Building the Plane
We are truly the experts in the nitty gritty. We are the pilots who never lack the investment or zeal to see the manufacturing of this beast through. We bust through barriers on a daily basis as we seek to build around the details that unfold. We adapt, innovate, and lead together
At The Women’s Bakery, I work with an incredible team of individuals. Singular people represent entire departments of our business, from Human Resources to Finance to IT to Logistics and Operations, launching and supporting bakeries all over East Africa.
Many of you may have heard the expression “building the plane as you fly it.” I, quite frankly, could suggest that that expresssion sums up a large majority of my daily experiences at The Women’s Bakery in Kigali, Rwanda. As the Program Manager for our Kigali Flagship Bakery and Café, I, along with our renaissance team, have been building our plane as we go. From design and menu to operations systems, accounting systems, inventory systems, customer care manuals and standards, health intervention policies, protocol for working with other businesses, tour packages, the list continues for days as to the elements of our Flagship plane that we continue to grow, expand and invest in.
It’s really quite an exciting time to be a part of The Women’s Bakery. Our goals right now include focusing on proving our model and reaching profitability at all of the bakeries we own. It’s seemingly an ever chagning target with one very real win in mind—to provide truly sustainable, gainful employment for women. Bakeries are our medium, good business is our standard, and women’s empowerment is our end game. But that takes time, resources, management, skills transfer, systems, cashflows—the extent of which I might say has surprised us all.
But here’s the best silver lining there is—by building the plane as we fly it, we get to build the best darn businesses possible as well as develop and advance our own professional skills. We are truly the experts in the nitty gritty. We are the pilots who never lack the investment or zeal to see the manufacturing of this beast through. We bust through barriers on a daily basis as we seek to build around the details that unfold. We adapt, innovate, and lead together. As we climb in altitude, we are confident that an entire team of women (and men) will fly in the sleekest, cutting edge plane on the market, bursting through the clouds with resilience and pride.
Entrepreneurship requires grit, courage and patience. As a business, we must continue to build, even when we can’t find the parts or the entire model shifts (plane, business, or otherwise).
What is your #breadpower? What social impact are you passionate about that requires you to build your own plane?
Let the women of The Women’s Bakery inspire you—it can be done. It is being done. We may not have always been experts in plane (or bakery) building, but our team has worked hard in creating the plane you see today. It’s a journey none of us may have expected, but here we are flying in it.
Where will your plane take you?
No electricity? No problem, we can still bake!
TWB, in partnership with local welders, has engineered, a cool yet simple to operate wood oven model that is replicated across all remote TWB Bakeries.
Outside of Kigali, TWB works in rural remote communities in Rwanda, where access to electricity is scarce, and using any electronic equipment is almost impossible.
Does that hinder TWB from providing affordable, nutritious bread to its communities? Nope!
TWB, in partnership with local welders, has engineered, a cool yet simple to operate wood oven model that is replicated across all remote TWB Bakeries. Wood ovens are the alternative to electric ovens, which are used more seamlessly in more urban locations, like Kigali.
The wood oven is used for TWB women to bake the bread - the ovens are simple in design and economically sound for less fire wood consumption than a residential door chimney.
All breads are effectively baked, and efficiently sold at affordable price to the local communities around our bakeries, and if this doesn’t prove the power of enabled communities and asset based community development, I don’t know what else would.
TWB has been able to show the world that remote communities cannot be left out of development and economic opportunity just because they don’t have access the basic infrastructure.
The Women’s Bakery believes it! What about you?
It's Going to Go Big
It is not just bread rising in the bakery; it is community and empowerment.
Written by Jill Ritchot, Intern for TWB
In November 2017, I finalized plans to volunteer with The Women’s Bakery in Rwanda. My excitement was palpable. As part of the MovingWorlds Institute fellowship program that had begun in June, I had spent months looking for the right project fit. Suddenly everything had fallen into place; an impactful opportunity to work with and for women, join an engaged and dynamic team, and offer my communications and marketing skills.
