"Supporting Globally Impacting Locally" - Nina Hjortlund featured on Wellthy Living

A real and unedited chat between Nina Hjortlund, Founding Director and CEO of Australia for Cedar Tanzania & ARTEFACTZ and Lisa Entwisle, Host and Founder of Wellthy Living.

Lisa and Nina met on Clubhouse, the audio-only platform, and from there the conversation grew. This conversation takes us through large parts of Nina’s journey, why she’s so passionate about Global Development and Tanzania but also talks about her personal life juggling CEO-life with being a single mum.

You can read more about Nina and her journey here: “Going on a 13-year long holiday” and here: “Am I an imposter”

If you want to contact Nina for an interview or as a speaker you can contact her here

The New Man Holding The Reins...

…is Amani George, Cedar Tanzania’s new Project Manager.

We asked him to introduce himself:

Am I an imposter?

I have just written an article for Women and Leadership Australia but since it is behind a membership wall I want to share it with you here.

Seeing myself as a leader didn’t come easy to me.

I still clearly remember the day I felt confident enough to sign my email with “Founding Director and CEO”. With my heart in my throat and fingers shaking I pressed send. Of course, no one noticed, and no one commented on it. They already saw me as the leader I am, and it was only a natural addition to my signature.

How come it was so hard for me to realise I was a leader? Had I fallen victim to the infamous imposter syndrome?

To feel like an imposter, you must first believe you are in a position you are not qualified for or that you haven’t earned (whether it is true or not). I never felt like an imposter; I never felt I was pretending to be something that I wasn’t.

That same week I had been at a gathering hosted by a very dear friend of mine. A rather relaxed affair and although I knew most of the people there were a few people I hadn’t met before. As I am an extrovert with a capital E and find no better way to soak up some energy, I was in my element.

My friend was introducing me to one of the other guests - and suddenly something clicked! He was using words that I had never thought of using to describe myself. Like “Entrepreneur”, “Leader” and “Founding Director”. Only then did I realise 'that is was what I am.'

Through this experience, I am now taking my leadership skills much more seriously. Evaluating my skills, identifying my strengths and weaknesses, becoming much clearer in my leadership.

To really extend my knowledge and to sharpen my skill set as a leader I have chosen to take a MicroMasters through the University of Queensland in Leadership in Global Development.

To continue to expand my knowledge and to actively participate in continued learning is important to drive and grow my business.

Doing business across continents and in developing countries definitely has its challenges but one of my greatest strengths is that I see it as just that: challenges. Challenges can be overcome and there is always a solution to be found.

My definition of success is when all the parts fits the puzzle.

When we see positive changes in the lives of our beneficiaries, when our team is performing at their best and is happy to come to work every day, and when our CSR partnerships benefit everyone involved.

That is also what drives my passion and why I wake up excited to work. This is what brings me joy. It also makes me happy to be a positive role model for my children. To show them that women can be leaders and entrepreneurs too.

Nina Hjortlund delivers with great insight and knowledge, the reasons why Africa matters and why Global Development has an impact on you and your business. Dedication, passion and enthusiasm drive her entrepreneurial personality, and she is a firm believer in creating opportunities rather than waiting for them.

Through her many years in Africa, and in Tanzania in particular, she has developed an understanding of the multifaceted issues people are facing on a daily basis in the developing world. Believing in continuous learning she is currently undertaking a MicroMasters at Queensland University in Leadership in Global Development. Nina is mother to four children of which two still are living at home. Her two eldest children are currently studying in Denmark.

Visit from Australia

My name is Nina Hjortlund, although most people in Mwanza know me as Mama Nina; a combination of a surname that is next to impossible for non-Danish people to pronounce and cultural respect in Tanzania. I lived in Tanzania for 13 years and Tanzania still has a part of my heart and soul. I am a mother of four children and a crazy puppy.

I was born in Denmark but have always enjoyed traveling and besides Tanzania, I have also lived in Egypt for a number of years. I now live in Perth, Australia, since August 2018, which is where I founded Australia for Cedar Tanzania, ACT!

Australia for Cedar Tanzania is working to raise funds, awareness and attract volunteers for Cedar Tanzania. Our aim is to enable Cedar Tanzania to continue current projects, and potentially expand into new areas as well.

We do this through grant applications, social media, fundraising campaigns, events, communications, networking and partnerships.

In the short time we have existed, we have achieved quite a few milestones: We have conducted three crowdfunding campaigns securing lifesaving medical equipment for Kamanga Health Centre, secured partly funding for our TackleAfrica project and we are able to provide funds for our upcoming Clean Water project.

