 55% of the persons in Congo are women. Oh, wow. So imagine we say to women to not make a change. It's more than half of the people. We have to be part of the change we want to see. We have a role to play. And actually, I'm not the kind of person that will say to you that man and woman are the same thing. We are different. But it's not like a gender is better and the other one is less. We are different, but equal. And so we have to also make a change, play a part. And we have to have the freedom that we want. It's not because you are free, independent, but you're not a good wife. It's not because you are free, independent, but you're not like a good mom. You can be all of that. So you're talking about a financial freedom for young females. Is that what you're trying to say? Yes, financial freedom, but also freedom of the mind. Why not we cannot think and act and create things? Why we just have to cook? Why we just have to ask for money? And as I said, we have a culture where we always ask, ask, ask. But women also have to ask, ask like a kid. You have that enough of asking for the wigs and the nails and the country. Seeing that we need to get a team in every country that we go to, because when I go to Congo, I've been inspired to have a team for every country that I go to. In Congo, the team is Africa. It's a country, not a continent. Because when I came to Congo, I'm seeing staffs that I used to see in Ghana in here. I've seen staffs that I used to see in so many countries that I've seen in different African countries right here in Congo, which makes us a country. So Africa is no longer a continent, but a country from water Maya. Do you guys have palm wine in your countries? Because I came to Congo and I'm seeing palm wine. I thought palm wine only exists in Ghana. I'm super excited today. You know why? Because a young female African is making my dream come true. A young female African is helping change the narrative in Kinshasha. And that is why I'm smiling a lot today. You know what she did? Here in Kinshasha, they said coffee does not grow. And she left all the way from Paris, came to Kinshasha and said, you know what? I will do what you people think is impossible. And that is why I found myself in here to come share her story so that you and I can help take her to the world. You know what you need to do to help me? Like the video. Please, it's very important. Can we get 20,000 likes on this video? It's by force to like the video. And if you haven't subscribed, please subscribe and come with me. Let's go meet this young, inspiring female entrepreneur here in Congo, Kinshasha. I am Maya. Do you know that you are an inspiration? No, I don't know. But sometimes I feel it. And do you know that everyone is telling me that I cannot live in Kinshasha without meeting you? Yeah, only. Yeah, I mean, are you celebrating Kinshasha? The first day that I told people that I'm going to Congo, they asked me, are you going to Kinshasha because we want you to meet one of the people that is actually making a change in Kinshasha. Wow. It's a pleasure meeting you. It's a pleasure meeting you. My name is Wada Maya, the one and only annoying village boy from Ghana. And since you are the one and only person who is growing coffee in Kinshasha, I would love to know you more. Tell me something about yourself. Well, my name is Tissia Mukuna. I've been in Kinshasha. Okay. But I grew up in Paris. You grew up in Paris? Yes. Wow. So, my study. How long did you stay in Paris? Well, for all my study, till my master. And my MBA, I did it in China, in Shanghai. Okay. And then from there, what happened? You decided to come back to Kinshasha? Yes, from there, I decided to come back to Kinshasha. For me, it was normal to come back to my home country. I want to ask you a question. See, were you normal? Do people touch your normal, living in Europe and coming back to Africa? Well, I think that if we want to change Africa, we need all Africans. That is deep. Wow. So, you're growing coffee in here. What is the inspiration behind it? You know, first of all, they said they don't grow coffee in Kinshasha. But you're the first person to do it. What really inspired you to do that? Si, si, si, je dois être honnête, je dirais mon père. Mon père a toujours une passion pour l'agriculture. Donc on a commencé à planter des choses, des oranges, des citrons, des mangoustaniers. Et jusqu'au jour, je me suis dit, tiens, j'aimerais faire pousser aussi du café. Alors, tout le monde me disait, non, non, le café, ça pousse pas à Kinshasha. Mais comme je suis têtu, j'ai décidé de le faire. I decided to try with coffee too. But everyone was telling me, OK, coffee doesn't grow in Kinshasha. You cannot do coffee in Kinshasha. And you cannot do arabica in Kinshasha. But I try because I like to see by myself. And it grows. And as you can see, we have arabica. And how do you feel knowing that you've done something impossible in Kinshasha? Actually, at first, it was just like, tada, I have coffee and that's it. And then people was telling me, OK, I know someone in Turkey. I know someone in Lebanon. He can buy your coffee. He can do that. He can do