Cecilie Kjeldsberg is deeply passionate about a world where everyone has got the opportunity to become financially independent. With her 29 years of age, Cecilie Kjeldsberg is the youngest nominated on this list. Nevertheless, Cecilie was only 16 years old when she started rallying for equality and women’s rights. After living in Nepal for a year, she experienced that the women didn’t earn any money on their vegetables, even though they worked incredibly hard. “For someone who is from Norway, it was strange to see women who have so little influence over their own job and income”, she says. 

That was the takeoff for founding Better Living Projects, which runs a sewing center in India. The business started in 2018, and the center employs 15 local women with no education, who are trained to sew. The women sew ethical and sustainable carrying nets and aprons that are sold both locally and to the Norwegian corporate market. 

Cecilie is educated within Development, Environment and Nutritional Science and due to her study of Nutrition for Global Health at London School of Hygiene &
Tropical Medicine, she completed her MSc project about Women’s Empowerment.