Sharing Knowledge

With two groups in Rwanda having graduated from our training program in 2016, and another group coming up on graduation in early February 2017, we are steadily expanding The Women’s Bakery network and community across Rwanda.

While some of our goals at TWB are focused on training more women, employing more women, and launching more sustainable bakeries, our growth in Rwanda also accomplishes other significant goals. One these is engaging graduates and current bakery employees in sharing their knowledge with current trainees, as well as with TWB bakers and bakeries across the country.

We don’t want to just build bakeries in Rwanda, we want to build an ecosystem of community and support across our bakeries, allowing TWB bakers to share ideas with each other, collaborate, trouble shoot challenges, and encourage each other with successes. TWB graduates are able to share their knowledge and experiences with each other, and with current trainees.

Since concluding our training program in Bumba in the Western Province of Rwanda, we have facilitated knowledge sharing with the bakery located in Kigali, the capital city. The two groups have been able to share recipe tricks, adjustments, record keeping tips, and even marketing strategies. Managers from each bakery have traveled 3.5 hours one way to visit each other, share insight and challenges, and gather ideas from each other’s bakeries. 

Currently, the training group located east of Kigali is conducting their baking practical. For the last two weeks, one of our skilled bakers from the Kigali bakery has traveled daily to the training site to lead the baking sessions and to impart her expertise. Over the next two weeks, another employee from the Kigali bakery will lead training sessions on sales and marketing, providing the trainee group with her firsthand knowledge and advice on jump-starting sales and finding customers during the crucial first months of business operations.

As TWB expands in Rwanda and throughout the region, we aim to create more opportunities for shared learning amongst our bakery and trainee groups. By empowering women to circulate their knowledge and skills with one another, we hope to not only strengthen the TWB community but to also create new avenues for women to utilize their skills and expand their own networks. 

Bread, Hands & Flying Money!

This week, TWB is launching a new training to the East of our Kigali headquarters in an area called Ndera. As our team prepares for a new group of trainees, classroom sessions, and baking practice, we've reflected on the recent successes of our previous training group, in Western Rwanda. 

One of the trainees in the rural west noted, "Even here, we eat breads," and it couldn't be more true. 

Rutsiro District, the location of the training group, held a 3-day Expo in September and our team of TWB trainers and Mama Dunia co-op members (who had been in training for several weeks) rose to the challenge. Baking as many banana-peanut, carrot, and beet muffins as we could, we sold over 900 breads!

No matter how much we baked, we simply couldn't keep up with the demand! 

At the expo, people crowded around our stand by the dozens - bread and hands and money went flying! The response was overwhelmingly positive, despite these nutritious muffins being completely new and unfamiliar to the rural customers. 

At the end of the day, TWB & Mama Dunia came in an astounding 3rd place for the entire event. People's choice? Beet bread! 

Our model for providing urban and rural women with education, jobs, and community-wide access to affordable, nutritious breads is working, and we couldn't be more excited. As we continue to expand throughout Rwanda, the success of each previous bakery group will also enhance the success of those that follow. Our training program gets better with each delivery, our recipe collection expands, and our brand gains greater visibility and recognition. 

As we continue with the first week of training in Ndera, Eastern Rwanda, we will be applying everything we learned from the previous groups. Here's to another group of strong, powerful women who bake delicious bread! 

Partnering with Sophie & the U.S. Peace Corps

This month, after six weeks of intensive training, 17 women and 3 men successfully completed TWB’s business & bakery launch training in the Rutsiro District, Western Rwanda. 

With over 60 hours of baking practical and 60 additional hours of business oversight from TWBs comprehensive curriculum, the graduates of Mama Dunia’s Co-Op gained skills in recipe reading, baking, raw materials use, inventory, accounting, and sales.

Typically, TWB is approached by other non-profits, organizations, and groups for our training and business launch service package.

In this case, however, current Peace Corps Volunteer, Sophie Hart, connected TWB to this training group, and became the first Peace Corps Volunteer to help facilitate a partnership between TWB and the US Peace Corps. 

Peace Corps Volunteers serve communities around the world in various sectors (education, agriculture, etc.) for a total of 2 years. Having recently completed her service, she is well-versed in local community needs and has helped bring together a local co-op, the community, and TWB to make bakery launch a reality!

Following the launch of this new bakery, TWB spoke with Sophie about her experiences with the training program and how she believes the community bakery can provide both education and economic opportunity for all.  

TWB: Why were you motivated to connect your Peace Corps community with TWB?

Sophie Hart: I was motivated to connect the Bumba community with TWB because of the community center's desire to provide jobs for women and to improve nutrition in the area. I knew that the community was serious about having this bakery, and excited to improve the lives of the people working in it. Jackie, the president of the cooperative, is also one of my closest friends in my community. I know her to be a responsible, empathetic woman who is passionate about this project.

TWB: How do you envision the launch of a bakery with the Mama Dunia Co-Op impacting the community at large?

Sophie Hart: I see the launch of this bakery as having a very positive impact on the community at large. People are interested in having bread, and I believe they will become even more enthusiastic over time as they learn about the nutritious elements of the bread coming from the Dunia bakery. Through providing employment for women, this project
will help improve the lives of their families.

TWB: Which part of the training did you enjoy the most? Did anything surprise you?

Sophie Hart: I enjoyed the hands on baking training the most. It was fun to see everyone getting a chance to participate and learn experientially.

TWB: Share some of the most important learnings you have had in working for economic opportunity with women.

Sophie Hart: I think one of the most important things I've learned in working for economic opportunity with women is that when women are provided with the opportunities to learn and
develop new skills, they are eager and excited to use them. Women are statistically more likely than men to spend money earned on improving the lives of their children, so
investing in women is not only an important tool of empowerment in their lives, but also an investment in the future of our world.

Thanks to Sophie – and the U.S. Peace Corps – for helping both men and women in Western Rwanda access education and employment with TWB. That’s real bread power. You can learn more by reading our October Newsletter here.