Bread Knowledge

As I reflect on my last three years helping to build The Women’s Bakery operations in Rwanda, I have been thinking about the knowledge I have gained and the lessons I have learned.

I know that this knowledge will only be useful to the business if I can successfully transfer it to my colleagues As a result, I have begun to focus on training. My days are now filled with one-hour blocks to teach a variety of topics such as: how to process employee income and social security taxes, how to build pivot tables in excel, how to create a company policy, how to create employee contracts, and how to purchase and enroll employees in health insurance. I have always thought of myself as a horrible teacher. So, this process is teaching me yet another lesson – how to become a better teacher.

We have to acknowledge that a single task that may take us one hour might take five hours of training and countless follow-up questions before someone else may be able to master it. When we budget our time, we often fail to budget the appropriate amount of time it takes to actually train and pass off a single task. But, we have to. We have to invest in training our team members, especially in times of transition to ensure that operations can continue smoothly.

I am excited to pass on the knowledge I have of our operations to my colleagues and I am excited for the business growth that will follow.

I am confident that my colleagues will take what we have built and the lessons we have learned to build better systems and make more sound decisions that will make the business grow bigger and stronger than we ever could have imagined when we started.

This is bread knowledge; this is #breadpower.

Education & Nutrition are the Keys to Life

The Women’s Bakery (TWB) is a social enterprise that empowers women through education and business. A key component of our work is providing opportunities for knowledge gain, especially around core topics like health and nutrition. However, advocating for nutrition opportunities within the home and the community is a process.

TWB first promotes nutrition by teaching women in Rwanda about the value of the using natural ingredients, such as carrot, pumpkin, and banana. Ultimately, these ingredients are sourced in our bread products so that the community-at-large can access them.

TWB also aims to address malnutrition through our Nutrition Extension Program, where women can receive additional trainings on specialty health topics, like breastfeeding or child development. TWB assesses the need for health education by conducting surveys and data follow-ups in the sites where we have worked. If there are gaps in knowledge, topics, or nutrition-specific issues, we can work to integrate those ideas into the curriculum.

Through reception of feedback we have been able to understand that whenever a woman is educated, then the whole family has the potential to receive this education, too.

The idea of a country without high rates of malnutrition is desirable for us and this is what we are constantly striving for.

We will keep on educating women so that families can be educated.  We will keep nutrition at the core of what we do so that through education and nutrition, healthy opportunities can abound.

That’s bread power.

A Proud Walk

As the women from TWB's Remera Bakery walked up the hill from our old location, I could not help but to notice the sense of pride among them. Walking together, I heard small whispering voices “we did it, way to go.”

We all experience change in our lives and every time something positive happens in our lives we feel optimistic and hopeful. Small changes could be a pair of new shoes, a nice meal, a new make up set, or even a new batch of bread! However, when it comes to a start-up business, ALL positive change makes a difference - no matter how small it seems.

The Women's Bakery has been experiencing a number of positive changes, and this feels the biggest right now. Shifting the former bakery space to our new, beautiful flagship location has been a much anticipated solution, not only to the management of TWB, but also to the women that work at the TWB Bakery in Remera.

TWB has secured a new bakery space to expand production and capacity for our new flagship, The Women's Bakery Kigali. This is a big step for growth and one of great excitement as we consider the new possibilities for operational growth as the way to bakery profitability.

The walk from the former bakery space (up the hill) to the new flagship space took about 30 minutes. The metaphor of walking up was not lost on us, as it signaled where we have come from - and where we are going. 

The women arrived to the gate of the new flagship, curious to see what was inside, and where they would continue to bake, sell, and provide nutritious, affordable breads for the community. Once the gate was opened, they had the opportunity to look around, to check out the new space, and to envision the new future of The Women's Bakery. 

“ Then… now we are just getting started,” one of the women said as she reflected on how far TWB has come. Indeed, we are just getting started. 

This is #breadpower. 

The Power of Bread Gives Back Life to Women

The Women’s Bakery provides social and economic opportunities for women by training them to build, operate, manage and sustain businesses. This helps the Rwandese women to develop their living standards in all aspects.

As the Monitoring & Evaluation Coordinator, it is my job to check in with our women and understand their experience so we can better inform how we do what we do.

