What does progress look like?

I was able to spend January in Rwanda this year. I get to visit Rwanda about 3 or 4 times a year and while working outside of Rwanda has its drawbacks, the benefits are seeing the leaps of progress each time I visit.

The bakeries are the most obvious indication of progress. The women have mastered their workflows, are baking with confident know-how, and producing breads that look and taste delicious. Many women have become target customers for accessories, like bras and purses, because they are now seen as having money. And many women report powerful changes in their lives – they know how to prepare a more nutritious meal for their children; they feel confident in their abilities; they feel respected in their communities; they feel successful/lucky/grateful/empowered by their incomes.

It’s the shiny side of our work.

But what does the dull side of our work look like? Or, perhaps a better question, what is the ugly side of our work? What is not working?

Well, we thought our bakeries would be profitable by now; we thought the women wanted to own the bakeries (they don’t); we thought we’d get picked up by Oprah or Ellen; we thought our bread products would speak for themselves (many Rwandese value quantity over quality…); we thought building businesses in Rwanda would be much less expensive than it is (hellooooo taxes!).  But here’s what I find so inspiring about The Women’s Bakery, our model, and especially our team: our ability to transform.

Transformation is different than adaptation.

To me, adaptation means you accept your surroundings and modify yourself to work within them. We have certainly done (and have had to do) this, but I don’t think that paints the full picture, nor does it give credit to our innovation. Accepting our surroundings would mean that we simply make doughnuts or nutritionally-weak white bread because that’s what sells. It would mean that we work with men because women stay in the field and the home since “that’s what women do.”  It would mean that we, as a hybrid nonprofit/for-profit company, would consider our people – the reason we have successful programs – overhead and keep them at 10% of our overall budget.

But what if there were more? What if we didn't accept that realities?

What if people did buy bread because it is nutritious or good quality? What if women wanted to work somewhere else? What if a company valued its people as much as it valued its customers/partners/beneficiaries?

We believe all of those “what if’s” are possible. And we’re doing it. WHAT? It’s exhilarating.

I recently remarked to TWB’s Co-Founder and Co-Director, Julie, that her greatest quality is resiliency. Then my eyes popped out of my head because I realized that this trait – perhaps infused by Julie – epitomizes our Women’s Bakery company culture. We believe in our mission. We listen. We learn from our mistakes. We remain committed to what we know can work. And we act with a shrewdness that would make Sara Blakely, founder of Spanx, proud. 

Testing, Testing

Everyone’s palate craves something different. Our breads are no exception. Heather has been working to refine our sweet potato bread recipe in the U.S. and we are almost there!

We have been getting valuable feedback from our sweet potato dry bread mix packaging, process, and price point.

Dozens of friends and family members have prepared our dry bread mix at home and filled out a survey to help us understand where we can improve.

We ask our potential customers questions such as:

-       Were the directions easy to follow?

-       What did you like best about the label?

-       How much would you pay for this product?

-       How often would you purchase this product?

Simultaneously, we have been encouraging willing participants to try samples of our beet, carrot, and banana breads.

We’ve worked on adapting our Rwanda recipes for the American market. And, now, we are trying to collect at least 100 survey responses on what the consumers like and don’t like about the taste and appearance. These responses will help us make yet another recipe overhaul!

While we aren’t ready to build a bakery in the U.S., we are paving the runway for a kick ass variety of dry bread mixes for healthful snack. Choosing our product will help to support our work in the U.S. and Rwanda.

Keep an eye out for the upcoming launch of our online store, where you can purchase the first iteration of our sweet potato dry bread mix!

“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. 

Real Impact on Women

Though TWB explicitly works as an organization to educate women, our empowerment work is just as important. This extends into the realm of the lives of the women we work with – considering their safety, health, and family lives.

In Africa, one out of three women will be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime[1]. This is real statistic from the United Nations, illuminating the fact that women throughout the continent (and also the world) are in need of protection, education, and rights. Through working at a bakery, our hope is that women can build and invest in social networks to prevent future violence. We have installed my position of Bakery Operations Manager (BOM) to serve as much more to the women – a leader, a counselor, and a mentor – with the hope that women have a safe place to discuss challenges they face in society.

In addition to violence (whether physical, sexual, or otherwise) that women encounter, TWB also seeks to address the root causes of perpetual poverty that many of the women we work with face. Women make up the majority people how living in extreme poverty. As part of elevating their individual situations, it’s critical that women not only have a job, but a sustainable job, one where they can receive a livable, meaningful wage. Moreover, poverty includes political, social, and economic forces; at TWB, we hope that through employment and opportunities for health, the women at our bakeries will be able to overcome these barriers and change the landscape of their lives.

