Where Creativity Meets Soul
About Us
POWA Creatives exists because talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not. We are building a refugee-led creative ecosystem where creativity becomes a pathway to dignity, livelihoods, and lasting community transformation.
Powa Creative Center
POWA Creatives is a refugee-led creative ecosystem based in Kampala, Uganda, working at the intersection of creative skills development, mentorship, enterprise, and community leadership. Rather than delivering isolated training activities, POWA has designed an integrated pathway that moves participants from skills acquisition through to paid creative work and community leadership.
Why Powa Exists
Across refugee and underserved communities, thousands of young people possess remarkable creative potential. This potential, however, is systematically constrained by structural barriers common to displacement and host-community contexts, including:
• Limited access to practical, market-relevant creative training
• Lack of dedicated creative spaces, tools, and equipment
• Limited access to mentorship and professional role models
• Few opportunities for public exposure or audience-building
• High youth unemployment and underemployment
• Limited pathways connecting creative talent to sustainable income
Learn, Create , Impact
Powa in Action
From all conners of the World
This Institutional Blueprint sets out POWA’s identity, rationale, operating model, governance structure, and long-term strategic direction. It is intended to serve as a reference document for the Board, as an onboarding tool for new staff and partners, and as a prospectus for donors, investors, and institutional partners considering supporting POWA’s growth.
Learning → Creating → Producing → Earning → Leading
Vision
To build a leading refugee-led creative ecosystem where creativity becomes a pathway to sustainable livelihoods, inclusion, and community transformation.
Mission
To equip refugees and host community youth with practical creative skills, mentorship, professional exposure, and income opportunities that enable them to thrive as creative professionals, entrepreneurs, and community leaders.
Who We serve
• Refugees • Host community youth
Additional Beneficiaries
- Women
- Emerging creatives
- Community artists
- Young entrepreneurs
Our Core Values
- Inclusion : Refugees and host community members participate and benefit equally, regardless of background or status.
- Creativity: Original thinking and artistic expression are treated as legitimate professional and economic assets.
- Integrity :POWA operates transparently and accountably with participants, partners, and funders.
- Collaboration: Programs are built with communities, mentors, and partners rather than delivered top-down.
- Excellence : Training, production, and showcases are held to a professional standard of quality.
- Empowerment : Participants are equipped to become independent professionals and leaders, not long-term aid recipients
Fidel Mambo
Founder / Head Chef
Fidel Mambo
Founder / Head Chef
Fidel Mambo
Co-Founder / Chef
Fidel Mambo
Co-Founder / Chef