COFFEE PEOPLE WITH UNIQUE STORIES
MARIE LAETITIA KAYITESIRE | RWANDA
“My advice for women entrepreneurs is to be committed. To think big, to like what you do. As women, we have to work hard. It’s our nature to think on the community.”
JEANNE MUHAYIMANA | RWANDA
“Before I joined the cooperative, I couldn't stand in front of people like this to express myself, but now I can. Today our husbands respect us because we bring money to the household and the cooperative purchases health insurance for all family members.”
GODELIVE NYINAWINGENZI | RWANDA
“We now work as a team to send our children to school, I can buy a pen for my child without needing to ask my husband. The cooperative has empowered me I no longer ask my husband to buy me a kitenge (dress material) as I can now buy it myself.”
CHRISTINE MUHAWENIMANA | RWANDA
“We started this cooperative because of the poverty issues we had in our households. Especially here, no woman would touch money and few would leave the house.”
FELISTA YAMURAGIYE | RWANDA
“In order to keep developing, we used the money that we have saved in the cooperative to buy this house. When we bought it, it was run down and unpainted. We renovated the house and now we rent it. The money generated by the rent, is taken back into the cooperative and can be borrowed by any member who needs a loan. This supports our members to thrive.”
ALPHONSINE NSHIMIRIMANA | BURUNDI
“I managed as well to build a new house knowing that my old one was about to collapse – all thanks to the income made out of coffee and the profits gained from the VSLAs.”