Recently, I had the opportunity of visiting the women who are working with at TWB's Remera branch. A large portion of the day was spent receiving feedback and insights from the women.

As a group, they are loving their time at TWB and notably, have been seeing the advantage of working as a team. On an individual level, most of the women shared that they used to eat once per day and they did not have a job, however, now they have jobs and are able to feed themselves and their families. Their kids are now in school and they feed them nutritious food, too.

One of our long-time TWB bakers noted that working at TWB has enabled her to, “pay for my rent and have hope for the better future.” Upon reflection, another baker shared that “we have people who always think about us…this encourages us to work hard for a better future.”

Lastly, one of the more telling anecdotal points from a TWB baker was that, “I love TWB they took me from tough situation someone like me who doesn’t know how to read and write but still give the opportunity to work with them…that shows me how much they value us.”

Indeed, the power of bread gives back life because it not only enables job and community nutrition, but the opportunities for improved livelihoods. That’s bread power.

Working for Future Generations in Rwanda

“If you catch time sleeping, don’t hesitate to steal it” Rwandan Proverb

How one leads has a lot to do with how one communicates. In a hierarchical organization, the communication system is organized mostly vertically.

So is leadership, and this what makes a difference at TWB. 

We give access to nutritious and healthy snacks and create opportunity for baking and vocational education - especially for women and girls. This is important because even now, only 14% of girls complete secondary school in Rwanda. By developing alternative opportunties for education, we are instilling a new way to access autonomy and choice. 

Marginalized communities around the world must not become charity consumers of solutions imagined and created elsewhere, but be creators of knowledge and opportunities that they and others, own the process of, and use to address their community challenges.

We all will be richer if we partake in the diversity of human experience and wisdom across the globe, if we meet the challenge of reaching out and including all, if we will have a world where human beings will enjoy dignity, prosperity, equity, and justice.

TWB women are thoroughly empowered to ensure that we are on the right track to accomplish this mission. We have strong, educated, entrepreneurial women. We are not looking back, because that’s is not where we are going, nor are our women. We owe it to the next generations.

At some extent, one can ask, how far does TWB go in impacting lives? Just to the women they support?

Well, our work is beyond just the women, because they have families, and children that depend on their earnings from TWB for school fees, medical insurance, food, and beyond. The communities we work within are also impacted, as we are sparking micro-economies that rely on locally-sourced materials for locally-produced goods. 

In Rwanda, we also say, "in every seed, there is hope to grow a forest." I am grateful to be working with TWB and to grow this vision and work - together. 

Bread Power! Awouwou!

TWB's Next Big Ad(venture)

by: McKenna Pullen, U.S. Programs Intern

I was full of emotions on the first day of my internship with The Women’s Bakery. I felt so fortunate to have gotten the opportunity to work with TWB, but, admittedly I knew little about how the team operated. Like most organizations, TWB looked amazing on paper, but what would it be like to work there?

Within a few minutes of beginning orientation, I knew that this place was even better than I could have imagined. Not only are these women doing incredible work, they are also extremely supportive, encouraging, and the one of the most hard-working groups I’ve had the pleasure of working alongside.

As the U.S. Programs Intern, my position exists to help adapt TWB’s East Africa model for refugee and immigrant women in Denver, Colorado. Through this position I’ve gotten to know how TWB functions on multiple levels. I haven’t had the opportunity to visit any of the bakeries (yet!), but it’s easy to see why this program is so successful, merely from reading reports about outcomes. I love being a part of an organization that fundamentally believes in the power of women, community, and of course, baking. Working to develop programs in Denver has also enabled me to see my own community in a new light, and begin focusing on the strengths and assets of individuals.

TWB inspires hope wherever they go. I am excited to be a part of that energy and positive momentum in Denver. Our program will provide opportunities for women to thrive in the United States, learning tangible, marketable skills, while building and strengthening essential social networks.

TWB will foster a nurturing and supportive environment, creating space for women to live healthy, successful lives. I know it will have a profound impact on the lives of all women who enter future training programs. I am sincerely grateful for the opportunity to work with TWB, and so proud of the work they already do. 

Cooperative Women

A cooperative, in the traditional sense, is nothing other than people with common goals, with a certain amount of resources, coming together to form and develop a working synergy so those goals can be achieved.

