From Adversity to Changemaker: Pauline Koelbl's Journey from Refugee to a Trailblazing Gender-lens and Impact Investor.
Zürich, Switzerland (31 March 2025) – Today, we’re thrilled to spotlight Pauline Koelbl, Senior Advisor at Be That Girl Foundation and Founder of ShEquity, a catalytic investment firm focused on bridging the US$42 billion gender funding gap in Africa.
Drawing on a wealth of experience with organizations like UNICEF, WHO, and multiple global boards, Pauline brings unmatched insight into women-led innovation, purpose driven businesses, impact investing, and sustainable development across the African continent and beyond. In this exclusive interview, Pauline shares how her personal journey - from her early life in Rwanda, through refugeehood, to launching transformative initiatives - continues to shape her mission.
She discusses the lessons learned on the front lines of impact investing, the importance of mentorship and collective action, and her unwavering conviction that empowered women and girls can spearhead Africa’s future prosperity. Get ready to be inspired by Pauline’s clarity of purpose, her passion for collaboration, and her unwavering commitment to creating opportunities for others and building a more inclusive and equitable world.
From Refugee to Purpose-Driven Leader
It’s so wonderful to have you with us, Pauline. Could you start by telling us about your personal journey? How did your upbringing in Rwanda and your tragic experience as a refugee in DRC, combined with your global development work, shaped your passion for empowering women and girls?
Growing up in Rwanda was a beautiful experience, until my childhood was suddenly disrupted by the civil war that led to the 1994 genocide. I had to leave my home country, became a refugee, and everything changed. I became just a number among many other refugees and faced intense hardship for the first time, but I also consider myself among the fortunate because I managed to leave and eventually emigrated to the United States through several countries. Once there, I went back to school and, for the first time in a long while, allowed myself to dream again. This was possible because of the amazing support I received from American families, who welcomed me with open arms and helped me figure out different opportunities. That journey - of survival, resilience, and transformation - led me to where I am now. As I look back today, I feel grateful because I am reminded of Thích Nhất Hạnh saying that “No mud, no Lotus”!
I believe we must create opportunities for those who aren’t as lucky as others. My own life experience proves how empowering even one girl can spark a chain reaction. People helped me out of a refugee camp, guided me toward education, and supported me in building a purpose-driven career. Today, I want to pay it forward. So, when the Foundation reached out with its ambitious vision, I felt privileged to say yes.
Which specific aspects of the foundation’s mission resonate most with your professional and personal values?
BTG’s focus on girls and women aligns perfectly with what I do every day - investing towards unlocking the potential of female changemakers so that they can unleash their own power. The name “Be That Girl” itself is incredibly inspiring: it projects confidence and possibility. When people see these strong young girls and women, they think, “I want to be like that girl.” That resonates deeply with me.
Challenges & Strategies in Female Entrepreneurship
You’ve successfully championed female-led ventures through ShEquity. What are some of the main challenges facing female entrepreneurs?
They face a host of obstacles. First, raising capital is difficult. Transforming an idea into a profitable business requires not just financial capital but also social capital and access to markets. Many women - especially in emerging or developing economies - encounter a pronounced gender funding bias. In Africa alone, the gender funding gap is around $42 billion, meaning these entrepreneurs struggle to access the resources they need to benchmark their ventures and scale.
Additionally, there’s the issue of networks: if you don’t have connections across borders or in key industries, funding and partnerships are much harder to secure. Then there are gender biases that women face in almost every arena, whether they’re raising money, breaking into a new market, or advocating for their ideas.
You mentioned a $40+ billion gender funding gap. Which lessons from closing that gap might apply to how our foundation expands donor and partner support for girls’ empowerment initiatives?
The work you do - empowering young girls to live self-determined lives - is already crucial. Once a girl gains the confidence to envision her future, she can see new possibilities, including entrepreneurship.
At that point, a foundation like yours can provide seed capital or other resources to help her pilot a business idea, while also building a network of partners to sustain her journey. Essentially, you can act as a catalyst in both inspiring these girls to imagine a prosperous future and mobilizing the funding they need to turn their visions into reality.
