Mountain Lion Agriculture is very proud to announce it has received a prestigious award from one of Sierra Leone’s most important and respected Women’s Organizations, Zonta (www.zonta.org).

At Zonta’s recent celebration of International Women’s Day, Mountain Lion Agriculture was given an honourary award for its contribution to women’s empowerment in Sierra Leone. Most of Mountain Lion Agriculture’s rice suppliers are female smallholder farmers, who have proven to have higher repayment rates on loans as well as better adherence to technical training. Thanks to our partners at KIVA.org, Cordaid.org and Woord en Daad (www.woordendaad.nl) we have rolled out interest-free loans and training to thousands of female smallholders in the past several years. We also prioritize hiring women wherever possible, and our Accounting “A-team” is composed of and led exclusively by women.

Hard-working women are the backbone of Sierra Leone’s rice production and are a pleasure for us to work with. Receiving such recognition from the leadership of Zonta in Freetown has been one of the top highlights of Mountain Lion Agriculture’s long history of awards and recognition. We are so proud to stand beside Sierra Leone’s hard-working and extremely resilient women as they make a better future for the country.