Thirty women in Rwanda successfully completed the first Goldman Sachs Entrepreneurship Certificate Program. The women attended a ceremony and seven of them were given cash awards as winners of the program-ending business plan competition.
The program, organized by WDI, is designed for women across Rwanda who are interested in either starting a business or expanding their start-up. The program will equip participants with the knowledge and skills needed to launch or expand a successful enterprise in Rwanda.
Christine Murebwayire, who makes banana wine, and Julienne Kampogo, who operates a spare car parts business, were the top winners in the competition. They each received $2,500.
Five others won $1,000 each. They are: Amina Mukayiranga, who has a dairy cattle breeding and milk distribution business; Immaculee Mukamusoni, who has a brick manufacturing business; Immaculee Musaninkindi, who owns a plum orchard; Anastasie Nyirabukeye, who owns a lumberyard and furniture manufacturing business; and Allen Nduhura, who operates a landscaping and gardening business.
The program is sponsored by Goldman Sachs under its new 10,000 Women initiative, which seeks to give 10,000 women around the world a business and management education over the next five years. The sponsorship means that all accepted participants attend the program tuition-free.
Aimed at existing and aspiring entrepreneurs, the program was designed by WDI’s Executive Education department in consultation with business school faculty in the United States, WDI’s partner in Rwanda, the School of Finance & Banking (SFB), and the Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs in Rwanda.
It gives the 30 female participants from all around Rwanda the knowledge and skills needed to launch or expand business enterprises. The women will learn business planning, marketing, finance, accounting and management during their training.
Participants include many women in the handicraft sector, several women involved in selling food products, a restaurant owner, a furniture maker, and a woman in the process of setting up a computer training company. They range in age from 27 to 61.
Here are a few profiles of the competition winners.
Christine Murebwayire is a part of a cooperative known for its banana wine. Christine, the head manager, has represented the cooperative and its product at international events held in Kenya and Uganda.
Due to the wine’s popularity, the cooperative was having a difficult time meeting the demand. They were looking for ways to expand. Christine, a widow raising three children, said the Goldman Sachs program taught her concepts the cooperative management had never considered. For example, before workers would move around and pick up a job as they were told. Now they have divided the workers into tasks, and they know exactly what they are expected to do. This has created a more effective work force.
The cooperative also restructured their bookkeeping and accounting. They are able to keep better accounts of their stock, sales, expenses, and expected revenue. Christine trained the entire management staff in what she learned through the entrepreneurship program.
Before Christine joined the program, the cooperative was planning on expanding their business using a bank loan. But the program made Christine realize they could reach a larger market than they originally thought. She will double the amount the cooperative is requesting.
For the next few years, she will work on securing the market in Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa. Christine has even bigger dreams. Smiling, she said one day people in the United States will be able to buy her banana wine.
Julienne Kampogo and her husband operate a spare auto parts store. She credits the training she received from the Goldman Sachs program for teaching her how to run the store when her husband became sick. Since he has returned, they now divide the business into two parts: Julienne runs the auto part portion; her husband runs the reception area, which also sells refreshments. She has also changed how she manages the business since starting the program.
She keeps strict account of her auto parts stock and accounting books. She no longer uses her competitor as a supplier, and has found she is able to increase her profit. They had been renting the auto parts store and adjoining reception area. But because of their success, they were recently able to purchase the entire property.
Julienne said she had never considered approaching a bank for a loan before the program because she was too intimidated. She thanks the program for teaching her how to create a solid business plan and giving her the confidence to apply for a loan. She understands what the bank will expect and what they will require of her to repay the loan. Using the spare parts shop as a guarantee, she would like to purchase a nearby garage. She also plans on hiring 15 employees.
She will use the competition winnings towards collateral when applying for the loan. When asked if she told friends and family about the award, she laughed. Before she had an opportunity to tell anyone, they heard her name on the radio and called to congratulate her. Julienne has three children and has adopted seven orphans.
Anastasie Nyirabukeye has been a furniture supplier and running a lumber yard for two years. She is also helping her husband manage his building business. Since joining the Goldman Sachs Entrepreneurship Program, she has learned how to manage the accounting for both businesses.
Anastasie also uses the training she received to compete for business contracts. She has just won her biggest contract to make school desks. She will need additional funds to complete the project on time, and plans on applying for a loan using her business plan.
After being open for only two years, the business and all its assets have been recently valued at $218,000. When her husband’s company buys from her lumberyard, she doesn’t give him a discount. Waving the idea away with her hand, she says, “This is business.” Obviously proud of her success, her husband replies his wife is a true business woman.
She has five permanent employees and an additional 10 temporary employees. The permanent cashier, Chartine, is Anastasie’s adopted daughter. Anastasie said she was blessed by God to have survived the genocide, and wanted to pass the blessing onto someone else. She is currently supporting Chartine as she completes her degree in Hotel Hospitality and Tourism. Since going through the entrepreneurship program, Anastasie has started encouraging Chartine to start her own Travel Agency or Guesthouse when she completes her schooling. She told her, “Don’t bother going all over town looking to work for someone else. Invest in yourself and your future.”
Allen Nduhura started her landscaping and grounds keeping business about two years ago. She has seen her business grow steadily. She owns two worksites - one for the nursery and manure making; the other for vegetables and to showcase her landscape work. Since taking the entrepreneurship program, she has seen a sharp increase in her profits. When she started her business, she needed to purchase plants from her competitor. Now her workforce is five times the size of her competitor. She has an additional competitive edge as a manure supplier to the neighboring gardens.
Her business comes mostly from the local government offices. Occasionally, home owners in the area will use her services. Allen plans on opening a shop in Kigali in hopes of expanding her market. She will use the business plan she developed in the entrepreneurship program to help her compete for contracts. She has already submitted four proposals, and is waiting to see if they were accepted. After getting a little more work, she will approach the bank for loan. She never thought this would be possible before the entrepreneurship program.
Allen has intentionally hired female workers as much as possible. Her head supervisor is a woman, along with her accountant and her groundskeepers. Through her work with the area community, she feels this is where there is the greatest need. She says, “Before going into the Goldman Sachs program, we were asleep to the possibilities. Now, I want other women to wake up and see what is available to them.”
Immaculee Mukamusoni had to start her brick business three times before finally making it a success. Before her third attempt, she went to her employees and asked them if they would work but wait to be paid until after the bricks were sold. Determined to make this business work, she stayed long after her employees went home, sometimes working until two in the morning. Her hard work paid off. She was able to sell a shipment of bricks, and pay her workers. Her business has been growing since.
Since participating in the Goldman Sachs Entrepreneurship Program, Immaculee has made some changes to her business. She markets her bricks as bigger and better than the competition. She jokes, whenever she meets someone, she finds an opportunity to ask them if they need any bricks. When the local government needed to build a new secondary school, she bested 10 other brick manufacturers in her area to be the exclusive supplier.
She credits the entrepreneurship program for helping make her business more successful. She’s been able to purchase more land for brick manufacturing, hire a financial manager, and hire more employees. She says she is pulling in women from the community because she “feels their burden.”
Immaculee enjoys sharing her good fortune with others. She financed a water pump house for the community and planned to train her workers in what she learned during the program. The goodwill between her and the community seem mutual. When they heard on the radio that Immaculee had won an award in the business competition, they pooled together and bought her a cow.
She is a widow with three young children.