Gathering together collectively in this manner is important to the work of The Women’s Bakery due to the fact that it is not easy to collaborate, grow, and develop in isolation or at the individual level.

At the bakery, women’s capabilities and powers are raised to grow and work together so credibility of our product and business is built.

Though, the cooperative model is something that our groups of women are used to – developing this into a business model takes time, but it’s happening. My internship was largely about marketing, however, I was able to continue to learn and experience the business model first-hand. 

With various capacities, specifically at the Remera Bakery, the women are creating competitive advantages to the working environment that allow for greater efficiency and stream-lined daily operations. These are workflows that groups of women are trained in, and then experience further development upon extending time within the bakery.

My time with TWB has been full of joy, learning, and encouragement with the TWB team and women within the bakery. There are a lot of challenges when it comes to introducing a new product to customers, which was the focus of my internship, but what is amazing is that all our women have faced it and remained persistent in any difficulty faced. I have learned about this kind of business acumen and how to work together cooperatively, and still in the business context.

This is in fact, cooperation, and real bread power.

Together we rise.

Bread & Humanity

Bread and Humanity

Bread, in all its various forms, is the most widely consumed food in the world. Not only is it an important source of carbohydrates, it’s also portable and compact, which helps to explain why it has been an integral part of diet for thousands of years.

In the Rwandan traditional meal, bread was largely unknown. Just like in many parts of Africa, a typical Rwandan meal is potatoes, beans, and ugali. Breakfast for many in Rwanda is something that was never given much importance.

But, again, bread is everywhere: in our narratives, stories, cultures, and histories.

When TWB first began work in Rwanda, people were asking “What is this, how can you make a bread from carrot or banana?” However, the more our breads are found on the market and people continue to try them, the better they understand how good and nutritive they are.

For those who read the Bible, a common story is about when the Israelites left Egypt to go to Canaan. On their way, they got hungry and asked Moses what to eat. Moses asked God for food. God gave them “manna.” When they saw the manna for the first time, they asked, “What is this?” Eventually, they learned that manna could provide them all the sustenance they needed. Bread was the answer.

The first incidence of bread is assumed to be over 6,000 years ago in Egypt, when naturally occurring yeast accidently mixed with porridge and it rose. At The Women’s Bakery, we think this might have been the best accident ever.

Considering the ancient tradition of bread, it’s important to understand the tradition of how humanity first used the basic ingredients to create a delicious, sustaining, pervasive product-- bread.

A great resource for understanding the history and influences of bread is through a series called “Cooked” on Netflix. For the episode titled “Air” author and food expert, Michael Pollan outlines the intricacies and secrets of bread. You can learn more about this documentary here.

Fun facts abound, like how there are 550 million acres of wheat planted around the world, or alternatively, how bread is sacred in some cultures. In Morocco, for example, it is taboo to cut bread with a knife because it’s considered “too violent.” 

Leavening, refined flour, and mechanized slicing helped develop the bread product further as the world has both increased in civilization and mechanized in various parts of the globe. Without leavening, bread is simply flatbread and remains the first iteration of bread to occur: think pitas or tortillas. Grains (to make flour) were originally grounded by rocks, refined in 800 BC by Mesopotamians, using two circular stones stacked on one another: think milling. Slicing used to occur within the home, but around the world, ciabatta and French breads are now pre-sliced– to accompany a warm cup of coffee or tea.

You can get sliced bread in Rwanda now, too. With coffee, or tea, per your liking. Visit us in Remera, Ndera, or Bumba to get a taste. You won’t be sorry. Bread is essential, delicious, and innate to our humanity.

Woah, that’s real #breadpower.

#eatbreadwithtwb #visitus #womensbakery

Women Can!

As in many other countries, Rwanda celebrated International Women’s Day on March 8th.

This year’s theme was “Women in the Changing World of Work”.

The current workplace (globally) is changing each day, with significant implications for women. If they don’t have potential support they will be staying behind men, especially in job markets. Many women are in the informal economy and domestic work, and are concentrated in lower-paid, lower-skill occupations with little or no social protection.

The Women’s Bakery is playing a vital role in creating jobs opportunities for women and empowering them, especially for those who are from underprivileged families. At TWB, these trained women get permanent jobs and participate in family and country development.

