Ntandoyenkosi Gabriella Ngwenya

What does your company do?

At Lunje Foundation, we seek to address a prominent yet often overlooked and stigmatized issue affecting women and their psycho-physical health: thigh chafing. Although it may seem insignificant or trivial, its short-term and long-term effects can drastically impact the lives of young girls. It affects their ability to concentrate in the classroom due to the pain, hinders them from being physically active on the sports field, and subjects them to psychological harm through the insults and comments about their weight and body shape. We aim to help these young women rediscover themselves and their potential by ensuring they feel comfortable in their own skin first. Our anti-thigh-chaff tights provide an additional layer of protection, made with soft, breathable, and functional fabrics. Rediscovery begins when these young women can participate fully in academics without pain or discomfort, find freedom in moving their bodies, and understand the power of their own agency in the world.

What is your biggest success?

The greatest achievement we have experienced as an organization is knowing that we have made a meaningful difference in the lives of those who once felt that nobody truly understood their struggles. In the time we have been operating, we have seen incredible transformations in the young women we support. Some have discovered a newfound passion for sports that they couldn’t pursue before due to the pain of thigh chafing, while others have excelled in their academics in ways they never imagined possible. As a young Black woman, having a platform and a stage to extend support to others—and to pass on the belief and potential that someone else once saw in me—truly feels like the icing on the cake. It reinforces the idea that when you empower one young woman, you create a ripple effect of confidence, self-belief, and hope.

What has been your biggest hurdle?

Our desire to create an impact that reaches as far and wide as possible is often met with the reality of needing consistent funding and donations. As a non-profit organization, we rely heavily on grants, funds raised through events, and the generosity of individual donors. However, these sources are not always reliable, and this can hinder our plans for distributing the tights, covering transport costs for these distributions, and meeting essential overheads like labor and materials. This remains the greatest challenge we face to date, and one we hope to find a sustainable solution for in the near future. Despite these obstacles, our determination to support young women and create lasting change fuels our continued efforts to bridge these gaps and keep moving forward.