Carol Shereni, the Woman behind the Gender-Based Violence App

As women empowerment has become more prominent over the years Zimbabwean-born Carol Shereni has proven to be dominant when it comes to putting women at the forefront. Carol Shereni, now the SADC Regional Coordinator of Empire Partner Foundation was born in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Carol travelled to the USA right after high school and balanced her dual degree in Accounting and Finance, with her passion. At the age of 19, she launched the first of a series of ‘Self Esteem’ classes at Edinboro University of Pennsylvania where she gathered female students that had encountered various forms of gender-based violence such as molestation, rape and abuse and Assisted them in re-building their self-image and confidence, and in finding purpose

“So many females experience GBV and sadly lose their self-esteem and confidence. That is something that should not be ignored as it leads to social exclusion and just how they engage with the rest of the world”- Carol Shereni SADC Regional Coordinator of Empire Partner Foundation

Carol grew her influence further by authoring books. Her book, Rise Above It, was published and Launched in the USA. It was written from a heart to inspire women to rise above self-limiting Beliefs. The book was featured in The Oracle, a newspaper in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA and was a Gateway for several speaking platforms in the USA, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. Carol’s book, Inner Beauty, opened speaking platforms for Carol to speak to women about self-esteem, confidence, and other worthwhile virtues.

Carol has been a speaker at women’s Conferences that include Encounter Women’s Conference (USA), Diamonds Women Conference(Zimbabwe), Precious Stones Women’s Conference (Zimbabwe) and iRise Women’s Conference (USA). In Zimbabwe, Carol has had media appearances on Capitalk FM, Star FM, ZiFM Radio, Classic 263 Radio, Power FM, NewsDay, ZBC’s Good Morning Show and ZBC National News.

In 2017, Carol was featured in Volume 1 of Woman Excel’s Book of Successful Women in Zimbabwe. In 2018, Carol was a key contributor for a season of Capitalk FM’s Woman to Woman Show.

In 2020, Carol launched her skincare brand, Esteem Skincare (Pvt) Ltd, in Zimbabwe.

“I do not view women empowerment as just protection against GBV. There are so many ways to empower women through simple things such as skincare, education to name a few. I just decided to specifically focus on skincare as I believe your skin is also essential to your general health” – Carol Shereni SADC Regional Coordinator of Empire Partner Foundation

In 2022, Carol was appointed the SADC Regional Coordinator for Empire Partner Foundation’s GBV-F Campaign. It is a role she currently serves in , coordinating the activities with stakeholders in various industries, to ensure a safer and more secure environment for women.

“In our research for when we’re developing the app with Afri-tec, we found that one of the main issues when it comes to gender-based violence is that victims cannot report their devastating incidents because either their family and/or friends do not believe them. The police do not have enough evidence or the victim does not have enough time to report to the police. This really can be limited if one can gather evidence for themselves by simply using an app on their phone before or after an incident” adds Carol Shereni.

In collaboration with Empire Partner Foundation, Afri-tec recently launched an SOS Alert app that aims to help women in the case of any danger such as GBV. The SOS Alert App is for use in emergencies as part of ending GBV and femicide. The advantage of this app is that users can add an unlimited number of trusted individuals to their circle who will be alerted in the case of danger such as GBV.

“The aim is to protect those most vulnerable in societies, which are women and children, and technology is capable of doing that” SADC Regional Coordinator of Empire Partner Foundation.