Incorporating New Technology – Bakery Growth Pains & Gains

With our exciting move into the Kigali Flagship, TWB has spent the last month in the thick of readjustments, and lots of furniture moving!

While the transition has been a bit stressful and chaotic at times, as one would imagine when combining three entities into one (Kigali Bakery + training center + TWB offices), the results are already proving positive. The bakery took only one day off from operations to transition, and has been increasing production ever since in the larger production space. Meanwhile, the training center is already hosting its first training- TWB’s Bakery Operations Manager Training pilot program, and the company offices are happy to be closer to the Kigali bakery women, as well as the fresh daily bread! 

One of the most exciting, and challenging, new adjustments to the bakery production in Kigali is the use of technical baking equipment, including electric mixers and a three-deck gas oven. While the Kigali baking team was naturally skeptical when we first introduced the new oven and began running tests to ensure the quality and consistency of our bread, everyone has quickly learned new procedures and adopted the giant metal box that clicks and beeps and rings alarms into their daily operations. Within the first week of using the gas oven, the baking team shaved nearly 2 hours from their production time! And, the oven masters no longer have to juggle feeding the fire and monitoring the heat all while baking delicious breads to perfection.  

Over the next few weeks we will also fully incorporate the electric mixers, with the assistance and guidance of our Corporate Sponsor Rademaker to ensure the process. 

We are grateful and excited to take these next steps towards growth in Kigali, and we look forward to improving our efficiency and impact by incorporating better technology!

BOM Training Program

Aside from eating all my favorite foods (re: cheese), indulging in everything Christmas, and reconnecting with friends at 10,000 feet, my most recent trip home included time in TWB’s Denver office with my badass colleague, Heather, TWB’s Director of Education and Advocacy. With the goal of getting our Rwandan bakeries to profitability in 2018, Heather designed and composed a 75-hour, Bakery Operations Manager Training Program and a Bakery Operations Manager Manual.

See what I mean? She’s a beast.

I had the opportunity to sit down with her for three intensive days to learn the methodology behind this robust curriculum and discuss a timeline for implementation. One of the coolest parts of my job is working with our Bakery Operations Managers or BOMs.

They are, literally, the bread and (healthy) butter of TWB’s bakeries. They are the leaders responsible for day-to-day operations, on-the-ground problem solving and record keeping. But they aren’t just managers. They serve as leaders, counselors and mentors to the employees in the bakery. They have the ability to listen and moderate social, economical and health issues that many of the women we work with face. They also collaborate with TWB management to report monthly bakery statistics such as sales, loss and profit. They really do it all.

The BOM Training Program will equip our current and future BOMs to sharpen their management skills, master the ins and outs of a TWB bakery, analyze conflict resolution strategies and learn how to lead- with passion, grit and humility. With a mix of theoretical and practical lessons, BOMs will learn every aspect of managing a bakery, including baking, inventory, production, sales, marketing, human resources and tools for accounting. This training program has the ability to take TWB bakeries to the next level- profitability. That’s #breadpower.   

Knowledge Gained & Life Long Connections

Sandrine Umubyeyi started interning with The Women’s Bakery in Rwanda after learning about TWB through her friend and TWB Operations Manager, Yvonne. As Bakery Operations Intern, Sandrine is working closely with the Ndera Bakery (Rwanda) to support our business oversight services. Since April, Sandrine has been working with our staff and providing great additions to our team.

The knowledge gained through my internship with The Women’s Bakery is actively complementing and enhancing my education at University. From an operations perspective, I have been exposed to various accounting activities within the bakery. This was an important skill-set to develop so I could analyze the numbers for improved processes within the business.

The Women’s Bakery has also provided the opportunity learn about working in a professional environment, with experienced professionals. These professionals are highly dedicated and passionate – this helps my experience as an intern so that I can receive a practical and educational experience. Observing other professionals has helped me maintain an open mind to what it means to run a business, and how one can best go about this.

Currently, I am working to complete my Bachelor’s degree and realizing new skills that I hold, which I didn’t realize I had before. In a small business setting like TWB, I have had to rely on customer service and communication. Without these, success in the small business sector becomes difficult. In the managerial role that I work within our Ndera Bakery, I am often challenged to delegate, advise, communicate, and manage. Balancing these aspects of leadership is not always easy, but my time with TWB has helped shape and improve these personal and professional skill-sets.

Without question, I have expanded my knowledge while with TWB, and even better, have formed lifelong connections. I have always had a team there to support me. It is a great pleasure to work with women by giving the opportunity for all of us to empower each other in our regional community and all over the world. That’s #bread power.

Romania Trip

What does Romania have in common with Rwanda?

For one: Romania also has bakeries!

One bakery in particular, MamaPan Bakery, is tackling social challenges with a similar model to The Women’s Bakery.

In December Julie and Meg made a stop in Bucharest, Romania on their way home to the U.S. for the holidays. This trip was initiated thanks to Livia, Director of Programs for MamaPan Bakery, who proposed we visit.

MamaPan Bakery started as an initiative under a non-profit organization, CPE (Partnership for Equality), as an income generating mechanism for the women working in the bakery and a revenue stream for the non-profit itself.