This part of our work is not easy. Empowering a woman takes resources, time, and investment. However, we remain committed to this cause, improving the health and well-being of women, one bakery at a time.

[1] http://www.un.org/en/women/endviolence/pdf/VAW.pdf

Global Health Corps Fellowship with TWB

First, I squealed, then I teared up: this was finally happening.

Several months ago, I received word that after a six-month application process I had been accepted into the 2017-2018 Global Health Corps Fellowship cohort and was placed at The Women’s Bakery, in Rwanda. I was thrilled, excited, and ready. After months of consideration, it was humbling and energizing to know that I was going to move forward with work that motivates and inspires me.

In September 2016, I moved to Rwanda with the intention of working in health development. Just before leaving the United States, a good friend of mine mentioned a great organization working to empower women through baking: The Women’s Bakery. This friend of mine knew TWB Founder & Co-Director, Markey, from Furman University. As she told me more, I thought I should check it out.

After arriving in Kigali, I quickly engaged with TWB Staff, Meg and Julie, and was intrigued and motivated by the work that TWB was doing with vocational training and business launch. Simultaneously, I heard about the fellowship with Global Health Corps, a program that offers fellowships to those interested in working in the field of global health. I began an application. After months of interviews and documentation, the opportunity I had been waiting for was here! I was working for TWB. It was real, and it was happening.

Now, as Nutrition Coordinator for The Women’s Bakery, I am working on nutrition and health programming at bakeries in Kigali and beyond. I am so enthusiastic to see the impact The Women’s Bakery is having in the communities of which we work.

From women’s health, to mental health, to home health, we have so many programs and ideas to improve the lives of the women we serve. I’ve been given the opportunity to see at a ground level what training and engagement with a group of women can accomplish.

On a daily basis, lives are being impacted one muffin or roll at a time, and I can’t wait to continue to be a part of the change being made through The Women’s Bakery.

Education Must Matter

My childhood was filled three important things: sports, family, and “playing” school.  

As an educator for over 30 years, my father frequently brought my brother and I to his summer school sessions at large, expansive high schools in Denver. This was my dream world. I would sometimes pack my stuffed animals, and with my brother, arrange them in desks so I could teach them whatever lesson I felt was important for the day.

My allure to school was rooted in something far more than new school supplies or the excitement of a unique lesson; I loved school (real, or otherwise) because always, I have appreciated learning, and understanding knowledge in new, innovative ways. I was fortunate enough to attend schools that encouraged me to ask questions, always considering why I think the way I do.

This drive for education, since I was young, has fueled my passion for all people experiencing and having the same right to an open, accessible, and meaningful learning experience.

At The Women’s Bakery, education is the foundation for all that we do. We believe that a foundational education, one that can be applied in real, practical ways, can lend opportunities for gainful, sustainable employment, and opportunities for health. We provide all training groups with 150+ hours of lessons that are especially tailored for their communities and backgrounds. Intentionally, we design and deliver lessons that provide new skill-sets that are needed, applicable, and useful – whether a woman works in a bakery, launches her own business elsewhere, or seeks regular employment in any field.

The promise of education isn’t enough; in Rwanda, even for secondary students who can and do complete their high school diploma (only about 14% of those enrolled), the job market is severely saturated such that job acquisition becomes a major barrier for income generation. Thus, education must matter – it must mean something.

Our curriculum package pulls content from a variety of areas to create distinctive modules of content: nutrition, life skills, business skills, and bakery-specific expertise. Each lesson has a subset of sessions that get even more specific, ranging from sessions on how to use substitutions in recipe adjustments and how to complete a sales pitch for a bread product.

We've been revamping this curriculum this year, accounting for our learnings at existing bakeries, and ensuring that each part of our sessions are culturally appropriate, for example, updating our vocabulary terms so that the high-level business terms are articulate for those who may have no previous business experience. The revamp has been a way for us to ensure that our pedagogy is experiential focused, so that TWB students can learn theoretically and by hand - practical learning, we have found, is most effective - when providing business and bakery education.

When TWB graduates receive their certificate, they have also completed a post-test, recognizing that they have experienced knowledge gain, and more importantly, they have skills that are applicable to future opportunities. Graduation is a big deal for our team at TWB; it is the launching pad for a future bakery, but also, a celebration of students – who may have never attended or completed school before – and now, can enter the world, completing coursework that matters.

“Success” at TWB looks a lot of different ways: a profitable bakery, income generation, and health opportunities for women; these are just some of the measurements we use to track what is working – and what is not. Educational excellence continues to be one of our most important, too, knowing that a meaningful education is irrevocable – no one can take that away.

That is the essence of us, TWB, as we envision a future of autonomous women, accessing social mobility for entire households, one bakery at a time.