Climate and sustainability are core themes in your work. How can we, as a foundation, integrate environmental awareness and resilience so that these girls can thrive in a changing world?
You’re already focusing on women and promoting a gender-inclusive continent. The second part is straightforward: without a healthy environment, the girls you support won’t have a safe place to grow and fulfill their potential. It is also important to note that protecting Africa’s environment is crucial not only for the continent but for the entire planet. As a continent rich in biodiversity and a home to the world’s second-largest rainforest, vast savannas, and critical wetlands, Africa plays a key role in absorbing carbon dioxide and regulating global temperatures. By safeguarding Africa’s environment, we contribute to global climate stability, protect vital carbon sinks, and ensure a sustainable future for all.
On the Continent many girls are directly affected by climate disruptions: flooding, drought, unpredictable rainfall, and so on. We are starting to see more climate refugees too, and the impact on young girls is devastating. What can the Foundation do? We can promote sustainable and regenerative practices and provide seed capital needed to pilot such practices.
For example, if some girls and young women want to get involved in agriculture, we can help them explore regenerative or circular business models. Markets increasingly favor eco-friendly approaches, so it’s not just a trendy move - it’s essential to their future. I would be thrilled to see the foundation introduce them to climate-smart methods, because it’s genuinely about safeguarding their livelihoods.
Mentorship, Collaboration & Systemic Change
You’ve held advisory and board roles with organizations like Monter Capital Partnership and Global Perspectives Initiative. What have you learned that might help us grow more effectively and sustainably?
The biggest lesson is the power of collaboration and cooperation. We go far when we work together. Every board I sit on looks for aligned partners so we don’t all reinvent the wheel. If you do it right, you become a catalyst rather than shouldering every aspect on your own. And once you become a catalyst, you can truly aim for systemic change - even though it won’t happen overnight.
It requires building alliances, taking the long view, and focusing on the underlying structures - like climate sustainability or the promotion of gender equality and equity. One person’s recycling is just a drop in the ocean, but collective efforts can reshape an entire system.
Measuring systemic change is tricky, because it often takes time to see results. How do we know if we’ve made a true, long-term impact?
Systemic change revolves around shifting narratives and norms, which you may only see clearly after you step away. For instance, if you’re working in a specific region - let’s say in Zambia - and you’re trying to reduce child marriage or keep girls in school, you can track whether the numbers change.
But you also want to see if the mindset of the community has changed: do leaders, parents, and the girls themselves believe in the value of education and are they acting on it?
Ultimately, you may only know norms have shifted when you leave, because as long as you’re there providing resources or incentives, people might be doing it just because you’re present. If change endures without you, that’s often the truest sign of systemic transformation.
Measuring impact while we’re still on the ground can be challenging. Which metrics do you find most useful in determining whether our programs are truly empowering girls?
It starts with defining your own KPIs that align with your vision. Let’s say you have a goal - supporting X number of girls to stay in school. That’s an output. The outcome is what happens to them afterward: do they avoid forced marriage? Do they gain leadership roles or entrepreneurial opportunities?
And then there’s deep, long-term impact: maybe you address something like female genital mutilation in a particular community. You could measure if the practice declines, but the real impact is whether the elders, the mothers, and the community at large see why it should end and adopt a new norm. That’s when beliefs shift, and that’s true systemic change. Ultimately, I love that your foundation consults the girls themselves to shape metrics, because they’re the real experts on their own lives.
Mentorship and leadership development are central to our vision. Can you share personal mentoring experiences that influenced your approach?
I’m absolutely a product of mentoring. After finishing undergrad in the United States, I was encouraged to apply for a Fulbright scholarship - but I doubted myself. I assumed Fulbright was only for top-tier students from elite schools. One of my professors, Dr Wayne Decker, however, saw my potential and mentored me through every step. I got the scholarship, and later, he nudged me toward another Fulbright opportunity at UNESCO, which I received, and it led me to my current path. .
Again, I hesitated, but he pushed me to realize what I couldn’t see in myself. That’s when I learned mentorship isn’t just about imparting skills - it’s also about helping someone believe in their own worth, especially if they come from a culture that prizes humility -like my Rwandan culture.
