Azizi Life Featured on the Business With Purpose Podcast

We are excited to share with you an episode from the Business With Purpose Podcast where Molly Stillman speaks with our founders Christi Whitekettle, Tom McGregor, and Jeannine Umutoniwase. The conversation is all about how Azizi Life got started, where we are today, and where we are headed!

Here is a small preview of what to expect when you tune in to listen to Azizi life founders and Molly Stillman:

Wanting to hear a certain part of the episode? When listening go to these time stamps for specific topics (provided by Molly Stillman):

5:12 – The Azizi 101

Azizi Life was started under the auspices of a different nonprofit known as Food for the Hungry that supported education, health, and small business support. Through those relationships, the founders of Azizi life made connections with artisan cooperatives and noticed that artisan’s neighbors were buying their products but were only ready to pay a fraction of what the product might be worth in other markets.

14:51 – Azizi Life Beginnings

Christi came to work with Food for the Hungry on a similar volunteer program as Tom, trying to figure out what her future would look like. When an opportunity fell through 9 months in, she fell into a slump with no practical way to be engaged in serving people. Everything changed in a moment at church where she felt extremely uncomfortable physically, spiritually, and socially. She thought to herself that she could just go help Tom with whatever he needed to do his job with Azizi Life. The next morning, Tom approached Christi with the same idea. Christi was able to use her creative skills in a business position with Azizi Life in Rwanda.

31:12 – Azizi Life Today and the Long-Term Vision

Azizi Life started with three people and one desk. Today We have a team of 23 permanent staff, 12 temporary staff, a big office with three locations in Rwanda, and over 500 artisan partners in Rwanda.

40:51 – Getting to Know Our Founders

Find out what Christi’s guilty (or not so guilty) pleasure is, what Jeannine likes to do for fun, and what meal Tom would eat for dinner if he had to eat the same meal every night for the rest of his life.

“Every business we look to start, we look at whether it’s going to be beneficial to the community and that it will bring something to God’s kingdom.”

-Azizi Life Founders