We are Strong Women Baking Bread

My journey with The Women’s Bakery started before The Women’s Bakery was The Women’s Bakery. My first conversation about joining the team was when TWB was actually RWB – the Rwanda Women’s Bakery. Markey and Julie were looking to launch the brand and the organization, and they wanted me in.

I wanted in too – but I was hesitant.

I was not sure that I wanted to continue to live in East Africa. I was not sure where my career was headed. I was also pulled in other directions; family issues were continuing at home and I felt that I needed to be there. I was also exploring aspects of my own identity that I knew could be problematic if I was to remain in East Africa, specifically Rwanda. 

And so, I passed on the offer. It is crazy to think about, but yes, I turned the job down. Luckily, though, it was not the end of my journey with TWB. Just a few months later, at a low-lit bar in Denver, Julie encouraged me to circle back around with Markey.

“You should really touch base with her…there still could be a place for you,” she told me.

Under a year later, I found myself flying back to Rwanda as a full-time employee with the company. We had just incorporated in the United States and I was the U.S. Program Officer. I was not entirely sure what this meant, but I was bold, ready, and enthusiastic to launch a social enterprise that created access to education and employment.

We hit the ground running.

In my first few months with the organization, we registered the company in Rwanda and began to set our bank accounts up. We re-vamped the curriculum to be more robust and inclusive. We hired our first Rwandese team member. In doing so, I realized how much I had always loved building things. Much was the same when I had started Arkansas’ first NCAA field hockey team at Hendrix – building from the ground up requires grit, stamina, and courage. Myself – and my team members – had this.

After several months in Rwanda, I returned home to Denver to launch our organizational presence at the Posner Center for International Development. Along with Markey, I helped implement the beginnings of our non-profit administration, including systems for financial tracking, donor processes, and marketing touch-points. Sometimes, when we look back at some of the initial content that we put together, it’s hard not to laugh. Not because it is not good – but because it illustrates how far we have come.

In the first years of working with TWB, I had to learn the art of working amidst ambiguity. We shifted our model multiple times, altered our approach, and had to consistently re-visit the essence of our mission and vision. Yet, I appreciate these times because it was in these spaces I learned how to strategize, how to use my voice to shape organizational culture, and how to share leadership with other bad-ass women. I started working for TWB when I was 26 and now, at 29, I can safely say that I am a very different woman (and definitely for the better).

Something happens when you work endlessly for the autonomy and choice for others – especially women. You begin to believe that all that you are advocating for (education, opportunity, etc.) applies to you. That is a powerful realization. I began to believe this and make changes in my life. These changes have altered how I live, and I can say, without question, that I am a much more grounded, confident, and assured person because I have integrated choice and autonomy into my everyday living.

What has kept me going the past several years is the power of women. Even from afar, I know that the women working at TWB bakeries are capitalizing (literally) on the opportunities they have received. They are doing the work. They are generating incomes. They are using their education. Many non-profits boast about what they have done for the populations they have worked with. At TWB, we boast about the women that work in our bakeries. They are the story. It is not about us – it’s about the larger work of social enterprise and business actually working for good.

I will miss all of this as I step away from The Women’s Bakery.

After 3+ years of work, I am shifting my career into mental health. I started Counseling school back in January and it is one of the best things I have done. I am learning the ins-and-outs of mental health, well-being, and therapeutic relationships, and it is necessary for me at this time to integrate this into my career. That being said, I take all that I have learned and experienced at TWB with me. I take the lessons (both the successes and failures) and hold them dear.

From my time at TWB, I have come to see that failure is a necessary, important step to growth. I recognize that change is a part of the process. I continue to see that human relationships can take you far further than perfectly curated plans (though those help too). I understand now that moving through the “hard stuff” is required if any sustainable impact will be achieved. And genuinely, I have realized that if you trust the process, incredible (and surprising things) will happen. Essentially, it is good and healthy to dream.

I could not have imagined TWB as it is today. And, it is not even just the bakeries or the number of women we have employed. What has surpassed my imagination is the staying power of a model that works. A model not built on the agendas of others, but a model that exists to operate and function for both impact and accountability.

I am humbled by what this idea has become and have been honored to be a part of its development. We are Strong Women Baking Bread – and I look forward to seeing this continue to grow, revolutionize, and change the world.