Women can change the world once they have means. Women can do everything men can do. Women have changed their mindset and are keen to contribute to development and making changes in their communities.  

At TWB we have started inspiring other women by using a bike in our sales; a woman will be riding and selling along the way.

In Rwanda, riding bikes is traditionally only done by boys and men, due to stereotypes and myths about the effects bicycle riding has on a girl’s virginity or a woman’s sex drive.

We believe that teaching women to ride bikes and to use them for the development of their business will empower other women who are still shy to try to do something different. We believe in women’s capabilities. We believe in empowerment for all. 

#breadpower #womencan #womensempowerment

Everyone Is A Teacher

It is always interesting to me, I think, how places are full of senses that are undeniably familiar and unchanging. Rwanda, for example, consistently smells and feels the same to me; the scent of burning wood and the heaviness of the air under the sun conjure memories, experiences, and the strange familiarity I have with Rwanda.

Last month, I exited a plane that ventured all the way from Amsterdam to Kigali, along with TWB’s Co-Founder & COO, Julie Greene. I’ve known Julie a long time – back to our Peace Corps Rwanda days – and so it was nice to return to this country by her side. We managed to get our bags (most of them) and head back to our East Africa team’s home in Kigali. I recognized these smells, feelings, and the day-to-day life of Rwanda right away; it’s good to be back, I thought (albeit very tiredly).

I couldn’t wait to get in our bakeries and see the work that has evolved within our business in Rwanda.

I last spent time in Rwanda with The Women’s Bakery in the fall of 2015.

Back then, we were just launching our first formal Rwanda-based training with a group of 15 women. Since our initial start-up days, TWB has launched a small bakery in the city with this group, along with the numerous other projects we have started around the country – just to the East, in Ndera, and also out in the Western part of the country, in a community called Bumba. TWB has grown and scaled, and it’s been an indescribable opportunity to be a part of.

Most of this growth, however, has happened while I have been working on TWB stateside. While I have been sharing about our work, managing communications and awareness efforts, and working to launch our pilot programming in Denver, TWB has become a well-known organization in Rwanda. And, our Remera, Kigali bakery has also become recognized in the neighborhood community, known for our “good bread” and “friendly service,” per some of our regular customer base, of whom I have had the fortunate chance to talk with. Being back in Rwanda, and with our team, has built a quick and mighty respect for what we, and for what the women in our program, have built.

I’m in awe of the tenacity and commitment that this kind of work requires. Small business development is hard anywhere, but the women we work with are making it happen.

Most profoundly, on a recent morning of baking, I felt an immense wave of gratitude as Liziki, a long-time baker with us, taught me how to properly master our Tresse, Croissant, and Sandwich shapes for our yeast bread product line. Sure, I know how to bake carrot or beet bread like the back of my hand, but these are new innovations in our product line that I previously did not know how to bake. Like a student willing to learn anything, I asked questions and shaped the dough repetitively so I could, with time, acquire this technical skill. I love learning from our bakers in Kigali; it reminds me that we are all teachers, just as we are all learners.

The women in our Kigali Bakery (Remera) have an incredible work-flow and understanding of the ins-and-outs of making a bakery work. Always, there are improvements to make, but what I appreciate most, thus far on this visit, is realizing that when you trust knowledge to have the power it can hold, often, it works.

Education is powerful. Empowerment is when this kind of education has an application, purpose, and leverage for opportunity.

I will be with our Rwanda team for the next month and I’m genuinely, authentically jazzed to learn more. Really, that’s what it is all about. Bread power.

Bread, Hands & Flying Money!

This week, TWB is launching a new training to the East of our Kigali headquarters in an area called Ndera. As our team prepares for a new group of trainees, classroom sessions, and baking practice, we've reflected on the recent successes of our previous training group, in Western Rwanda. 

One of the trainees in the rural west noted, "Even here, we eat breads," and it couldn't be more true. 

Rutsiro District, the location of the training group, held a 3-day Expo in September and our team of TWB trainers and Mama Dunia co-op members (who had been in training for several weeks) rose to the challenge. Baking as many banana-peanut, carrot, and beet muffins as we could, we sold over 900 breads!

No matter how much we baked, we simply couldn't keep up with the demand! 

