The Buwea Women’s Bakery is officially in business!

Business operations in Buwea, Tanzania, officially began this past week, with the successful baking, packaging, labeling, and sales of Banana-Soy and Banana-Peanut breads. Five women walked out of the bakery on Friday morning proudly carrying their products for sale, and within just one hour and inside of a quarter mile radius, they were completely sold out! Banana breads are completely new to Bukoba, and they are already proving to be a huge hit!

The exhilaration of successful sales and the immensely positive feedback about their unique product from the local community brought wide smiles, peals of laughter, and huge confidence to the five initial saleswomen. Call that a success!

As our training program nears completion in Bukoba, Tanzania, the women have transitioned from theoretical and practical lessons into the day-to-day business operations of their bakery. Five women were selected to begin work in the main bakery (near Bukoba town) while the remaining trainees are taking their skills into their home villages and beginning with small scale baking projects.

In this final stage of training, TWB’s role is more organizational management and oversight based. For the next 3 weeks, the women will put their training into action—they will perform all aspects of daily bakery operations, sales, and accounting. As they begin to independently function, TWB remains present for guidance and support. We are incredibly excited to see the business in action, and fully confident in the women’s abilities to run the show.