Energized in Rwanda

Muraho! I must say it has been a whirlwind few months here on the Rwanda side; Indego has implemented many positive changes that will change the way things operate in country. Our in-country team has shifted and we have expanded our Hand-Up program by adding two more amazing interns, Theophile and Deo. Matt, Tom, and Ben’s visit here has re-energized the in-country team and provided new inspiration for the upcoming months. The women continue to grow everyday in their journey for independence. It is truly amazing to watch the women get so energized working together at Cocoki and Covanya, especially when new orders come in (or as the women ask me “When will we get our commands?”). Even more amazing is watching the women at Cocoki use the six new machines Indego purchased with profits from Cocoki's handicrafts sales. These women are pros, precisely tuning each part of the machine, turning the wheels, and manoeuvring the pulleys that make these mechanical machines move. They truly put me to shame as I struggle to open a can of tuna with a pocketknife. In no time, the machines were in use, the women perfectly sewing new products that hopefully will appear online soon. Until next time, Amohoro! (Peace)

- Megan

Computers at Cocoki!

Thanks to the generosity of the global law firm Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Indego Africa is proud to announce that Cocoki – its partner cooperative in Kicukiro, Rwanda – now has a fully operational computer center! The women were overjoyed, jockeying for position at the three stations to try their hand at a little word processing. Between the new computers and the six new sewing machines purchased with profits from handicraft sales, it was a great day for Cocoki!

Indego Africa would like to specially thank Orrick for its unprecedented support of Indego Africa’s mission. Since August 2007, Orrick has provided more than 2000 hours of pro bono advice to Indego Africa, donated a total of ten laptops (two full computer centers!), and is not only sponsoring my full-time employment through September 2010, but is also making it possible for a recent law school graduate to serve as an Orrick Fellow at Indego Africa for a year starting this fall. Time and again, Orrick has shown that it is uniquely committed to innovation, entrepreneurship, and creating positive social change in its local communities and the world.  From Indego Africa to Orrick: MURAKOZE! (thank you!).   

Matt, Ben, and the women of Covanya have some laughs after computer training (April 27, 2009)

Poor Property Rights Limit Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs the world over face a common constraint: how to get the credit they need to grow, or maintain, a business. Entrepreneurs in the developed world often make use of their home (if they own one) as collateral for a business loan. You borrow and secure the loan with the house; if you fail to repay the bank gets your real property. There's little problem in terms of male v. female borrowers in our part of the world. Women have good access to credit these days.

That's not how things are in Africa. In most cases, people just don't have titles to their homes--the government hasn't created a viable system to title individual property. In many other cases property is titled ONLY in the name of the "head of the household," who is most commonly considered to be a man. It's typically not possible for women who are married according to custom (i.e., not in a state-sanctioned civil ceremony) to jointly register the title to their home with their spouse. Married women must ask husbands for permission to use the house as collateral and this proves exceedingly difficult for most of them. And women whose husbands die face special, and heartbreaking, difficulties: they are often thrown out of their marital home by their husband's family. They face a stark choice: marry a brother-in-law or fend for themselves (and their children in most cases) somehow, somewhere.

The problems women face in Africa because they do not have secure property rights also seriously impact their ability to be successful entrepreneurs. Few women can rely on their house as collateral for a business loan. And, because so little moveable property in Africa is available for use as collateral, they can't use other things they may control, such as business inventory or cattle, to secure a loan. This all adds up to serious limitations on how far a successful woman can take her business. Microcredit is one option, but microcredit covers a surprisingly small percentage of the potential borrowers in Africa.

This story from the UN's news service, IRINNews, discusses some of the problems that women in Liberia are facing because of a difficult property environment: they do most of the market trading in the country but face legal restrictions to accessing credit PLUS social norms that make men hesitant to lend to them. Here's a social enterprising challenge: find a reliable and inexpensive way to get these women their titles as well as more access to credit!


- Karol

The Hands of Indego Africa

Over the past six months Indego Africa has placed two large handicraft orders with Coovamaya, a weaving cooperative of roughly 200 women located in Mayange, Rwanda (an inspiring town supported by the Millennium Village Project).  Their plateau baskets are beautifully made, and have undoubtedly added warmth to many of your homes.  One of Indego Africa's goals for this trip to Rwanda is to complete the second part of our innovative model and return 100% of the profits from their sales to the women of Coovamaya.  

But one of Indego Africa's main principles is that it should be the women -- not Indego Africa -- who decide how profits should be spent, and this past Wednesday we started the discussion.  Would they like management training?  Computer lessons?  Capital improvements?  After a fruitful discussion with Coovamaya's executive board, the women decided to start a microcredit fund, which will allow the cooperative to make small loans to its members with the goal of starting their own businesses.  We will surely keep you updated on this exciting news!

The Indego Africa team also spent time getting to know the women and gathering information for the upcoming Coovamaya page on our website.  While taking the women's photographs, I started to notice the incredible character of their hands.  In the end I found that these images convey the remarkable spirit and stories of these women almost as much as -- or even more than -- their portraits. Indeed, these beautiful hands are what drive the success of Indego Africa.  For a slideshow of the Hands of Indego Africa, please click HERE (for large versions) or see below.