At the expo, people crowded around our stand by the dozens - bread and hands and money went flying! The response was overwhelmingly positive, despite these nutritious muffins being completely new and unfamiliar to the rural customers. 

At the end of the day, TWB & Mama Dunia came in an astounding 3rd place for the entire event. People's choice? Beet bread! 

Our model for providing urban and rural women with education, jobs, and community-wide access to affordable, nutritious breads is working, and we couldn't be more excited. As we continue to expand throughout Rwanda, the success of each previous bakery group will also enhance the success of those that follow. Our training program gets better with each delivery, our recipe collection expands, and our brand gains greater visibility and recognition. 

As we continue with the first week of training in Ndera, Eastern Rwanda, we will be applying everything we learned from the previous groups. Here's to another group of strong, powerful women who bake delicious bread! 

Together, women and men, we rise.

There are two questions I am always asked when I share that I work with The Women’s Bakery. Whether I am asked by friends, baristas, cyclists, strangers, or frankly, anyone who has ears to listen, these two questions remain constant.

“Where is your bakery?” and, “do you help only women?”

Quickly, I explain that TWB is a social enterprise with most of our work located in East Africa – including the bakeries that we help launch and oversee. This is usually followed by enthusiastic requests to have a bakery in the heart of Denver or another U.S. city. I smile and nod. “Someday, guys. Someday.”

When it comes to the question of gender, I emphasize that our work cannot, and should not be done in isolation. We are aptly named The Women’s Bakery with women as a focus because of the particular challenges women face globally, but we simultaneously believe that any investment in human development must involve everyone.

This year, we will have two trainings that include male participants. That’s a big deal. Working with men matters because promoting larger-level concepts of autonomy, or choice, or opportunity, has to be supported by the society-at-large.

Traditionally decision-making, authority, and control have often been yielded to men. As women enter the workforce, complete education, and make choices about the direction of their lives, power becomes more equitable. Men – and women- work together for the communities, families, and children they are looking to support. Equitable societies give voice to all – no matter what gender one has.

In the United States, when women were provided the right to vote in 1920, the process of acceptance and advocacy for civic equality was a movement propelled by both genders. Securing this victory didn’t happen overnight; it developed over time, with investment from all genders as a mutually beneficial change for our country.  

In baking bread, learning about nutritious food options, and building a locally-relevant bakery, men are needed because men are also part of the community.

When women and men are able to work side by side in a bakery, equality begins to take shape. Women – and men- are equally capable in kneading dough, in marketing products, and in tracking inventory. Identifying areas of gender inequity and previous assumptions based on gender, TWB actively is seeking to empower women – which in turn, empowers us all.  

Music & Bread: Reflections on 'Bread Beats' in Boulder

Earlier this month, TWB partnered with Emily Scott Robinson to promote our work in the Boulder, Colorado area. Our team facilitated a benefit concert at Shine Restaurant & Gathering Place, not far from the University of Colorado - Boulder campus. The evening provided a space to celebrate the achievements of TWB throughout the summer, and to also connect our work in East Africa to our supporters in the United States. Emily, an old friend of Markey Culver's from Furman College, willingly hosted the benefit concert because of her belief in women, education, and opportunity. 

Lorien Dancer, a JeffCo Open Secondary School student, has been interning with TWB as an advocate for our work at her school (since June 2016) and helped coordinate the fundraiser with Emily.

While reflecting on the evening, Lorien noted that, "...one of the major themes for this night was stories. Stories about The Women’s Bakery, stories about women, and stories that were created in the magical mind of the very talented musician, Emily Scott Robinson."

Lorien said, "there was a feel in the room of acceptance, warmth, joy and a comfort... Emily's voice was magical, her playing inspirational and her lyrics were like poetry. I can’t stop listening to her songs and I have no doubt that she and her music will go far!"

Indeed, it was a special night for everyone involved, and TWB would like to thank Emily, attendees, the Boulder community, and all the work of TWB interns & volunteers to make this work happen. The event involved other local artists (like Renee Saunders) and an opening show from Lindsay Kilpatrick, and so truly, it was a community effort. What better way to celebrate bread power?

Thank you all for being a part of our story - and for sharing it with others too. Let's continue to rise together!

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!

The More You Know

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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