It was uncanny to note how similar MamaPan and The Women’s Bakery in Remera (Rwanda) were. Both organizations have been running for about a year and a half, both employ eight women, both are nearly at profitability, both strive for more healthful bread options, and both are slowly changing the lives of the women who work in the bakeries. While we were there, Livia told us that just that week one of the women who works in the bakery was finally able to get heating in her home. These are the small improvements in livelihood that make a huge difference for the women and their families.

The most important part of our trip was the development of new friendships with a group of women that believe in the same kind of change we believe in. We now know two groups of women in entirely different places working towards the same goals. We can now be each other’s mentors share ideas, consult when the challenges seem great, and help each other build a community of strong women baking bread.

Looking Ahead

2016 has been a year of growth for TWB. Our model has evolved and grown in the last year, and while it still resembles the original concept, it is far more robust and professional. We designed TWB to be a social enterprise – a baking educational service for hire in Rwanda. We manage nearly every aspect of the startup, launch, and operation of our bakeries in Rwanda. Because of the drive and intellect of our team, we have become experts in this field and our services are being sought after by large organizations, companies, and enterprising individuals.

Building on this momentum, 2017 will be a year of analysis. We are so close to solidifying our model. This may sound strange because we’ve been operable for two years, but like most startups, TWB’s model has gone through innumerable iterations. It’s like an experiment – you have an end goal (or multiple end goals), and you’re trying to find the correct, most efficient, most easily replicable means to achieve that goal. That’s where TWB is right now. We have most of our end goals in sight, and now is the time to test different means for how best to achieve those end goals.

A singular goal for 2017, from which our other goals stem, is to build lasting bakeries. As Julie Greene, TWB’s Co-Founder/Co-Director points out, “profitability means sustainability,” and I agree. We strive to code sustainability into every piece of our model, but we’re learning that sustainability tends to be a “product of,” not a “precursor for.” That is, critical thinking is a product of training and practice. And sustainable bakeries are (most often) a product of profitability.

So how do we do that? How do we ensure that each bakery we build or help to launch will be profitable without TWB staff there every day of operation for an indefinite period of time? Good question! That’s what we will spend most of 2017 answering. We’re close – we have robust projections and hypotheses for bakeries’ profitability, but 2017 will be the year to test these operational variations.  

Why do sustainable bakeries matter? This question contains multiple answers and illuminates many of our other end goals. Sustainable bakeries provide a group of women with consistent and growing incomes. That’s job security. And it’s also opportunity. Women can rely on their work at the bakeries and choose where, when, and how to invest their earnings. Sustainable bakeries provide suppliers (farmers) and buyers (shop-keepers) consistent business. That’s micro-economic activity that can self-improve and correct. Sustainable bakeries also provide community members consistent access to nutritious bread. That’s Good business.

The ancillary benefits that radiate from sustainable bakeries are motivating (to say the least) and conclusive. They’re what make TWB’s model not only plausible, but powerful. Powerful because we are using business – bakeries – as a medium to achieve multiple grades of social good. It’s like a chain reaction: by building a bakery that is profitable, we help to create a system that lasts as long as the women work and works on behalf of a community’s well-being.

Thus, 2017 will be the year to analyze and perfect the profitability of our bakeries. We will do so by taking a deep dive into our model – testing various aspects, building on what works, and boldly tossing what doesn’t. Our long-term goal is still scale – 100 more women trained and 10 bakeries in Rwanda – but to achieve sustainable scale (and real impact), we will first focus on profit. 

What Cows Taught Me About Exclusion

In the wake of discussions centered on inclusion and what it means to be a part of a community that is inclusive, I have been reflecting on one of my own stories from my time living in Southwest Uganda.

From 2013 to 2014 I took a year off of graduate school to work as a Program Coordinator for a malnutrition project in Rukungiri, Uganda. We had a small team made up of nursing staff, nursing students, and volunteers and were tasked with providing inpatient and outpatient malnutrition services for Rukungiri District. As part of the program we inherited, we were managing two cows that were cared for by a herdsman. The cows had been approved to graze on pasture owned by the Catholic hospital that we were working at. The goal of having the cows was to produce milk to help feed severely and moderately malnourished inpatients.

One day one of the Catholic nuns told me they were kicking our cows off the pasture because they needed the land for their cows. An alarming proposition, considering milk from their cows was generating profits that went into their pockets. The Catholic church and the hospital then told us there was no other grazing land available and we would have to leave their land immediately.

As we were in the process of finding an alternative solution for our cows, the hospital administrator called me into his office and accused our herdsman of theft. I assured him that there had been no issues and asked for evidence that might support his accusation. He said it was verbal and the herdsman had to be fired on the spot.

Furious, but aware of my own role as an outsider in this community, I left to speak with the herdsman. Knowing that we had no other place to graze our cows and that we would likely have to sell them, we agreed on a few months severance for him and promised we would help him look for additional work. Alarmed once again, our herdsman told me, “You know I didn’t steal anything. They only want me gone because I am Protestant.” I was in shock. Over the next few months I learned of other similar situations in which the administration had removed staff based on religion.

In communities that hold high standards for equality, how are things like this happening? How will inclusion ever be possible if top leadership teams are sending a different message? Sadly, this has not been the end to stories such as this. We face these kinds of challenges in Rwanda and the U.S. as well.

However, I remain optimistic that TWB women value inclusion in their own bakery communities and are supporting one another despite their differences.

Thank you to our women in Remera who have shown me over the last few weeks how to stand up to those who don’t include others.

We need your strength today and everyday.