I exhaled a deep sigh of relief and felt the eagerness and nervousness begin to bubble up as I thought about what the next few months would bring. I was intrigued by the organization’s mission, had spoken to Heather and Meg, and wanted to learn more. As my departure date approached, I couldn’t wait to see, how is bread powerful?
I stepped off the plane in Kigali at the end of January to begin my three-month project, aiming to create a communications and marketing strategy for the new flagship café. I felt inspired to be jumping in at such an exciting time as the bakery and office moved to the new flagship location and café renovations began. In my first discussions with Meg and Fran on arrival, I quickly saw that it was a fast-paced and lively environment with a diverse, adaptable, and passionate team.
I started by meeting with team members to learn more about who they see as The Women’s Bakery’s customers and what they see as the future of the organization. I was immediately moved by what I heard, “the future is bright”; “it’s going to go big”; “our bread is for everyone”; “when I started, I was teaching the women, now they are teaching me”. I felt fueled to keep digging in and learning more about The Women’s Bakery and our customers.
Together, Fran, Rachel and I conducted market research at three bakery locations.
We began by talking to the people who know our customers best – the women who bake and sell The Women’s Bakery bread every day. I quickly learned how varied the customers were from location to location and the key differences between what Rwandans and expats look for when buying bread. We continued to build on the team’s and women’s knowledge by doing interviews, surveys, and focus groups with current and potential future customers to explore more. What we discovered is that while there is a lot of diversity in who buys The Women’s Bakery bread, there are also some clear uniting preferences: taste, nutrition, and freshness. That, and much more, is exactly what The Women’s Bakery offers.
I got the chance to see how the women bake the delicious, nutritious and fresh bread every day when I joined the team in the kitchen to learn how to make it. The women’s expertise and confidence in what they do and their patience as they taught us was inspiring. Although we don’t all speak the same language, the joy, laughter, and strength in the kitchen that day both humbled and invigorated me. It is not just bread rising in the bakery; it is community and empowerment.
As I come towards the end of my time with The Women’s Bakery and armed with our growing customer knowledge, I am working on a variety of marketing tools and strategies with Fran to get the message out. Loud. We are strong women baking bread. Our bread is packed with vitamins, nutrients, and protein. And in my time in Kigali, I have seen that a loaf of bread truly can inspire, nourish communities, and spark economies.
Now that’s bread power.
From Scratch: Our Flagship Story
Building something from scratch takes work. It takes grit. It takes passion and endurance. But those are things that the staff at The Women’s Bakery embodies well.
Building something from scratch—now there’s a concept we know well at The Women’s Bakery. From our founders who built our Bakery in A Box model from the ground up, to the women in each of our bakery locations around East Africa that bake highly nutritious bread from locally sourced ingredients: we build things from scratch daily. It’s part of our culture: we push, strive, overcome and accomplish in order to further our mission of empowering women through business and education.
We are strong women baking bread... and building financial models, breaking into new markets, recipe testing, operating, organizing, and training. The list is endless.
Our most recent building project, quite literally, has been our effort to create a new Flagship Bakery: a space to propel our brand, display the ultimate success of our model, and sell nutritious bread. The Women’s Bakery Flagship is an inviting environment for Kigali, Rwanda customers to enjoy, interact and collaborate in while learning about and supporting our social enterprise model. It’s a space with higher production capacity to meet growing market demands, a hub for TWB product and marketing innovation, a centralized training center for future TWB programs, a single office location for cohesion as a bakery and organization.
It’s a model for TWB bakeries everywhere.
Building something from scratch takes work. It takes grit. It takes passion and endurance. But those are things that the staff at The Women’s Bakery embodies well. It has been an inspiration to see everyone put their hands to the challenging task of doing something we’ve never done before. But we’re doing it. We’re building it up from scratch: design, processes, systems, products. And it’s going to be AWESOME. It’s going to showcase #breadpower and we cannot wait to share it with you.