I also believe it’s vital to acknowledge that the person you’re mentoring knows more about her/his situation than you do; having a PhD or fancy credentials doesn’t mean you understand their situation better than they do. For instance, I recall seeing photos of the BTG team, Cornelia and Ottavia, in Zambia, truly listening to local girls, letting them be the experts of their own lives.
When you build on the knowledge they already have, you can add skills and resources in a way that feels relevant and empowering. That’s exactly what we aim to do with ShEquity’s SHEBA (ShEquity Business Accelerator) program. Beyond pitching or finances, these women need to see that they already hold tremendous power.
Once they recognize their own agency, they can navigate biases in male-dominated spaces – and that’s when real transformation happens.
A Holistic Vision for the Future
Looking beyond mentorship and entrepreneurship, what is your ultimate vision for the world you want to help create?
My vision is a world without poverty and with equal access to opportunities for all. There’s no reason for anyone to go to bed hungry when the world produces more than enough food and richer nations throw away so much food. No reason for women to die in childbirth when we have advanced medical technologies.
And no reason for a child to be shut out of education. If we pool our willpower and resources, these problems are solvable. It may sound idealistic, but if even one group remains unsafe or neglected, then none of us can truly thrive in the long run. We need to remember that we are all connected! In Africa, this is embedded in the concept of “Ubuntu”: I Am because We Are!
Through ShEquity, you’ve mobilized significant investment for women-led ventures and SMEs. How can our foundation forge stronger partnerships to support meaningful change for disadvantaged women?
I love this question - and I love all your other questions, too! Impact investing, even though it emphasizes impact, still involves private capital, so there’s a need for profitability. Foundations, however, can act as catalysts for entrepreneurs who aren’t yet investor-ready, or need pre-seed capital to validate their business model. Many young women have promising ideas but not the track record or polished business model investors demand.
If you step in with catalytic funds- covering that initial risky phase - you move them from dreaming to demonstrating the business case. Once they secure their first customer and refine their product, private investors may see clearly the business’ value proposition and come on board. That’s how you bridge the gap, or what is known as “blended finance” -a combination of philanthropic capital to address identified risks and private capital to grow and scale the business. . Even after they raise funding, female founders still face gender biases, therefore ongoing mentorship and technical assistance remain critical.
Without these tools, many talented women stay trapped in poverty simply because they can’t prove what they can do. Once they can demonstrate the potential for success, it transforms how investors, strategic partners, and entire communities view them. The Foundation can consider providing such catalytic funding to young girls and women to facilitate their entrepreneurial journey.
Speaking of opening doors, you were born in Rwanda, then lived in the U.S. and elsewhere, and now you’ve been in Switzerland for years. How do you see the African diaspora’s role in advancing the Continent?
The diaspora serves as a bridge, we are connected to both sides, with a good understanding of both African cultural nuances and the expectations of places like Europe or North America etc.. Doing business is built on trust, and Africa’s diversity with its many nations - 54 or 55 countries, depending on the political definitions - can be overwhelming for those who are not very familiar with the Continent..
For instance, as an African who is also Swiss and American, with family and networks in both Switzerland and the USA, I have strong ties to both worlds. Ethically bridging these worlds can unlock opportunities that would otherwise remain inaccessible if everyone focuses solely on transactions. The African diaspora, including myself, brings valuable insights, deep on-the-ground networks, and a culturally fluent approach to dealmaking, philanthropy, and beyond. In the Foundation’s case, leveraging diaspora expertise can foster more sustainable partnerships and open doors to impactful networks and resources that might otherwise be overlooked. As a Diasporian, I would be more than happy to support the Foundation in exploring this further.
Thank you so much for sharing your time and insights. This conversation has been incredibly enlightening.
Thank you as well for this opportunity. I’m excited to see how the girls supported by BTG grow into changemakers in their own communities. Together, we can really lift the next generation - and in doing so, create a brighter future where girlsthrive, develop agency, and lead self-determined lives. And as we know, the trickle down effect has a positive impact on their communities and eventually, the whole continent. When young girls and women thrive, everyone benefits!