Fresh Beets & Carrots for TWB Gardens

by: Rina Hisamatsu

As soon as I booked my flight to Kigali to intern with The Women’s Bakery, I began experiencing a wide range of emotions. Mostly, I had a feeling of euphoria and disbelief that I had the opportunity to work with an organization whose core values and objectives align so closely with my own. Educating, inspiring, and empowering women through a sustainable business of bread power? Not to mention their breads are chock full of nutrients, local vegetables and absolutely delicious? Heck yes! I was so eager to immerse myself in the field of global public health/non-profit work and hopefully make a little dent in the organization with a bit of my own contribution.

My time in Rwanda was spent working on two main projects.

One revolved around researching and building the nutritional landscape of Rwanda. As it’s such a broad theme, I decided to tackle this by delving into various national databases and reading up on research articles and nutrition books based in Rwanda and the greater East Africa. I wanted to understand what the current situation is around health and nutrition here and whether we could incorporate culturally relevant ingredients into our breads to attract local customers and make it more accessible to the general public. In addition to this, I created several nutritional documents for their curriculum and marketing materials.

Part two of my project was so much fun and gave me the chance to get down and dirty with Rwandan soil! At TWB, we are hoping to implement bakery gardens at all sites where fresh vegetables can be the harvested and used directly for their baked goods. The two pilot gardens I worked on were the Ndera and Remera bakeries, which I was very happy about because the two locations have very different landscapes. Due to the lack of space in the Remera bakery, we settled on using planters to grow beets and carrots, which will be used for their muffin bread recipes. On the other hand, Ndera’s vast acreage allowed us to build direct beds on the plot and practice succession planting by sowing a bunch of different seeds such as carrots, beets, cabbage, and dodo.  

Some of the biggest challenges I faced was to overcome the language barrier and earn the women’s trust and buy-in by describing the project’s purpose and long-term benefits of having a garden for the bakery and the individual. I feel that this experience has definitely developed my patience and I have come to realize that communication and trust builds the foundation to any good relationship.

Although the first harvest will begin long after I leave Rwanda, I am keeping my hopes up that these women can have fun in the garden and continue what I’ve started!

Why I Support TWB

I identify as a woman and this is important because as a woman, I am keenly aware that the interconnectedness between gender, health disparities, economic disparities, and the victimization of women, often reveals the undeniable oppression of women.

I support The Women’s Bakery, and have done so for a couple of years, because TWB engages in work that improves the lives of people. During my social work training I had the opportunity to work with refugees resettling in Denver and was attune to the effects of lack of opportunity, especially for women. I saw the direct effect of gender oppression in the women I worked with, as many of them were survivors of rape, a common form of warfare. Since then, I’ve sought to work towards the empowerment of women, realizing that women have been too often left on the margins of the economy, of religion, of culture, and of society.

I currently work as a behavioral health therapist and a case manager in a primary care setting in the San Luis Valley in Colorado, one of the poorest regions in the nation. In reflecting on my current caseload, I was struck by the ubiquity of pain and suffering as a human experience regardless of gender. The moment brought me to my knees in tears. In that moment, I realized that my awareness to the inequalities faced by women, often results in me minimizing the suffering men also experience. Empathy may be the only way to disarm it.

I support The Women’s Bakery because they support empowering women – but in a manner that also elevates equity for all genders – men included. Men are a part of most of the training and men are often spouses of the women who are trained and employed at TWB bakeries. In many ways, they directly benefit from shared household incomes.

Finally, I support TWB because they support empathy, that is, the ability to see, feel, hear, know, and care for one another, through a shared human experience.

Rwanda: A Land of a Thousand Women

“Hey girl, what is your most unforgettable experience in Rwanda?”

Heather, one of the girls I met with The Women’s Bakery, asked me while we were having a campfire talk in a remote village in the Western Province of Rwanda. After spending 10 days in the East African country, that continues to recover from the traumatizing genocide in 1994, I realized that most of the memorable moments I had were somewhat attached to WOMEN.

I met most of the women during my work at The Women’s Bakery (TWB) through SEID (Sloan Entrepreneurs for International Development).

TWB is a social enterprise that is dedicated to empowering local women by teaching them baking and business skills. The women I met here are quite different, in terms of both educational and cultural backgrounds, yet they are somehow alike: independent, hardworking and elegant, providing me an unique and interesting perspective to learn about this country.

The “Ni BYO" woman - Jean

Jean (the lady in the pink dress) was one of the 9 women currently working at the bakery located in Remera, Kigali TWB’s first bakery in Rwanda.

Every time she saw me, she would say ”Ni BYO”(meaning "It’s true" in Kinyarwanda) to me cheerfully. Yes, the language barriers exist, but her passion and laughs made me feel at home.

