By Daily Times Reporter
Passion for education and zeal for equality drove a Russian expat based in the UAE, to build a 4000-capacity school in Mozambique through her African Investment Fund(AIF) initiative.
Marina Schmatova, a financial expect and Philanthropist also carried out humanitarian projects in Africa that include fighting climate change through initiating renewable energy projects.
But how did she fall in love with Africa?
Talking to Daily Times Newspaper, Marina said she found herself locked up in Mozambique for more than two years during the Covid 19 era and her passion for providing education and fight climate change was born.
“In 2019, during one of my business visits to Africa, I was closed due to covid restrictions. For almost 2 and a half years, I was lucky enough to live and work there, get to know people and the region, not as a business partner, but as an integral part of it. Breathe the same air and fall in love with it”, said Marina an experienced investor.
Having been submerged in the African community, Marina decided to build a school with a capacity of 4 000 in Ooroje village in Beira, Mozambique with the help of her family charitable foundation Nia Safi.
To date, Marina has spearheaded life changing projects in the African continent in the fields of education, renewable energy and other charity projects meant to uplift the general lives of the African people.
Through the AIF, they have constructed three waste recycling plants which use thermal and decomposition or pyrolysis in Mozambique and South Africa.
Meanwhile AIF has emerged as a force to reckon with, not only in Mozambique but Africa’s financial ecosystem, channeling capital into promising ventures and nurturing budding enterprises.
NB: Check out for more on Marina’s journey as a philanthropist and ambassador of fighting climate change in our next print publication
