Why Growing the TWB Family is like Rugby

I hopped onto the rugby pitch (pitch not field) for the first time last week. It was a scrimmage, to be sure, but in my world – with the big lights, in a professional stadium – it felt like the “big leagues.” It was also my first time to be playing rugby live.

For the entire month of August, I had practiced boldly with white cleats, innumerable bruises, and new teammates, as I began to learn the proper technique of tackling, and perhaps more importantly, the proper technique of being tackled.

Rugby, it turns out, is a game that is played well when skills are sharply refined. Strength is not measured only by muscle. Instead, a long-running, patient commitment, larger-kind-of-vision is what provides success-potential for this sport. My responsibility to show up each week and learn was not so different from my professional capacity with The Women’s Bakery.

When I come to work each day, I represent our organization and act as a voice for what we do. I learn and listen from our team in Rwanda, I grow alongside our team in the United States, and as I communicate our mission and vision with our TWB family across communities, state-lines, and digital media platforms, I realize that growing our TWB family is (and should be) relationship-focused, built on experiences together.

Inherently, this takes time.

Time. This is why growing the TWB family is not unlike rugby. Sure, less tackling is involved, but there is an enduring patience in both landscapes that catalyzes real growth. The more practices I attend, the more I can apply in a game. The more anecdotes, impact reports, and training and bakery updates I can share with our supporters, the more “fuel” our movement of bread power has to grow. And in turn, more women are able to take part in our program – taking part in a real opportunity for empowerment.

To our supporters that have attended our events; for stakeholders that have invested in our work; for readers of our blog; and for loved ones cheering on the women of TWB from afar, thank you.

Thank you for your patience, thank you for showing up with us and believing that empowerment and education matter.

We’ve been a registered social enterprise for over a year and now, with 200+ breads sold a day in Kigali, we know that it’s working. Keep joining along with us for the ride. Practice, it seems, makes perfect.

Bread power!

The More You Know

As a young girl in the 1990’s, I recall fondly the jingle of NBC’s “the more you know” campaign. The tagline for the major media production company invoked the possibility of exposure, knowledge, and connection that media enables the world to engage with.

Exposure in the context of The Women’s Bakery has proven no different; as we have shared our mission, vision, model, and bread with individuals, families, and groups from all walks of life, we are humbled by the commitment to actually learn about why we do what we do.

Moreover, friends of The Women’s Bakery are quick to want to get involved and in turn, share with others the importance of empowerment, education, and sustainable social enterprise.

We’ve had Rwandans in the United States testing our recipes for palette differences. Emmy, pictured below, moved to the United States last fall and during his adjustment period, has been baking bread! Below, he is pictured with our carrot bread recipe. 

We’ve received the approval of a Canadian-based culinary team-building company, Tall Order, spear-headed by Julie Burke. Julie visited Rwanda in the fall of 2015, exploring culinary opportunities for the country. 

From Arkansas to North Carolina to Texas, we have been working with impassioned followers of TWB who want to help us advocate, share, and build a business model grounded in localized, lasting change. The Volunteer Action Committee (VAC) with Hendrix College baked with us recently - to learn about our work in East Africa and to get a piece of our healthy, nutritious bread.  

We are even working closely with enthused and committed high-school, college, and graduate-level students wanting to serve as “think-tanks” and consultants for the work we are doing in Rwanda, Tanzania, and beyond.

Working within varying levels of interest and community has been an amazing experience. I’ve realized our work is not rooted only in East Africa. It’s here too! Our work involves educating on the realities of our world, and the salient possibilities for positive, lasting, meaningful development. TWB identifies as a “rogue-nonprofit” because we believe it’s possible to bring about change using refined, proven business models. We’re doing it in East Africa, and what an exciting prospect that so many others can be involved – near or far. The “more you know” the more compelled you are to make a difference. 

Confidence Rising

by: Markey Culver

Over the last month, I’ve been given opportunities to reflect on The Women’s Bakery – on our work, progress and potential for serious growth. I like to reflect. I like thinking deeply and intentionally about things, which, for me, takes time. However, and because time has become for me a fleeting temptress, I’ve had moments of insta-reflection – snaps of intense perspective that dawn renewed comprehension.

One example is our classroom in Rwanda. I was in Rwanda for 12 days this January and was most excited about three things: meeting our new training cohort of women, meeting our new Rwandan hire, Aimé, and seeing my East Africa team in action. And I got all three at once. I was standing, as an observing visitor, in our classroom watching Aimé adeptly teach our group of 14 women. And that’s when it hit me - I was standing, as an observing visitor, in our classroom watching Aimé adeptly teach our group of 14 women! WHAT? With sharp awareness, I realized that this – this – was the dream. Vocational business training for Rwandans by Rwandans. This was it. The vision. The goal. And now, incredibly, the reality. This was success because the model – once just an idea – was working.  