Like the other women working in this bakery, she alternates her work at the bakery between morning and afternoon shifts. The morning shift involves the beginning of preparation for fresh batches of breads. The afternoon session also involves baking, in addition to taking the breads out into the community for sales.  

Marketing and selling the product can be challenging for some of the women, because they tend to be shy when introducing and pitching the bread to new customers. But Jean seems to be an exception; her firm eye contact, engaging hand gestures and childish smile make her such a sales genius. In fact, she has even become a teacher to new students engaged in the TWB program outside Kigali.

However,  Jean was not always so outgoing, “At the beginning of the training, she was rather shy and did not speak much. After completing the training for 150 hours, she gradually became confident and felt more empowered,” shared Meg, one of the TWB staff.  Jean herself proclaimed, “I want to work harder, earn more money and pay for my child’s education!”

In these conversations, I began to understand what empowerment really means for these women. It is not simply a result, it's a process that requires time and effort. But the impact is huge and sustainable: Once a stay-at-home mom who could not write nor read, Jean was sometimes ignored or disregarded. But now, she is becoming more optimistic towards life and empowered, financially and mentally. I believe this empowerment is transferrable. And that is what TWB is committed to, and what I came to Rwanda for: to help them replicate the bakery and its impact throughout Rwanda and other countries in Africa.

 The Superwoman - Yvonne

Yvonne is the Operations Manager of the Remera Bakery in Kigali. She joined TWB while studying finance at the University of Kigali.

She is beautiful, amiable, detail-oriented and extremely hardworking. I can tell that she is a woman with lots of stories, and I am glad that I could hear some of them before I left Rwanda.

For her, her role as Operations Manager is not only about getting things done in the bakery business, but also about managing people- resolving interpersonal conflicts and providing constant advice for women both at work and at home.

Women at TWB have learnt a lot from Yvonne, including inventory recording, financial management, goal setting, and life management. At the same time, Yvonne is also drawing some valuable lessons from the hands-on experiences at TWB. “One important thing that I learned at TWB is the meaning of leadership, it’s not school stuff, it’s more about showing carefulness, bringing communication and building trust within people.”

She seems to be more talkative when sharing with me her working experience, “ Also, I learnt the importance of being responsible for myself and my family,” she continued, “I know many women here at the bakery are now pregnant and have multiple children at home, but they don’t have husbands and thus have to carry on all the burdens, and that's too much for them.”

Thanks to the power of education, young generations of women like Yvonne are now becoming more self-aware, independent and ambitious. They might not have access to advanced technology and fancy books like people do in developed countries, but they are forward thinking and open to new concepts and ideas. They represent the growth of this country, and most importantly, the future.

The adventurous women - Heather, Julie & Meg

Heather, Julie and Meg are three American girls currently working at TWB.

Their hospitality, openness and inclusiveness made me feel at home during my stay in Kigali.

Heather and Julie both served in the Peace Corps in Rwanda for just over 2 years. Meg also has experience in the East Africa region, working in Uganda before joining TWB.

For them, living and working in Kigali is an adventurous and eye-opening experience, but also a tough one. Working for a young organization in a sensitive environment means there are frequent challenges. From visiting local institutions to resolve restriction issues, explaining the concept of healthy food to local customers, negotiating with bakery owners and fighting fiercely for women's rights, none of these tasks are easy to resolve. Yet they believe in the power of economic empowerment and education and so they are trying hard to drive changes day by day, step by step.

During my visit, I realized many other women like them come from all over the world and are determined to stay and work in Rwanda, rather than enjoy the more comfortable life in their own countries. Together they are creating values; they are making this country a better place. I admired their courage, faith and power.

Rwanda, a land of a thousand hills, a land of a thousand women.

Women in this country are different, in an array of aspects. But they are in many ways alike. I could feel this country’s history and the present embedded in them.

And from them, I could see the future of this country.

Social Justice. Everywhere. For All.

Sitting in Kigali, Rwanda reading news article after news article about the political turmoil back home across the entire United States, I am struck repeatedly with this question – “What am I doing here?”

What am I doing in Rwanda, when in my own country, our own women, our black population, our poor, and every other kind of minority population is in dire need of justice?

Of course, justice has always been needed in the United States for these populations. The history of injustice in America runs deep and wide. I didn’t begin work in East Africa with a disillusion that somehow foreign places need programs and efforts more than we do in the US. Yet, this is where I am now, struck hard by the immediacy and enormity of need back at home. To understand for myself why I am here and not at home, I have reflected on the road that brought me to this porch in Kigali right now – January of 2017.