We have also received a grant in social media marketing and been shortlisted to UK Aid Directs Community Grant – we are holding our breaths as results are coming out any day now.

Currently, we are developing a partnership with Western Australia’s Department of Health to conduct an up-skilling training programme for our midwives and nurses. The project is called GHAWA (Global Health Alliance Western Australia) and was formed as part of a partnership with World Health Organisation (WHO).

GHAWA will provide Australian midwives to teach a midwifery programme that is tailored to the needs of Kamanga Health Centre’s staff. This will ensure that the health centre is able to provide the highest level of service and care to its patients.

Many new projects and events are on the schedule for 2020 – make sure you are signed up to our newsletter to be the first to know.

What are your main roles as Director of Australia for Cedar Tanzania!

Australia for Cedar Tanzania is still a small entity and I am the only employee so far.

This means I get to wear all the hats! – CEO, bookkeeper, marketing, report writing, fundraiser, writing grant applications, secretary, stall holder, web designer, and everything else in between.

As a Founding Director, I am ultimately responsible for ensuring that the company adheres to the laws of Australia and that all reporting is done in a timely manner. It is also my responsibility to ensure Australia for Cedar Tanzania is financially sound, and that all taxes and fees are being paid.

Australia for Cedar Tanzania is a not-for-profit, which means all profits we make goes straight into Cedar Tanzania.

What do you enjoy most about your role?

Although it can sometimes be stressful, I enjoy wearing all the hats and the diversity that comes along with it.

In one day, I can be keeping books and attending a webinar in the morning, updating social media and our web page in the afternoon, and meeting politicians and stakeholders by the evening.

I find much satisfaction in knowing every little thing I do has the aim of helping the Nyamatongo community to be stronger and more self-sufficient, and that they will gain more opportunities and improve their overall living standards.

I enjoy being my own boss, setting my goals high and aiming for the stars. I work alone, which takes lots of self-discipline and organisation but it also has many benefits. One of them is that I can move my hours around my children’s schedule. This often means that many of my work hours occur in the evenings after my children have gone to bed.

What do you find most challenging about your role?

Working alone. As I mentioned above it has its benefits,but it also has its downfalls. Being well aware of them makes me able to counter them before they become a problem.

Luckily thanks to today’s technology I can stay in daily contact with our team in Tanzania – WhatsApp, Skype, FaceTime and Messenger make communicating easy and accessible.

Linking with other similar businesses here in Australia is another important aspect of my tasks, which helps to know how to go about running a business here. Meeting with like-minded people for inspiration and collaboration on a regular basis is vital for growth and overcoming challenges.

Oh, and bookkeeping is just not my favourite thing to do…

Tell us about your most recent visit to Cedar Tanzania

I have just returned from a three weeks visit to Tanzania. Needless to say it was AMAZING!

I loved being able to see the Cedar Tanzania team face to face and it was a pleasure to spend the first week both in the office in Mwanza and with the team in Nyamatongo Ward.

All our projects look fantastic and I am so proud of all the achievements our staff has accomplished. I am humbled and impressed with the dedication and passion every single member of the Cedar Tanzania team shows every single day. It truly warmed my heart to see.

The project manager for the GHAWA project, Sally Dawit, came from Dar es Salaam to inspect Kamanga Health Centre and was highly impressed with the level of standards we deliver every day.

I also met with a couple of our long-term Corporate Social Responsibility partners such as Sandvik Mining and Construction Tanzania and Bamboo Rock Drilling. We are proud to have a well-functioning and positive CSR approach where all involved benefit from the partnership.

I miss Tanzania every day – and I feel very lucky being able to have both Australia and Tanzania in my life all at once.

How can people take action?

There are many ways you can be part of our journey.

First and foremost, sign up to our newsletter to know about our projects, the amazing people we meet on a daily basis and learn how changing lives happens every day.

We have a donation option on our website – in Australia all donations over $2 are tax deductible.

You can volunteer with us – send me a mail and hear how.

Does your company have a CSR or workplace giving programme? Contact us and hear how we can collaborate.

And something as simple as commenting and sharing our posts on social media (find us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter) helps us enormously. So next time you see a post: give us a shout and share it on!

Handing over the reins

The Cedar Foundation Tanzania will soon be bidding farewell to its Executive Director, Claire Michelotti, as she finishes her time with us.

The Cedar Tanzania team

Hello everyone!

I’m Claire and I have been working as Executive Director of Cedar Tanzania for just over a year and a half (since January 2018).  Prior to that I was the Operations and Funding Manager from when the organisation began in 2014.

What part of the job have you most enjoyed?