Coming soon, The Women’s Bakery Flagship.
A Real Sign of Success
I stood back and realized that this was the best thing that could happen – the women were now better at baking than I was. The women were teaching me how to make bread! If this isn’t a sign of success, I don’t know what is. And it is a testament to both the women and our incredible TWB team.
I returned to Rwanda a week ago. I’m here for several reasons: first, to support our amazing and ever-kick-ass COO, Julie Greene, in all of her work; second, to on-board two new TWB team members (stay tuned!); and third, to welcome two representatives from our corporate sponsor, Rademaker, BV, to Rwanda. I’m only in Rwanda for one month, so it will be a whirlwind of a trip.
I usually feel a combination of anxiety and excitement coming to Rwanda.
The anxiety stems from questions like:
“Will I be able to accomplish my pre-identified tasks?”
“How much “help” can I provide, or am I really more in an oversight role?”
“How much can I actually do in a month?”
The excitement, however, thankfully and graciously, centers me to think: “Wow! Just look at how much progress we have made.” “Are you kidding me?! These women are now doing what?!” And, “Seriously, TWB team, you created this? It’s AMAZING.”
I had one of those “WOW” moments this week. I went to our bakery in Kigali to test the proper functioning of one of our ovens. I arrived and told the women, “Right, I’m going to bake some bread and test this oven. Would you like to help me?” They agreed. I began to prepare. I washed my hands and got my materials ready. Then, I realized, “Wait, where is the recipe?” I asked the women and they laughed. “We have the recipes in our heads,” they said. Impressed, but not discouraged, I said, “Wonderful! I don’t, so please pass me the recipe book.”
I started baking and one woman, Rose, laughed at me again. She said under her breath in Kinyarwanda, “You don’t know how to bake.” I stopped, stunned. Whaaaaaaat? I thought. I don’t know how to bake?! I taught you! But then the most beautiful thing happened: Rose gently pushed me out of the way and took over, still half laughing, half commenting under her breath that I didn’t know how to bake.
I stood back and realized that this was the best thing that could happen – the women were now better at baking than I was. The women were teaching me how to make bread!
If this isn’t a sign of success, I don’t know what is. And it is a testament to both the women and our incredible TWB team.
BOOM.
Interning with Team TWB
"Working with this team, I have learned that even incremental, positive change is a step in the right direction. Working with women to develop a social-enterprise that provides sustainable employment opportunities for women has the tremendous potential for impact in developing countries, especially in East Africa."
Written by Jordan Smith, TWB's Research Impact Analyst, University of Denver
I participated in the Posner Center for International Development’s annual challenge, Posner Poverty Hack, in July of 2016 where I had the privilege to work on behalf of The Women’s Bakery in an effort to earn a grant to implement a mobile app for sales in their East African bakeries.
The fusion of non-profit operations with for-profit bakeries was exactly the development model I was hoping to gain more insight into, and so I soon after joined their team for a 4-month internship.
Since late August, I have been working on both social and financial impact analysis.
With the start of their first bakery in Rwanda, I have been tracking sales and production numbers to see the positive direction the Remera, Kigali bakery is growing in. I have compiled reports demonstrating TWB’s social impact with their program participants. In addition, I designed a template for a bakery operations manual using my previous work experience that serves to streamline future expansion.
Working with this team, I have learned that even incremental, positive change is a step in the right direction. Working with women to develop a social-enterprise that provides sustainable employment opportunities for women has the tremendous potential for impact in developing countries, especially in East Africa.
While my internship with TWB is coming to a close, it has provided me with the ongoing challenge of seeing development from a different angle. I am anxious to witness TWB’s success with their current and future programs. I graduate in June 2017 from the University of Denver and, while the future may still be uncertain, I am incredibly grateful to the team at TWB for everything they have taught me. I look forward to seeing them grow in both East Africa and Denver and St. Louis – and beyond!