First, I studied abroad in Tanzania my junior year of college. A full semester’s worth of tuition money was allocated towards this international experience, which greatly shaped who I am today and ignited the interest I already had in international work. Then, I served in the United States Peace Corps for two years, living in rural Rwanda. Again, a massive amount of money was spent so that I could be living and learning (and ideally in some ways being of use) in a foreign country and culture. Even just the name of it-- United States Peace Corps—it’s incredible to think about the mission behind this decades long service agency. It’s incredible to think that our government instituted this opportunity 50 years ago, with the following 3 goals:

1.     To help the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women. (Read: Capacity building, upon invitation)

2.     To help promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served. (Read: Give others a good/realistic impression of America)

3.     To help promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans. (Read: Give Americans a good/realistic impression of other peoples)

It’s arguably one of our best forms of foreign diplomacy, and one that truly encourages Americans to also learn about and learn from others, not just to push a political agenda. As Returned Peace Corps Volunteer and current California Representative, John Garamendi explains,

The ongoing story of the Peace Corps is a story of human capital. It is a story of our nation investing in our citizens who wish to serve others and do great things. It is also a story of individuals around the world taking advantage of the Peace Corps’ investment to achieve great things that they might not have believed imaginable. Through the Peace Corps, we are orienting hearts and minds toward the best of American values… The Peace Corps remains effective because of the American investment in human capital and the timeless ideals upon which it was founded: friendship, mutual understanding, collaboration and hard work.[1]

 But what about extending those same values on our own soil?

After serving in the Peace Corps, I joined AmeriCorps for a year of service in the US. Some describe AmeriCorps as “Peace Corps light” because you have the familiarity of working in your own language, culture, can still eat your favorite foods etc., but I would not describe the experience I had as “light” anything.

The girls I worked with at Florence Crittenton High School in Denver, CO represent many of the minority populations that most need justice and services in the US today. My students were majority Hispanic or Latina (documented and undocumented) or black, young girls aged 14-21, pregnant/parenting moms who largely survived on SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly Food Stamps), Medicaid and TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). These young women were faced with the daily struggles of trying to provide for their babies, often without the help of the boy or man who impregnated them to begin with, and often without family support. They were trying to get a high school diploma, feed, clothe and provide health care for themselves and their children, and stand up against a society that discredited them for becoming teen moms. They suffered from depression, anxiety, and anger. Some were suicidal. Some were homeless. Some were abused. All of their lives were hard.

Florence Crittenton (“Flo Crit”) is one of their only realistic options for finishing school while they go through pregnancy and early motherhood. Flo Crit provides a holistic set of services including on-site day care, an Early Childhood Learning center, an on-site healthcare facility, high school courses for diploma, and mental health services including a social worker, psychologist, and counselors. Without these services, partially funded by the city of Denver tax payer dollars and partially by non-profit fundraising, continuing their education was next to impossible.

My AmeriCorps service highlighted to an even greater extent what I already knew—The United States of America needs “aid services” just as much as those in developing nations. Americans, immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers living peacefully on US soil need all the same opportunities, freedom and access that we so often seek to provide to people beyond our borders. 

Following my year with AmeriCorps, I made a (ridiculously) hard decision to return to East Africa, developing and growing The Women’s Bakery with my dear friend Markey Culver. In large part, the decision was hard because I absolutely loved and believed in the work I was doing at Flo Crit. I had deeply experienced the needs that exist right at home, and was reluctant to disrupt those ties, the relationships I had built with students and families, only to uproot again and begin anew half way across the world.

One of the things that did compel me though (aside from the obvious chance to co-found a social enterprise and ideally build a business that will positively impact thousands or hey, millions) was that the goal was the same. I was still going to be working to provide people, women especially, with opportunities for education, access, and freedom. Basic human rights. And this is where I see the huge need for all of us, across the globe, to remember that we are all essentially the same. Whether I am working with Americans or Rwandans, at home or abroad, I am truly just working on behalf of humans. Sometimes our ties to nationality, race, religion, etc. drag us down because they cause us to be less inclusive, less accepting, and less tolerant of what is outside of those defined categories.

As I sit here thousands of miles away from a heightened need in the US, I remind myself that even though I am not there fighting the current battle on the ground, it does not diminish the overall battle I, and so many others, are fighting for social justice across the entire world.

What it comes down to is this: no one should be denied the opportunity to pursue a safe and healthy life, the opportunity to be educated, the opportunity to pursue their dreams, the freedom to voice their opinions, or the chance to seek safety based on their skin color, religion, sexual orientation, economic status, place of birth, or nationality.

We are all humans, and we should all be treated and treat each other as such.

If we cannot at least agree on that, then we are not human ourselves.

[1] http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/311157-the-peace-corps-americas-best-foreign-policy-too

So, Tell Me More

Last week, two TWB staff and Global Health Corps (GHC) alums, Aime and Meg, attended an East Africa GHC leadership summit in Nyamata, Rwanda to reconnect and share experiences with other co-fellows and staff from different parts of the world.