That’s easy – the people. It may sound cheesy but working with a team of inspiring, energised and enthusiastic people is infectious and is what has made this job so incredible for five years. The nature of our work as a development organisation can be hard, and there are days where progress does not happen as fast as one would wish.  Working with a team of passionate individuals who persevere in the face of adversity makes all the difference and has been awe inspiring. I feel like I’ve learned a lot from the team, not just professionally but about life in general too.

What part of your job has most flummoxed you?

Kiswahili flummoxes me daily!  Although this doesn’t stop me from trying and subsequently sounding like an idiot on a regular basis! After five years of being here, I had high hopes of being close to fluent by this time, but embarrassingly I am nowhere near. Luckily people here are very understanding and appreciate it if you try. Plus my pigeon Swahili has conveniently broken the ice on a number of occasions so it’s not all bad.

What has been most challenging for you leading a non-profit in Tanzania?

One of hardest parts of the job I think is working out where it is appropriate for Cedar Tanzania to step in and help a person or a situation directly, and where we should step back and instead try to empower a community or an institution to step in.  Oxfam’s campaign based on the saying “give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, but teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime” is an approach that runs through Cedar Tanzania. This is the only way that we will reach our goal of helping people help themselves in a sustainable way. However, this approach takes time, and when you’re in a place where life can be brutal and unforgiving and where there is suffering, it can be very hard not to want to help directly. As such, although our overall approach to development is to build capacity, we sometimes do also step in and help directly if we deem it appropriate. The process of establishing this however can be difficult and painful, especially if the outcome is not to reach out directly.

What will you miss most about working at Cedar Tanzania?

Apart from missing the Cedar Tanzania team, I will of course miss the people from the communities we serve. I will never forget the elegance, strength, humour and hospitality of the community members I have met and known since being here, despite some of the heart wrenching challenges they face.

Weirdly enough, I will also miss the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the job – like when a law is introduced overnight and you have to put things in place quickly to comply as an organisation, or when we have to deal with crocodiles on the shores of the lake close to the health centre. Obviously, these things are also challenges, but they make the job exciting and different which I enjoy immensely. 

Can you write a brief introduction of the three managers that will be replacing you?  

Please meet the three formidable individuals who will be replacing me – Paulina, Vivian and Caroline. 

Paulina will be Director of Health Programmes, leading on all aspects related to healthcare including the significant task of overseeing Kamanga Health Centre.

Vivian will be Director of Projects assuming responsibility for our broad portfolio of field projects.

Caroline will preside over central office functions including finance, HR, communications and fundraising as Director of Central Operations.

We are very fortunate to have these three inspiring women on board and I am excited about Cedar Tanzania’s future with them leading the way!

Why three?

Well, three is the magic number no?

Jokes aside, when I started working at Cedar Tanzania, we were just starting out. As is common in many start-ups, people’s roles were typically broad and covered a number of aspects – including mine. The size of the organisation meant I was able to work across multiple areas, from project work to fundraising, from finance to operational delivery. However, as the organisation has grown, the workload has equally grown and I think we have now reached a point where my role can easily be split between three clearly defined roles.

The other reason is because we had three very talented people whose strengths were in different areas and who complemented each other beautifully. It made sense to give all three more responsibility so they could work as a team and support each other.   

And what of Mark O’Sullivan? Is he still around?

Oh yes, he is definitely still around! As our intrepid founder and Country Director, he is key in ensuring that we continue to deliver our work with vigour and flair! I have no doubt that Mark and the three new directors will take Cedar Tanzania to new and exciting places!

What legacy do you think you will leave behind?

Wow that’s a hard one. Hopefully a tidy desk although I haven’t got there yet!

None of what will remain when I leave Cedar Tanzania has been as a result of just my work – it’s all been because of team-work so it’s not strictly ‘my’ legacy. However, I’ll admit I feel happy at the thought of leaving an organisation that is growing and thriving, much like the communities we work in. I suppose I also feel a certain sense of achievement when I think that now, there is a health centre providing key healthcare services to people in a place that badly needed one five years ago.   

What are your hopes for Cedar Tanzania?

Strategically, I hope that Cedar Tanzania and its projects will continue for decades to come, lead by Tanzanians with the full support of the Government of Tanzania.

My ambition hopes are that once The Cedar Foundation is well established in Tanzania, it will go on to achieve the same somewhere else. With Cedar Bulgaria shining bright as the very first ‘Cedar Foundation’, and now with Cedar Tanzania as the second, I see no reason why the organisation could not continue to grow globally.

From a more emotive perspective, I hope the spirit of Cedar Tanzania lives on throughout its future, whatever form this may take. ‘Changing Lives’ is not a motto that was chosen lightly. Cedar has certainly changed mine.