this. I was like, but why I will just sell it? Why I cannot just transform it? Build my own brand. Good news! We are finally at Kinmarché, where you can find the Kinoise. We offer four cups of coffee to satisfy all our customers. Arabica coffee, very soft. Fable-teneur en café pour une journée aromatisée. Le café moca de chino, le meilleur café chocolaté. Il est recommandé contre la fatigue et le stress. Le café Arabusta, idéal pour renforcer votre énergie au quotidien. Robusta pour plus de robustesse, avec ce nouveau format et une valve de 150 grammes. La Kinoise, le plaisir du vrai café 100% naturel, 100% congolais. And this is how I was like, OK, no, I have to do it. I have to build my own brand. I have to do something with all of that. And this is how the whole thing started. And I'm not walking by myself. OK. I see he's here. It's the chief of the village, chief cobrea. It helps me a lot. And yeah. So let me understand. You have your own brand. So which means that after you harvest the coffee, you just add value to the coffee. Yes. So from the fresh to what? To the final product. To the final product. Yes. Let me understand this. How many hectares do you have right now? The whole plantation is 20 hectares. OK. But we do coffee on 8. And year by year, we had more hectares, like 8, 9. And year by year, we had more surface. And I will show you how we do it and how we plant it. Wow. Now, before you show me that, see, you said you started growing coffee. You don't work alone. So which means you work with the people from this community? Yes, obviously. All the people that work in the plantation are living just nearby. And it's also open plantation. That means that all the people from the village can grow everything they want in the plantation for free. So there is some spaces just for them. They can put their own vegetables, fruits, and it's for them. So far, how many people are working for you now? Wow. In the plantation, six to eight, six permanent workers. Yes. And two more for, like, depends on the world. So which means you still need to open a coffee shop? Are you thinking about that? Yes, I hope so. I want to have the Starbucks made in Kinshasa, that kind of, like a coffee shop like that. Oh, OK. That makes you proud and that makes you, yeah, proud. What is the brand name of your coffee now? Like Kinoise. Like Kinoise. Yes, Kinoise means a girl from Kinshasa, a woman from Kinshasa. And the name, like Kinoise, it's because the plantation is in Kinshasa. Seems you love Kinshasa with all your heart. Exactly. I love Congo. You love Congo, not just Kinshasa? Yes. Knowing that they don't grow coffee in Kinshasa, how did you discover that this land is perfect for coffee? At first, I just wanted to try, because everyone was telling me coffee doesn't grow. So it was just a test, actually. I had nothing to lose. I was a student at this time. So it was just like, I have nothing to lose. Let's try it. And I was coming back and forth for all the days, because I was studying in Paris. And, well, it grew. So it was surprising for me. And at first, it was just like, aha, it grew. Good. And it grows, good. And after that, the idea of doing a business came after. It came when I really realized that it was something unique. And that it was something that can really show the Congo in a new angle. Because most of the times, we're talking about Congo because of the wars, because of bad news, stuff like that. And with the coffee, we can talk about Congo for its agriculture, for its people, and for what we can do really unique. You know, what are they doing? They're harvesting coffee right now. Yeah. Yeah, they're taking the coffee from the tree. They're just taking the red cherries. Yeah, the red cherries. Yeah. Like, for example, in one tree, you can pick coffee multiple times. Because in one tree, all the cherries are not red at the same moment. So they're just taking the red ones, and they keep the yellow and the greens. Like, maybe in one week, they will come back to this tree for the red ones. Do you think it was worth it cultivating coffee? Yes, of course. It's worth it because we create jobs in Visaria. We create jobs in Kinshasa, too, because we transform the coffee. And we make a lot of people proud, actually. Like, for example, I have some pictures from Congolese in Canada, Congolese in the United States, in London. And they will take a picture of the coffee and they will be like, purely Congolese. And just for that, for me, it's worth it. And how does that make you feel? It makes me feel nervous, because it's a lot of pressure. But it makes me feel happy that all the hard work, people can notice it. And they can be like, OK, that's very good news from Congo. You know, I know that you're talking about positive stuff about Congo, but definitely you faced a lot of challenges when you wanted to start this farm. What was the major challenge that you faced when you started? Well, you see the roads to come in this plantation. We have no roads. We have no electricity. All the things we do, we do it. Like, it's a private sector. We don't have, like, a lot of help. And that's the main thing. But