It was an opportunity for alums to share their achievements since they completed the GHC program. In doing so, everyone had to introduce themselves, where they were placed, their role during their fellowship year and what they are doing after the fellowship. 

When I (Aime) said that I work at The Women’s Bakery, another GHC alum approached me and said, “You work with The Women’s Bakery, so tell me more.”

This is a great inquiry that I always like to answer. It is an opportunity to showcase the uniqueness of The Women’s Bakery and what drives us in what we do.  We are promoting nutrition education, health and business education and above all we are availing locally sourced, nutritious and affordable breads.

This fellow continued, “So tell me more, how do you measure the impact?” 

An even greater question!

From the baseline surveys taken before training begins we learned that our trainee women/men couldn’t afford the health insurance coverage for the whole family or could only afford to cover the family members most vulnerable to sicknesses, like kids or pregnant mothers.

But, from our follow-up surveys taken 6 months after the conclusion of training, we can see that the training graduates who chose to work in bakeries are able to cover their health insurance, send kids to school and cover the basic needs.

That’s the impact.

“There is more to tell, come learn the Power of Bread!”

Let’s invest in education for a bright future!

Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world.

The Women’s Bakery uses education as a tool to empower women and to help them to become active citizens in the community.

Through our training program, women get knowledge on how to start successful businesses, mostly by focusing on a bakeries. We have trained different women’s groups throughout Rwanda, including Rutsiro, Nyagatare, Remera and Gasabo.

One of the groups is called Togetherness Cooperative, and they are soon launching their bakery in Ndera Sector, about 30 minutes east of Kigali. Donathile, one of the trainees, said that she considers this training as a lifetime opportunity, and she believes this will help her to change her life status from being temporarily employed to a person with permanent employment.

She says“if you educate a woman it means you educate a whole community.” This week, TWB is demonstrating just that through Jeanne D’Arc, a graduate from the first TWB training group in Rwanda.

Jeanne D’Arc is now facilitating TWB in baking sessions and in marketing breads in the neighborhood community with the current Ndera trainee group. Though the bakery in Ndera has yet to open, many people are already coming to buy and taste the breads. Jeanne D’Arc is helping trainees to improve their sales pitches and boost-up their confidence in selling.  

This is a great achievement we have in TWB, we don’t have to look for someone outside of our network to teach these skills- women already trained are the ones who are teaching others.

Together we can go very far. We believe in women’s potential. Women can change the world. 

TWB Team Retreat

TWB has many champions – our trained women, our donors, our partners, our volunteers, our team. While I get to interface with all of our champions, I had the opportunity to be with our senior staff on our team retreat in Colorado last week.

To say our team is uniquely committed would be a gross understatement. Our team is the most fiercely dedicated, uniquely qualified, courageously enduring, and compassionately driven team I have met. It is a privilege to work with a team of this caliber – and to build and shape TWB with them.

Their commitment to TWB has a kind of JFK “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” tenor to it. I was amazed, and humbled, by it. This was certainly not the first time I’ve felt both awe and gratitude for this team, but it certainly was intensified by being in person with them.

We discussed everything – from gas reimbursement policies, to grand visions for US expansion. We mapped out in detail our plans for 2017, yet dreamed well beyond. We revised plans and refined methods and solidified our priorities.

At our core and in our services, we are women-centric. We strive to provide women with:

1. An educational foundation
2. Sustainable and gainful employment 
3. Opportunities for improved health

Number three has a subtext that applies to our individual bakeries – TWB bakeries will provide nutritious options to a community that otherwise would not exist.

Comprehensively, The Women’s Bakery, we confirmed, exists to provide women an educational foundation for their sustainable and gainful employment, which can result in opportunities for improved health.

While we achieved many tasks, substantiating these priorities was among our most important. These priorities are our why. They serve as both our guiding principles and long term goals.

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we have revised our 2017 goals in Rwanda – we will dive deep into the operations of our individual bakeries, analyzing their breakeven and profit horizons. We will also test our markets, listening more intently to our customers – what do community members desire and value in their bread? We presume it to be nutrition, but it may be cleanliness, or even technology (that is, bakery machinery). We will maintain our emphasis on nutrition, but we may approach it differently and in accordance with customers’ desires.  

We are excited – trepidatious, yes – but excited about our US expansion and the possibilities for TWB therein. Our priorities will remain the same with our US target populations, currently refugee and immigrant women, but our mediums and methods may vary dramatically (and excitingly).

I am continuously awed by my team. Here’s to building TWB and changing the world, one piece of bread at a time. 

