Anny Joanice | From Survival To Governance

Anny Joanice Nizigiyimana is a Burundian social entrepreneur, youth leader, and advocate for women’s economic empowerment who is redefining what leadership looks like for young women in the Great Lakes region.

At a time when many young women face unemployment, economic exclusion, and limited access to opportunities, Anny chose to turn entrepreneurship into a tool for transformation. Through Innovation Plus Plus in 2020, the organization she founded, she has created pathways for women to move from vulnerability to economic independence by combining entrepreneurship, environmental sustainability, and innovation.

Her work harnesses the power of eco-artistic recycling, transforming textile waste, used tyres, and plastic materials into products that generate income while promoting environmental responsibility. Beyond skills training, she equips women with the confidence, financial literacy, business knowledge, and leadership capacities needed to build sustainable futures for themselves and their communities.

In 2023 Across Burundi, from Bujumbura to Gitega, Kayanza, Bubanza, and Ngozi, Anny has trained and mentored more than 200 women in entrepreneurship and supported dozens of young women to launch income-generating activities. Through her initiatives, women have gained access not only to skills and equipment, but also to opportunities to organise themselves into cooperatives, strengthen their economic resilience, and claim their place as active contributors to local development.

Her impact extends far beyond the communities where she works. As a trainer, mentor, and coach, she has delivered more than twenty capacity-building programmes and reached thousands of young people through leadership initiatives, entrepreneurship training, advocacy campaigns, media engagements, and public dialogues. Her voice has been amplified through national and international media platforms, where she continues to champion women’s economic empowerment, youth leadership, and inclusive development.

Anny also occupies leadership positions in several national, regional, and international networks dedicated to women’s entrepreneurship, youth leadership, and environmental action. Through these spaces, she advocates for greater representation of women and young people in decision-making processes and works to ensure that their voices shape the future of their societies.
Her journey reflects a broader story unfolding across the Great Lakes region: young women are not waiting for change to happen, they are creating it. Through innovation, entrepreneurship, and collective action, Anny is helping build a generation of women leaders who are transforming barriers into opportunities and proving that economic empowerment is not only a pathway to independence, but also a pathway to leadership, influence, and social transformation.