Harvard's 19th Annual Social Enterprise Conference

For the last 19 years at Harvard University, thought-leaders, entrepreneurs, students, and business professionals have convened to dialogue, debate, and network around issues related to social enterprise.

The Social Enterprise Conference was held this year in Cambridge, Massachusetts on February 10-11. The Women’s Bakery had the opportunity to not only attend, but also to speak on a panel entitled, “Creating Economic Opportunities for Women.”

As TWB’s Director of Education & Development, I spoke about TWB’s model, our commitment to women, and the value of harnessing business for good. Moreover, when pressed to share insights or learnings for future social entrepreneurs, I shared two important concepts: 1) you have to listen to others well and 2) things will change – and that’s okay. The Women’s Bakery has changed a lot since I first began my role 2 ½ years ago and this change actually points to larger growth, maturity, and impact.

I was also shared about why working with women in Rwanda is so pressing; typically, narratives about Rwanda allude to the well-known and well-publicized female-majority parliament. However, what that statistic does not reflect is the opportunity available for all women, especially as it relates to income and business. 

The experience at the Social Enterprise Conference reminded me that in many ways The Women’s Bakery is on the cutting edge of social enterprise. We have a lot to learn, always, but we’ve also learned a lot and have put it into practice.

Social enterprise celebrates multiple bottom-lines and I am grateful to be a part of a company that is pushing this possibility forward.

That’s bread power.

“The Women’s Bakery? What’s that?”

Back in October 2015, I happened to bump into current TWB Director of Impact, Meg North, at a local restaurant in Kigali. I was a newly minted Peace Corps Volunteer, and she was launching a social enterprise focusing on women’s empowerment and education, through baking bread- The Women’s Bakery. The following trajectory felt like fate.

About 10 months later, TWB’s Founder and Co-Founder, Markey and Julie, gave a presentation at my Mid-Service Conference, and I learned they were both Rwanda Returned Peace Corps Volunteers (RPCVs). I was completed moved by their hybrid business model, their focus on women and their successful launch of bakery operations in Kigali. Their approach was innovative, holistic and matched perfectly with my vision for international development and public health solutions. I still had a year left of my Peace Corps service but made it a point to keep in touch and follow TWB’s activities. I even started baking bread at my site!

Then, in March 2017, TWB and The Peace Corps partnered on an event, Let Girls Ride, in honor and support of International Women’s Day. This bike ride began in the lush green hills of Northern Rwanda and ended, 70 km later, in the cityscapes of Kigali. The project had two goals: promoting girl’s empowerment, education and gender equality and fundraising through solidarity rides in the U.S. to help TWB purchase a brand new bike for bread transport.

I was hooked. Not only did I had the incredible opportunity to meet and collaborate with TWB staff during my service, I spent two years in my rural Rwandan community designing and executing food security, nutrition, and hygiene projects through a women’s empowerment lens. I felt that joining the TWB team was the perfect next step after my Peace Corps service and the beginning of a meaningful career.

Now, as the The Women’s Bakery Program Manager, I am looking forward to managing all existing and upcoming bakery projects in Rwanda, including overseeing trainings, problem solving with the wicked smart TWB team, and empowering women through business training, education and health promotion. I feel so lucky to have this role. This week I hit the ground running with bakery visits, team meetings, strategizing solutions and, of course, eating bread!

After one week, I’ve seen the determination, perseverance and grit it takes to operate a bakery, manage a team and balance daily tasks with a broader vision.

I’ve seen the power of bread and the impact it has on women’s lives. I’ve seen joy, and I’ve seen struggle. I’ve witnessed the most passionate people dig deep to find sustainable solutions to complicated issues.

And the thing I’m most excited about? Watching women realize their full potential, autonomy, and not allowing anyone or anything stop them.

How to Exist in Ambiguity – and Make It Work

Working for a start-up is sexy, exciting, and….hard.

I’ve been with The Women’s Bakery since 2015 and because of this, I’ve had the remarkable fortune of working on a team that is collectively, and foundationally, creating something. We are on the front lines of innovation and changing the way non-profits run. We are refining our hybrid (non-profit and social enterprise) model so that we not only enable access to education for women, but that the education inherently provides the skills needed for women to launch and manage their business: bakeries.

But, what happens in year 2? Years 3 and 4? In the fine, grey areas of “growth” “roll-out” and “prototype”?

As our CEO, Markey calls it: Death Valley. Typically, this term is synonymous with start-ups that have negative cash flow in the early stages, even before bringing their product to their customers.

So, what happens when the product is a sustainable business, inclusive of our vocational education program?

What happens is this: ambiguity.

We, as a team have to boldly move forward in spaces that we don’t always have the answers for. We have to try new ways to deliver business education and in turn, new ways to run our ownership model for these businesses. For many, this could be uncomfortable as not having all the answers is hard when you’re working in an environment that demands it. Moreover, when we look to strategy, and create action items around how we can begin, officially, our program in the United States with refugees, we do so, knowing that “pivoting” and “distilling” will be a part of the process – just like it is in Rwanda and throughout East Africa.

So, how do we survive in this? How do we exist when there are many uncertainties?

We press on.
We acknowledge that we will know more – and soon.
We dream. We plan. And, then, we dream again, constantly committed to the vision set forth – even if you go about it in an unexpected way.  

We continue our work because we’ve seen the impact.

Our dream (mission and vision) – what we are doing now – is to empower women through education and business.

This guides us, anchors us, and holds us even in the seasons of our company that are less clear.

We will make it through Death Valley because we can. We will make it because The Women’s Bakery brings something new to the table: proof of concept, robust methods, tailored education, commitment to oversight, and, grit.

With The Women’s Bakery, we’re only just beginning.

With four bakeries in Rwanda started and two in Tanzania, there is still more to come.

The model is getting stronger. And, so are we. 

From Rwanda to Denver and Back: Ideas Across Continents

Over the last two and a half years, I have been based in East Africa, primarily leading TWB programs in Rwanda. During that time, we have grown from one training group to five graduated groups, culminating in the establishment of two Tanzanian and four Rwandan bakeries.

A goal, and outcome, we have always held is that bakery groups can learn from one another. We envision and strive for a collaborative network, where ideas and successes are shared, strategies for overcoming obstacles dispersed, and mutual growth is spurred between bakeries. We encourage trainees and graduates to visit other sites, and frequently, we bring bakery employees from operating bakeries to lead specialized sessions during the training of new groups. This collaboration across the bakery network can encourage, bolster confidence among the women, and inspire innovation.

On my most recent trip home, I spent time in our Denver office where, among (many) other things, we are developing a model for US programs. The initial ideas are drawn from our current model in Rwanda, adapting elements to meet the needs of a different consumer market and trainee population. As these plans come to life for our pilot model in the States, I find that not only can we draw from the existing model, successes, and challenges in Rwanda, but we can also apply new expansion ideas for the US to strategies in Rwanda.

As our team designs a new program for an entirely new space, I have been able to step back from the day to day of Rwanda operations and look at our current programs with a new lens. Innovating the Rwanda model for US expansion also gives us the opportunity to innovate the US model for East African expansion. Like the individual bakeries and trained women, TWB as an organization benefits from collaboration, building and exchanging ideas across countries and models.