nums corn snacks.

Other considerations

Monica Musonda was appointed as a member of the CAF Governance and Ethics Committee, in July 2019. Musonda sits on the jury of the ''Cartier Women's Initiative''. Musonda sits on the boards of the following enterprises, as a non-executive director (a) Airtel Networks Zambia Plc. (b) Zambia Sugar Plc. and (c) Dangote Industries Zambia Limited.

Awards

* 2017 African Agribusiness Entrepreneur of the Year award * 2018 LAB AWARDS BY THE OHNS * 2022

BBC 100 Women ''100 Women'' is a BBC multi-format series established in 2013. The annual series examines the role of women in the 21st century and has included events in London and Mexico. Announcement of the list is the start of an international "BBC's wome ...

References

External links

Monica Musonda - The startup story of a tenacious food manufacturer that is looking to bring better nutrition to Zambia
As of 2 November 2014.
Monica Musonda: CEO And Founder, Java Foods
{{DEFAULTSORT:Musonda, Monica Living people 1976 births Zambian women lawyers Zambian businesspeople Zambian business executives University of Zambia alumni 21st-century Zambian lawyers Alumni of the University of London Zambian chief executives Zambian women chief executives 21st-century women lawyers 21st-century Zambian businesspeople 21st-century Zambian businesswomen Zambian expatriates in Nigeria