Then there was the delicious bread the women baked – almost effortlessly and without staff oversight. Then there were the lessons on nutrition, inventory management, production costs, and product pricing. Then there was momentum on their bakery construction. And then, and then, and then.

TWB is no longer “coming together,” it is hurtling forward, propelling itself into greater viability and relevance. Our rapid successful growth is thanks to the TWB team and community – everyone who has stood alongside, supported and helped TWB grow. Which brings me to my second insta-reflection.

On January 23rd, TWB’s Denver team celebrated a successful fundraising event, 303 Rising.  The event was well organized, beautifully executed and fun. I watched my team work. I listened to them speak with impassioned conviction. Another flash of acute recognition. This is it, I realized, TWB is so much bigger than I am now; it coveys such importance to many along multiple facets. People believe in TWB. And they are dedicating their lives to it. WHAT?

Witnessing this event – which I had no hand in orchestrating – compounded with watching my East African team crush their work in Rwanda has evoked a deepened commitment within me. I believe in TWB with everything I have, but few things are more motivating than watching others substantiate, refine, fortify and drive your vision.

My team’s crazy hard work to push TWB into what it can be is inspiring and validating. TWB is working. And this is just the beginning. 

a champion for bread.

Kemondo, Tanzania

Smoky-grey 3-foot square shops sit in adjacent communities in Kemondo. Like the proximity of boutique neighbors at American shopping malls, both different and similar products are outsourced through these shops to the consumers at large. 

In Kemondo, shops can hold dried fish from the most recent catch of the day, or perhaps small bars of soap for the inevitable piling of laundry that awaits to be completed. Snacks are found too; though a local variety had not been developed – at least until Sister Neera, a locally-based Catholic sister arrived on the scene of the Kemondo business world. Having worked within Kemondo for the previous 6 years on a wide-range of socially-conscious projects, her passion and ability have already been established and celebrated. Yet, it is her increasing savvy in business connection, promotion for women, and yes, bread, that is catching the eyes (and tastes) of the community. 

Bukoba, Tazanzia – 4 months earlier  

In hot Spring days of banana bread batter, and flour dust, women arrived twice weekly for The Women’s Bakery’s intensive curriculum delivery on baking, nutrient-focused recipes, marketing, and the how-to’s of bakery business expansion. The women quickly demonstrated promise, interest, and motivation to make the model for The Women’s Bakery work. Certainly, if business could be improved in these small Tanzanian communities – bread could do it!

A few weeks in, one participant, Sister Neera acknowledged that not only had she already been sharing her newly acquired skills and knowledge with women nearby her home, but they were ready to bake – and do more. The Women’s Bakery team remained humbly excited; could this be the expansion of our model? Could this be the next channel for further empowerment, choice, and access to dignity? 

Did a loaf of bread – with a champion behind it – hold that level of possibility for a community-driven, socially-minded, and health-based solution?                                                                                                           

Kemondo, Tanzania – August 2015

The answer, following a site visit to Kemondo and Sister Neera’s expanding project, is a resounding, absolute, exclamatory, “yes!” 

This August, The Women’s Bakery East Africa team traveled from Kigali headquarters to the original training site in Tanzania from this Spring (Bukoba) and to Kemonodo, where Sister Neera is based – only separated with a 30-minute drive. 

Met with enthusiasm and excitement, Sister Neera quickly de-briefed the team on her growth, questions, and needs. 

Training around 3 women currently, she took the initiative to invest in a local shop for selling (known in Kiswahili as a duka) so that the banana breads being made had a point of focus in the local market. Additionally, she had maintained a health-focused recipe for the banana breads she was training women to bake. No sugar, no butter. The Women’s Bakery staff spent time closely analyzing Sister Neera’s recipe with her as to ensure that profits were possible, and being distributed sensibly to the women helping her bake. Furthermore, Sister Neera is determined to package, promote, and practice the model of The Women’s Bakery so that more women can learn and more can benefit. From the profits generated with the banana breads sold, Sister Neera is able to help provide salaries for the trained bakers and with any additional profits, invest further in the baking business. 

Sister Neera and Agnes, one of the Kemondo women that Sister Neera has been training.

As The Women’s Bakery team engaged in conversation and enjoyed bites of Sister Neera’s product, it was quickly determined that this kind of social business needs one thing for sure – that’s a champion. A bread champion. 

We are beyond thrilled and excited about the ingenuity and commitment that Sister Neera’s work has produced. So much so, that the St. Francis Kemondo Women’s Bakery is an official branch and a direct off-shoot of The Women’s Bakery model. Come one, come all, Kemondo has nutritious banana breads on the market and we can be sure it’s only the beginning. 

View fullsize

A local Kemondo resident gets a taste of the Women's Bakery newest banana recipe product.

written by Heather M. Newell