#breadpower

A Great Place to Work

We might think earning a salary or a wage is everything we need to move within our daily lives at work, but it is not the only thing that motivates us to reach our professional goals at The Women’s Bakery (TWB). In fact, our progress and movement depends on many things.  

For example, other motivating factors in the workplace include the environment of our work, our team members, our supervisors, the products, etc. At TWB, we have had the motivation to move forward with all that is happening at our flagship bakery especially because we have a supportive, meaningful, delightful, and beautiful workplace.  

Launching the flagship bakery was a major achievement for the team and even more so for the women we work with. This is the place where they feel comfortable, happy and proud to work in such amazing place, and this leads to their desire to keep working hard, to learn, and to pursue more opportunities for sales, product development, and more!

Oooooh! I can tell more about our café space which is an enjoyable spot to be; our customers really feel comfortable eating TWB’s tasty sweet potato rolls, honey twists, and muffins. They love these products so much that sometimes they fall asleep on swings after doing their work. 

Imagine…

Just come by!!!

Women in Change

What an amazing opportunity to see our country rise and make changes in every angle of its sectors, whether government, private, or public.

My Rwanda is one of the countries that supports women and gives women more chances and opportunities to grow. Rwanda continues to encourage women to create more ideas and to seek support for these ideas.

Because Rwanda and its government cannot not reach every woman in the country, the private sectors are welcomed to join them and work hand in hand. Without collaboration in this capacity, Rwanda would not be where it is today.

Our one and only THE WOMEN’S BAKERY has established itself in Rwanda and has engaged in the sector of women’s empowerment. Our business is doing great things as it is impacting women’s life and the entire community. Fighting against malnutrition and creating sources of income for these women has been one of the most important women’s empowerment activities and it is working.

In addition to baking skillsets, The Women’s Bakery teaches women their rights, how to advocate for them, where to go for help, and ultimately, how to claim their rights. TWB also creates confidence in these women (especially as rights are shared and exercised), which can reduce violence within the families and even in the community.

We thank the private sector and our Government of Rwanda for understanding the value of a woman and to promote equal opportunity with men. We work and get paid so we have source of income. We take good care of our family because we know the value of our family and we have capacity to look after them. To all in Rwanda that has welcomed our business, thank you from THE WOMEN’S BAKERY IN RWANDA.

#breadpower

Education as Access & Power

At TWB, educational programming and training is at the forefront of our model. We don’t just employ any woman in our bakeries but rather those who have completed our intensive 200+ hour (now accredited) technical and vocational educational training program.

Education is access: access to a better income, a better job, a better life but most importantly, access to choices. The women we train, support and employ have a choice, every day, to come to work at TWB. To (oftentimes) wake up before the sun and work well into the afternoon, creating unique, healthy products for their communities, pushing through the lows of business and celebrating the highs. Education is power.

And you know what else is powerful? Witnessing our women transform from students to teachers and empowering a new group of women.

Enter Liziki. This woman is the definition of a rockstar. She has been with TWB since the beginning (2015) and works as a professional baker at the Kigali Flagship. She can bust out an order of 300+ sweet potato rolls in a morning, keep everyone on track to meet production goals and is just an amazing human being, mother, and friend. When our newest bakery, Gicumbi, was struggling with workflows, I had an idea: what if Liziki spent a few days with our newest employees and taught them her tips and tricks? The team at TWB has been experimenting with sending our more experienced women to train new, less experienced groups and the results had been positive.  

Liziki spent three full days at our Gicumbi bakery leading, teaching and demonstrating. It was inspiring to see her in her element and to see how much respect the Gicumbi women had for her. From my corner office, I could overhear them asking her questions from when to rotate trays in the oven, to what the ideal rising time was, to how to work faster. Prior to Liziki’s arrival, the production team has been finishing baking around 2PM, which caused them to miss market/daylight sales opportunities. After one day of Liziki’s expertise, they were cranking out 15 kilograms of bread before noon! Not only was she empowering the women, she was empowered as, now, a trainer.

As if I wasn’t already beaming with pride, for Liziki and our Gicumbi group, on her last day, Liziki gave a powerful speech to the women. Her exact words were,

“Sometimes the Kigali group, we had to wake up early and come to work and sometimes we stayed late but it didn’t matter because we we’re so proud of what we were doing and we wanted to achieve something in our lives. We (the Kigali group) are where we are now because of TWB and our hard work. Some days will be hard but you must have confidence, work hard, never give up and be proud of what you are doing. This is how you will grow and achieve more.”