Looking Ahead

2016 has been a year of growth for TWB. Our model has evolved and grown in the last year, and while it still resembles the original concept, it is far more robust and professional. We designed TWB to be a social enterprise – a baking educational service for hire in Rwanda. We manage nearly every aspect of the startup, launch, and operation of our bakeries in Rwanda. Because of the drive and intellect of our team, we have become experts in this field and our services are being sought after by large organizations, companies, and enterprising individuals.

Building on this momentum, 2017 will be a year of analysis. We are so close to solidifying our model. This may sound strange because we’ve been operable for two years, but like most startups, TWB’s model has gone through innumerable iterations. It’s like an experiment – you have an end goal (or multiple end goals), and you’re trying to find the correct, most efficient, most easily replicable means to achieve that goal. That’s where TWB is right now. We have most of our end goals in sight, and now is the time to test different means for how best to achieve those end goals.

A singular goal for 2017, from which our other goals stem, is to build lasting bakeries. As Julie Greene, TWB’s Co-Founder/Co-Director points out, “profitability means sustainability,” and I agree. We strive to code sustainability into every piece of our model, but we’re learning that sustainability tends to be a “product of,” not a “precursor for.” That is, critical thinking is a product of training and practice. And sustainable bakeries are (most often) a product of profitability.

So how do we do that? How do we ensure that each bakery we build or help to launch will be profitable without TWB staff there every day of operation for an indefinite period of time? Good question! That’s what we will spend most of 2017 answering. We’re close – we have robust projections and hypotheses for bakeries’ profitability, but 2017 will be the year to test these operational variations.  

Why do sustainable bakeries matter? This question contains multiple answers and illuminates many of our other end goals. Sustainable bakeries provide a group of women with consistent and growing incomes. That’s job security. And it’s also opportunity. Women can rely on their work at the bakeries and choose where, when, and how to invest their earnings. Sustainable bakeries provide suppliers (farmers) and buyers (shop-keepers) consistent business. That’s micro-economic activity that can self-improve and correct. Sustainable bakeries also provide community members consistent access to nutritious bread. That’s Good business.

The ancillary benefits that radiate from sustainable bakeries are motivating (to say the least) and conclusive. They’re what make TWB’s model not only plausible, but powerful. Powerful because we are using business – bakeries – as a medium to achieve multiple grades of social good. It’s like a chain reaction: by building a bakery that is profitable, we help to create a system that lasts as long as the women work and works on behalf of a community’s well-being.

Thus, 2017 will be the year to analyze and perfect the profitability of our bakeries. We will do so by taking a deep dive into our model – testing various aspects, building on what works, and boldly tossing what doesn’t. Our long-term goal is still scale – 100 more women trained and 10 bakeries in Rwanda – but to achieve sustainable scale (and real impact), we will first focus on profit. 

The Power of Two

TWB is the idea of two. The two founders, Markey and Julie, started the company and conducted the very first trainings in both Tanzania and Rwanda, beginning in 2015. As the company grew and more organizations got interested in our services, there was a need to hire another training facilitator to help me execute our training package.

I have been the first facilitator to join and run TWB trainings in Kigali and outside of Kigali. In September 2016, Denyse was hired as a training facilitator to work closely with me. We trained together in Bumba for the months of September and October. This November, we started a new training in the outskirts of Kigali, in a neighborhood called Ndera.

It was a very smooth training in Bumba when Denyse and I were training together.  We would plan together, review the lessons together, and agree on who was teaching what, how and when.  During the actual training, one would be teaching while the other was circulating the classroom making sure the students were following the trainer’s instructions. Also, when the trainer forgot something, the other would remind them of it.

This is what I call the power of two.  When two people come together and work together great things can happen.

TWB is built on the spirit of working together as a team. Our team works together really well, and women beneficiaries work together in our respective bakeries because we believe in the power of two.

“Stronger together” -- Hillary Clinton, 2016

Marketing Challenges in Rwanda: Nutrition vs. Size

At our bakeries in Rwanda, TWB teaches women to bake and sell nutritious breads. These breads run the range from fortified white bread to highly nutritious, protein packed muffins and biscuits.

One of the regular hurdles we face in our work in Rwanda is mindset change.

We are trying, over time, to change people’s preferences so that they choose a nutritious bread over a fried bread. We are trying to convince people to choose quality over quantity. We are trying to get customers to try new kinds of breads and to develop a taste for unique options like carrot muffins, beet muffins, and peanut biscuits, along with the more standard breads and rolls they are already familiar with. Sometimes, it happens quickly and people love a product right away. Sometimes, it doesn’t happen at all.

We’ve all heard the sentiment that, “the customer is always right.” When you are in the food industry, this can quickly become overwhelming. Each customer has their own individual preference. Every day in our bakeries we hear reports of what customers are saying.