things are starting to change. Like, for example, the Minister of Entrepreneurship gave entrepreneurs some subventions. So it will help us, too. But yet, the roads, the electricity, the infrastructure, it's really hard. As you can see, I just have men. Because in the village, all the young people left. So you just have, like, old Papa or old Mama. Yes, we're left for the city centre to have a job, because there's nothing around. I feel like you have done a great job. I mean, like, establishing this year, at the end of the day, you are even creating jobs for the people in the village. And I believe that the government needs to support you guys with roads. You don't think so? Yeah, I think so, but it's complicated. It's really complicated to have the help of the government for the world. It's complicated to have the help of the government for the electricity, for the water. So we try to do it by ourselves. Which is difficult. It's really difficult. Because you need a lot of money to invest in it. A lot. And well, by myself. But for example, one good thing for the village, it's a village where you can only see kids or old people. Why? Because all the young people went to the city centre to have jobs. So obviously, I cannot ask for old ladies, like for grandmas to work in this plantation. It's too hard. So I have mostly some daddies. Oh, my daddies. And for the mamas, we are constricting a bakery, artisanal, so it will be like the job. It's for them. It will be like the job for them in the village. We are also doing like a bridge. You will see like we have like the plantation is so 20 hectares. And we have like a river. Normally people go through the river to go to the other side. But people like one lady died a few days ago. So we decided to have a bridge. It would be easier for people to do it. Are you doing that yourself? Are you constructing the bridge by yourself? Yeah, yeah, by myself. Because we always have all the things to have the bridge. And the chief co-op will build the bridge. He has to know how to do that. $600. $600? Can I pay for it? Oh, well, we'll give you one more bag when it comes. Let me pay for the bridge. But when you finish the bridge, let me know that you've done it. OK. All right. I pay for the bridge. You know, I just want to say that you are an inspiration. And I don't even know what to say right now. I feel like a lot of people need to know you. Thank you. Because, you know, sometimes we invest in the community. We invest, we don't think about the community. But you invested and you're also thinking about the community, which I think it's fantastic. Actually, I think it's normal to think about the community. No, but most people don't, you know. You have no idea. I've done a lot of interviews, you know. So many people don't think about the community. What type of coffee are you growing in here? Arabica and Robusta. Like, for example, here you have like baby plants of Arabica. OK. We'll put it on the ground for the rainy season. OK. And here you have Robusta plants, baby plants. You see, you are a young female entrepreneur. And I mean, most girlfriends don't want to be that entrepreneur. I believe that your story can inspire so many young females out there, yeah. If you have a message for them, what would that message be? I think it's important to be independent. Wow. Like my... Say that again. I think it's important to be independent. You heard that. Enough of asking for the wigs and the nails and the... Ha, continue. No, actually, I think it's important because it's your freedom to. Like, if I want to do something, I can do it. I'm not dependent on someone's mind or someone's willingness to help me to do something. Also, in this world, like in Congo, for example, you have 55% of the persons in Congo are women. Oh, wow. So imagine we say to women to not make a change. It's more than half of the people. We have to be part of the change we want to see. We have a role to play. And actually, I'm not the kind of person that will say to you that man and woman are the same thing. We are different. But it's not like a gender is better and the other one is less. We are different, but equal. And so we have to also make a change, play a part, and we have to have the freedom that we want. It's not because you are free, independent, but you're not a good wife. It's not because you're free, independent, but you're not like a good mom. You can be all of that. So you're talking about a financial freedom for young females. Is that what you're trying to say? Yes. Financial freedom, but also freedom of the mind. Why not we cannot think and act and create things? Why we just have to cook? Why we just have to ask for money? And as I said, we have a culture where we always ask, ask, ask. Well, women also have to ask, like a kid. Are you married? I have a fiancée. I'll say, hey, Mr. Fiancée, I know you're watching this video. You are the luckiest man on earth, man. To have a woman to tell you that, hey, you need to be financially independent. Brother, you're lucky, man. You just have to make it as soon as possible, man. Put that ring and make it official. Thank you. I think I'm good.