I couldn’t stop beaming (crying) with pride and joy: for Liziki, for our Kigali women, for our Gicumbi women, for ALL the women TWB has the privilege of working with and for our work-our gritty, innovative and dedicated work. It truly is impacting lives and that is #breadpower.

Mental Health Counseling Program at TWB

What does mental health mean to you—what value does it hold in your daily life and functioning? For most, mental health isn’t just a piece of the puzzle, but something that affects the whole of their being. When mental illness becomes a part of your story, it can permeate all other aspects of your life and health.

In a country and context where trauma has affected many, fostering mental health and healing is of great importance to the success of the individual as well as the collective. However, in the context of the lives of the women that work at The Women’s Bakery, mental health hasn’t been a luxury they have the privilege to explore.

Not anymore. 

About 9 months ago, we started a Mental Health Counseling Program with the women in our Kigali Bakery as a pilot program. We knew this could be a valuable space to process, learn, heal and grow, but we didn’t know how the women would take to the service. As we planned for the program, it was important to us that we hire someone who could both speak Kinyarwanda, and also relate and understand their culture and lifestyle. We hired a Rwandan certified female counselor, Specioza, and started our first day of counseling in October 2017.

Each day of counseling is spent with individual sessions in the morning, a group lunch session where topics such as conflict resolution, marriage and family, and professionalism are discussed. Then an afternoon of individual sessions. The women almost immediately took to the programming, and have really enjoyed their time with Specioza. We have seen improvement in conflict resolution within the bakery, as well as heard personal stories of healing and reconciliation among friends, families, and marriages. We have also recently started inviting the husbands of the women to participate in the individual sessions.

As our next step, we launched the service in the other two TWB managed bakeries—Ndera and Kagina. Another very experienced Rwandan female counselor has been working with these women. While the uptake has been slower, we are excited to see how the women make this program their own.

Our future goals and plans with the program are to continue to see it iterate based on the needs of each bakery, as well as hone in on the true impact of the service. While we are a business, we are also a family and the individual needs of each woman we work with matters to us deeply.

As a social enterprise we have the privilege to meet market demand with local supply while we create jobs for strong women, as well as foster healthy lives from a holistic level.

The Story Behind the Curriculum

TWB was founded on the idea – and belief – that education is irrevocable and can never be taken away. As TWB bakeries have grown, the TWB Curriculum Package has, too.

When our founding team was preparing for our first training, back in 2015 with the Remera group, I asked myself two important questions when compiling, writing, re-organizing, and synthesizing our lessons: who was the training program for? And, what was the goal of the training?

Using these questions as a launch pad, I have edited the package each year with a methodology known as “backward design.” If our goal is to empower women to be excellent employees at a TWB bakery, then all of our lessons, activities, and objectives need to be in alignment and working towards that goal.

And my, what a labor of love it has been to re-work our content and optimize our resources as much as possible. Curriculum design and writing is a honed skill, one that I have had with me for most of my life, particularly with my father’s experience as an educator for 30+ years. Additionally, I have relied upon skills I learned while in the Peace Corps and from creating curriculum packages for other ventures in the educational world: from school start-ups in Ghana to tutoring programs in Arkansas. Piecing together lessons written by Markey, Meg, and Julie, we developed the first version of our package, culminating in around 150 hours of lessons.

Now, TWB's curriculum follows outlined standards along four primary competencies: life skills, nutrition knowledge, business acumen, and technical baking capacity. These modules are integrated into each Phase of the Curriculum: Phase I (Basic Pedagogy), Phase II (Specialization Training), and Phase III (Bakery Soft Launch), complete with lessons that are both theoretical and practical so that trainees learn the content and practice it, too. We've added many new lessons that we learned are essential (basic math skills, for example) when operating a bakery on a daily basis.

Lessons are tailored specifically for learners who have not had an extensive history within the classroom and include activities that are culturally-relevant and culturally-informed.

Taken together, TWB’s curriculum holds nearly 200 hours’ worth of content to prepare a woman to work inside the bakery. Most importantly, our curriculum package is experiential, human-centric, and accessible.

Better yet, we are pleased to announce that TWB’s vocational training program has been approved by the Workforce Development Authority in Rwanda as a nationally accredited Technical and Vocational Education and Training program. Because of this, every woman who completes our program will not only receive a certificate of completion, but also a transferable vocational education certificate that will enhance her opportunities for gainful employment.