It’s good, it’s sweet, it’s too sweet, it’s too salty, there isn’t enough salt, it’s too soft, it’s too hard, I don’t like peanuts, the peanut biscuits are my favorite, it’s too small…The list goes on and on. The challenge is to sort through all of this feedback and decide what is consensus from most customers and what is limited to a few individual’s opinions.

From this, we revise and adjust. Do we increase the sugar content a little? Can we increase the size without losing too much profit?

And this is where TWB also has to regularly challenge our own mindsets.

Though one of our goals as an organization is to improve community access to nutritious products, and thereby improve community nutrition, we are often challenged by the local preferences and standards: large size over nutritional value, different taste palates, incredibly low cost bread from competition using low quality ingredients. From our standpoint, it may seem like a simple choice to choose the higher quality, more nutritious bread that is still the same price as the other things on the market, even if it is a little smaller.

As we market to the bottom of the pyramid, however, we need to take all of the local preferences and standards very seriously. If people prioritize size, regardless of nutritional value, we need to understand why. We need to understand why our rationale of nutritional value isn’t enough, by itself, to convince most potential customers to buy something that is smaller than what they are used to.

As part of our team wraps up an Acumen Course called Marketing to the Bottom of the Pyramid, we hope to increase our understanding of our target customers, and learn how to best market our products to them in a way that resonates and turns potential buyers into regular buyers of our quality, nutritious breads. 

Bread in the Hills

As the first TWB Rwanda training group continues to learn and grow the business in Kigali, our team has been planning for our next training cohort in Rutsiro District, a cool four hour drive from Kigali. Set atop high terraced hills and overlooking all of Lake Kivu, the training site is stunning. Yet contrasted with this beauty, the district is cited as having the highest malnutrition rates in Rwanda.  Though the area, like all of Rwanda, is heavily farmed, most of the crops lack vital micro-nutrients, and meals tend to be made up primarily of foods such as potatoes and cassava.

This is exactly what inspired myself and Markey during our Peace Corps days to start making nutritious foods at home with what was available at market--  from cabbage and carrot salads to peanut flour fortified banana breads to our own peanut butter and fresh rosemary loafs. The ingredients exist locally, but the education surrounding a nutritive meal and balanced diet often does not.

Located on the western edge of Rwanda, this will be TWB’s most rural site to date, and will also be our largest collaborative training effort yet. TWB will focus particularly on delivering our nutrition curriculum along with bread baking and fortified recipe development using local crops, while area based organizations and the current Peace Corps Volunteer at site will continue to deliver life skills, business education, and financial literacy courses to the 18-woman co-op. By expanding throughout both urban and rural areas in Rwanda, we aim to tackle malnutrition and bolster economic opportunity in a very real way. 

Carrot Bread...Really?!

Two weeks ago, TWB opened a bakery in Remera, Nyabisindu, a very trafficked area in Kigali, where many people depend on daily contracted work for income. Moreover, the diet in this area typically encompasses chapatti and white breads that have a lot of sugar and artificial butter, like most bread products on the market.

The TWB bakers are doing a great job of explaining the unique, nutritional value of our breads. This week, Jean de Dieu, a motorcycle taxi driver, came to the bakery and asked, “What kind of bread is this?” TWB graduate, Liziki replied, “It’s carrot bread.” Jean de Dieu asked again with so much surprise, ”Carrot bread!?! Carrot bread?! Really, how is that possible?”

TWB is actively working to introduce a new product that people are not yet used to. Our breads are unique and nutritive. When customers enter our bakery and we explain that our breads are made from carrots or bananas, just like Jean de Dieu, they ask us how it is possible to make bread from carrots, which many are familiar with as an ingredient for a sauce. 

After we explain to them the nutritive value they have; they taste them, and prefer them over the other types of breads they are used to. Now, that's bread power. 

Yvonne's Dreams

Even though I have chosen my course of study, I still often feel like I’m looking for that special purpose in life. Am I trying too hard? When I started thinking about the approach I wanted to use to figure out what I want out of life, it made so much sense. I needed to find an organization to work for that was doing something I am passionate about.

Now, I am very happy because I am working with TWB to enable women entrepreneurs to strengthen their ability to be independent in terms of finance and health.

My dream has always been about contributing to the economy of my country by working from the bottom up. In the three months I have spent working with TWB I have learned how to bake different breads, vanilla cake, chocolate cake, chapatti and sambusa. I am learning a lot about how to prepare and to bake delicious and healthful bread and cakes. In addition to baking I have already learned a lot about administration, working in a team, and finance, and I think that in the coming months I will learn even more!

Thanks to Julie, Meg and Aime, and all of the women at The Women’s Bakery!