The Women's Bakery 2.0

2019 will be our fifth official year. I can hardly believe it as I write this. Five years!

For me, our fifth year marks the beginning of a new chapter for us: The Women’s Bakery 2.0. When I said this to Hilary, our Deputy Director of Operations (DDO) last week, she laughed and said, “I think it’s more like TWB 7.0.” And really, in many ways she is correct. Our journey up to this point has been a series of iterations – design, implement, tweak, repeat. These iterations, while tiring and often discouraging, have gotten us closer to where we are today, and closer to a tried and true model that works.

We started in 2014 with a dream – to build women-powered bakeries in East Africa. In many ways our dream has become a reality, and 2019 will serve to be the year of shoring up the stability of this dream.

To start, we have clearer direction in our mission – to build a women-centric social enterprise that gainfully employs women and provides access to quality breads in East Africa – which will aide better role designations, expectations and task execution. We have more tangible (and, frankly, attainable) goals – to enhance company culture, to socially and economically empower women, and to achieve profitability at our existing bakeries – which will aide in streamlining our operations and celebrating our successes.

We are recommitting ourselves to social enterprise, meaning we continue to place equal weight on social impact and financial return. Social enterprise is a balancing act and we are constantly re-calibrating. Often the for-profit and non-profit threads pull against each other, creating an ever-shifting landscape to equilibrate. But we’re inching closer and closer, harmonizing both sectors in small but powerful ways. That is why social enterprise is so important today – in a world that is seemingly increasingly polarized between profit and philanthropy, we are proving that business can and should be used as a tool for social good.

We have such a strong team – women at our bakeries, staff in our offices, interns, donors, and volunteers – and I am excited to watch them soar this year. I'm very proud to be part of something so much greater than myself. To be a part of a team that believes in the power of women and is committed to women’s autonomy.  

So, here’s to 2019, may this be a year of hope and strength, learning and success, commitment and celebration. We couldn’t have made it this far without you. Thank you for being part of our team and helping us build our dream of women-powered bakeries throughout East Africa – bread power!

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.

TWB LTD Growth in Rwanda

A lot has changed in just one year for TWB Rwanda. Since our official business registration in August of 2015, TWB has been working as a social enterprise, specializing in training programs and bakery business launch for groups of women throughout Rwanda.

Our first training group of 15 women was conducted in Nyabisindu, a neighborhood within the capital city of Kigali, launched October 2015. Over the course of several months, the women learned basic business skills including inventory and stock management, production cost calculation, sales strategies, and record keeping. The group also studied bakery specific business skills, as well as intensive training in baking and nutrition. All of this was made possible by TWB’s first Rwandan staff, Aime Nshizirungu, who co-facilitated the entire training in Kinyarwanda. Not only did Aime ensure the curriculum was comprehensible in the local language and context, he also fostered relationships with each of the trainees, providing support and encouragement in their lives in and out of training.

In July 2016, 8 women from this training group launched a bakery in their Remera community, with the support of TWB. Over the last five months, they have been working hard to introduce their nutritious, high quality bread products to the community. Their success has been driven daily by our second Rwandan team member- Yvonne Mukamutara. Yvonne joined TWB in February 2016 as an intern while in her last year as a finance student at University of Kigali. She quickly adapted to the TWB team and played an integral role in the Remera Bakery launch in July. Yvonne concluded her internship and was hired on full time by TWB in September. Since July, she has been working in the Remera Bakery as the Operations Manager—organizing daily operations, managing 8 women who work daily in the bakery, seeking out sales opportunities, promoting hygiene and quality products, and managing finances. As if that were not enough, Yvonne is also the women’s mentor and a constant support. She knows who needs extra money for their child’s school field trip, who needs extra clothing, who is registered for health care and who has a sick family member. Yvonne ensures that the women’s needs are being meet, not only at work but also at home.

Without both Aime and Yvonne’s dedication, passion, and hard work, the Remera bakery would not be what it is today.

Following the Remera Bakery launch, TWB was scheduled to begin two more trainings in 2016. To do so, we brought on our third Rwandan team member, Denyse Uwineza. Denyse joined TWB just one week before our second official Rwanda training program began in the small, rural community of Bumba in the Western Province of Rwanda. Denyse put in a long week working with Aime to understand the TWB curriculum and to familiarize herself with the mission and vision of TWB. Then, she jumped right into 6 weeks of training in the west, initially supporting Aime as he taught the lessons, and eventually taking the lead on some lessons herself. A quick and eager learner, Denyse is now co-facilitating her second training with Aime at our newest training site in Ndera, just east of Kigali. And, she has already contributed to training improvements and new curriculum content!

As TWB foresees even more growth in 2017, we gratefully reflect on the growth we have seen from summer 2015 through December 2016. Our Rwanda team is now made up of two American staff and three Rwandan staff, all of whom contribute to TWB’s work in Rwanda in immeasurable ways. We would not be where we are now, planning to conduct 3-5 new trainings in the upcoming year and looking to hire 3-5 more Rwandan staff, without the daily commitment of our current team. Their commitment to TWB, and most importantly to improving the lives of the women we work with through education, employment, and nutrition, has brought us to where we are today.

A huge thank you to TWB Team Rwanda! We can’t wait to see what next year brings!