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Microenterprise, an alternative culture Kigali, July 2005 – From the outside, it looks like a little house by the side of the road, like so many others, except for the sign painted over the entrance that reads Umubano Restaurant. A restaurant it is not, however, much less a house like any other. A little notice board indicates its real function: Bistrot Chez Bizarete, selling banana wine and passion fruit juice. We are in Rwanda, in the Remira area, district of Bugarura, in the heart of Ruhengeri Province. Vicentie Bizarete is a woman with an open gaze and confident gestures whose warm welcome contrasts with the spartan decor inside the house. In the main room, there is only a small shelf serving as a display case for bottles and a long table flanked by two benches. The walls are torn open where electric cables once passed through them. Now there is no electric power and the cables have been taken away for another use. In the only adjacent room, wine is fermenting in barrels lined up on the floor. Despite its plainness, Chez Bizarete is one of the most popular locations in the district, especially on Saturday afternoon and Sunday, when office workers and artisans from across the way come to relax after a long week’s work. Policemen, soldiers, teachers and health workers all come to sip banana wine and pass the time of day. Her secret: originality Project officers analysed her needs and suggested a training course and study trips, and together they came up with a business plan. "The course taught me to make banana wine and passion fruit juice," she recalls. "I also learned how to make papaya and strawberry jam, and now I sell them at my store. All my products have a label that I designed and had printed," she adds proudly, showing off the labels. "I learned that at the course, too." Today, she is the only banana wine producer in her district and has captured the entire local market. She also exports to three other districts. With more than 60 per cent of her production sold outside the district, the local market accounts for less than 40 per cent of her earnings. Simply by applying the production techniques she learned in training, Vicentie Bizarete was able to generate a profit, which she immediately reinvested in the business. Today she owns a banana grove, which supplies her with raw materials, and two cows, which supply the fertilizer. As for electric power, she doesn’t worry about it. "When she needs to use the mixer, she comes to my place next door," says her neighbour, the only customer at this late hour of the morning. But without a refrigerator, diluted juice does not keep long, two months at most. "I want to take a course to learn how to make concentrated juice, which can be stored for about a year," she says. Next year, she plans to have a more visible sign made for her business, without the "restaurant" description. First of all, though, she needs to pay her daughter’s high school tuition fees.
Meeting demand The success of the project, now in its second phase, can be largely attributed to its participatory approach. The entrepreneurs themselves decide which activities and occupations to finance. The possibilities are wide-ranging: shoemaker, weaver, dressmaker, cabinetmaker, artisan and baker are just some of the options. Then it is up to the associations and federations to make decisions, evaluating each application and making sure that the enterprises are sufficiently diversified. These organizations, whose members are local entrepreneurs, also oversee microfinance institutions supported by the project and approve loans granted to entrepreneurs.
Learning by travelling Pierre Célestin Nsengiyaremye, who started out in 2000 with a single sewing machine and a stand at the bazaar, is among those who have used the project opportunities to full advantage. In just five years, his sales have increased 20 times. "I opened two workshops and bought 20 new machines," he says, on a visit to the premises where his 12 employees are working busily. "The project sent me on study trips, and I made a lot of commercial contacts in provinces like Byumba and Umutara, where garment-making is not very well developed." Pierre Célestin Nsengiyaremye, who started out with virtually nothing, is today the President of the Ruhengeri Artisans Federation. He offers training in garment-making and takes in participants from the study trips made available under the project.
Taking over Source: IFAD |
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