With accreditation, TWB is a viable option for women who cannot attend University and may not fit the mold elsewhere. We bring together vocational skill development with knowledge, exploration, and community.

This is the beauty of education and we look forward to the journey as we continue to innovate, discover, and grow with our bakeries. #breadpower

The Proof is in the Women

The last few months at TWB Rwanda have flown by, full of successes and challenges both large and small. When asked about our model and what we are achieving, most interested listeners get it – women are benefiting from vocational education and sustainable employment, communities are benefiting from affordable access to nutritious breads, and economies are benefiting from TWB’s local sourcing and local sales.

Visible progress is sometimes slow, but it’s there. You need only look at a simple photo journey following our Kigali bakery group from training, to their first bakery location, then on to the second, and now finally to the Flagship Café, to SEE how much we have grown and accomplished since 2015. And that is only one of our four operating bakeries in Rwanda, with our fifth cohort midway through training and getting ready for bakery launch in June!

Starting with just a framework of ideas and a big vision in 2015, TWB has successfully employed over 40 Rwandans in our network bakeries and headquarter offices, and we continue to grow.

It is therefore surprising when some people don’t get it. Take one government official who asked if our bread was sold in the major grocery stores of Kigali (where, by the way, it would not be remotely affordable). Upon hearing that we sell most of our bread in the local markets (where, by the way, it is highly affordable) he proclaimed that we are clearly not a successful business and don’t belong here. Or, another official who, in response to our queries about tax breaks for small enterprises and social businesses, said we should just export our goods in order to succeed … that would defeat the purpose of improving local nutrition by making affordable products accessible to the base of the market pyramid (and it’s fresh bread?) but nevermind. Not everyone gets it. However, TWB is not deterred.

The proof is in the bread, and in the women, and in our team. Our newly opened Flagship in Kigali is the perfect example of what we can achieve with a dedicated team, some sweat and tears, and the motivation of empowering and sustainably employing women.

#strongwomenbakingbread #breadpower #cantstopwontstop

A TWB PHOTO STORY: FROM 2015 TO NOW

Training in Remera, 2015. 

Baking with our old oven during training, 2015. 

The first site for TWB's Kigali Bakery, 2016.

Operations and sales at the Kigali Bakery, 2016.

Building the TWB Brand: Strong Women Baking Bread, 2017. 

Baking at our new flagship bakery (with new ovens!), 2018

Morning production in the kitchen, 2018. 

Soft launch of the new flagship bakery with Fran, our Marketing and Bakery Operations Coordinator, 2018. 

Small Incremental Change – The Path to Sustainable Change

Most non-profits want to show their impact with numbers. Big numbers. And, in a short period of time.

Stakeholders want people trained in the 1,000s or 10s of thousands. Stakeholders want number of lives touched in the millions. However, all too often, those numbers do not account for the depth of impact and confuse a small touch with programming to mean big change for that individual, their families, or their communities.

At TWB we have questioned the traditional numbers and goals for these numbers that non-profits use.

Some of the questions we asked ourselves were:

1. Will the women who go through TWB training ACTUALLY be able to get a job with the skills they learned?
2. Will that job allow them to work EVERY DAY, indefinitely, and slowing increase their salary?
3. Will they ACTUALLY be making more money than when they started training?
4. Will they ACTUALLY have access to healthcare?

This is what we have been trying to prove over two years later. And, the answers are yes.

1. 100% of women who go through our training program are offered jobs after training in TWB owned or managed bakeries.
2. Employment in TWB owned or managed bakeries is every day, six days a week, all months of the year (excluding public holidays).
3. On average, women working in TWB owned or managed bakeries make 2x their pre-bakery salaries from their first day of employment. 
4. 100% of women at TWB owned or managed bakeries have access to health insurance and monthly mental health counseling as benefits to their employment.

However, this is not without a tremendous amount of both financial and human capital invested. It is through the hard work of an entire team of 12 Rwanda-based employees and interns that execute and operate our programs.

We have realized the power of our impact on just one woman.

We believe that small, incremental change is a strong indicator of sustainable change. Our team is proud of all the hard work we have contributed to making a difference in the lives of the women we work with.

From Scratch: Our Flagship Story

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.