- Ben

Taking Technology to People

The BBC has a fascinating story about how new technologies are helping to provide cost effective, accessible medical treatment to people in developing countries. The story focuses on Uganda and it describes how a British doctor and his team have created a community hospital that cares for tens of thousands of people, many of whom suffer from HIV/AIDS and related illnesses.

The hospital is near on the edge of the rain forest in an area without paved roads or public transporation. In the past, it took hours for patients to walk to the clinic for treatment. If they were able to travel they would arrive at a clinic that had limited capabilities to sample blood and provide patients with information about their levels of white blood cells -- important for HIV/AIDS patients. Monitoring patient's health was difficult which made it difficult to provide effective treatment.

So the doctor and his team adopted a different strategy. They get into a four-wheel drive community ambulance and take along a "completely mobile testing unit" to test and monitor their patients. The product the doctor takes along is called PointCare NOW. It's a small, portable machine that samples blood and provides some test results in as little as 8 minutes. It has specifically been designed to withstand high heat and to tolerate travel in tough conditions.

PointCare NOW is produced by Point Care Technologies. The company's strategy is to bring innovative technologies as close to the point-of-care of patients in the developing world as possible. This might mean informal settlements in urban areas or remote villages in rural locations. The focus is on developing affordable, labor-saving devices that have a long-shelf life and that provide a number of diagnostic functions--a wonderful example of social entrepreneurship.

Successfully meeting the substantial health care needs of the world's poor is an enormous challenge. Discovering a company that is helping to meet these needs is an unexpected surprise--an example of how some businesses are effectively serving the Bottom Billion.

- Karol

(photo copyrighted to BBC - "The hospital's community team takes HIV testing kits out to remote villages")

Rwanda Jobs

I just returned from two weeks in Rwanda working with the Indego team there. You might wonder just exactly what social enterprise on-the-ground job responsbilities actually entail. I guess the key word is "flexibility". Just some examples of a few of the actual jobs I helped out on:

1. Figuring out how to unblock a cell phone and install a local Rwanda SIM card so you can make and receive phone calls without incurring staggering costs.

2. Positioning my self as as to be able to stand in a tiny shower stall with no shower curtain and not completely flood your hotel room. (I must admit to a distinct lack of success in learning this technique. Just ask my roommate, Matt)

3. Inquiring about the life and problems of a nervous and agitated landlord for one of our coops (through a translator), and seeking a way to negotiate a settlement with her.

4. Climbing the stairs at the Ministry of Commerce to help them locate an Indego application that was temporarily misplaced during an office move.

5. Spending four hours at a bank and negotiating out of having to pay a huge fee to close an account that was never able to successfully function in the first place. All was amicably resolved and I made some new friends at the bank along the way.

6. Helping select cloth (bears or balloons?) for kids' pajamas, critiquing hemming techniques, figuring out how many centimeters in a yard of fabric, learning how to install a "grommet", and trying to explain to our coop members precisely what a yoga mat is used for (our new yoga bag looks terrific - now if I could only learn how to stand on my head in order to be able to use it).

7. Learning a lesson from the example of the officers and members of COCOKI on how to work together to resolve issues and arrive at innovative and wise decisions on location, developing the sewing skills of new members, and sharing new work. If I could only figure out how they are able to do it.

8. Explaining with some trepidation how things work in Rwanda to a group of first-time-in-Africa Indego volunteers, fully expecting them to recoil in shock and surprise; then discovering that they quickly and easily figured it out and fell in love with kids on the street and the women in the coops. Just another case of people relating to people irrespective of their backgrounds and experiences. Absolutely none of it due to anything that I said or did. The people of Rwanda made it all so easy.

The Women Meet the Website!

Matt and I found a great place to work here in Kigali when we're not in the field -- Blues Cafe -- with terrific wireless and edible lunch.  This afternoon we had a wonderful experience.  Jadot and Megan (Indego Africa's in-country employees) had picked up Jacqueline and Beatha -- two of the leaders at Cocoki -- to scout out prices and models for the sewing machine center we will be installing next Monday.  After the trip Megan and Jadot decided to bring the women by the cafe to surprise us.  This was the first opportunity any of the women we work with have had to see Indego Africa's website, and to say it was a special moment would be an understatement.  First, I must explain that (a) they have never seen a computer; (b) they have heard about, but never seen the "internet"; and (c) we have explained that we have a "website" and that this is how people in the U.S. buy their products but, as Jadot explained, they really had no idea what this actually meant or how it worked.  Well, they have now been officially introduced.  

We showed them everything.  Indego Africa's website, the whole Webstore, the Social Enterprising blog, and all of the pictures and video that I took at Cocoki last week.  As I described it all and Jadot translated, their expressions went from confusion to wonderment to excitement to hilarity, the cycle repeating with each new thing.  They particularly loved how their products are displayed and described on Indego Africa's Webstore and the comments customers had left for them.  They also LOVED the blog, which I described as a series of permanent "letters" to people who are interested in Indego Africa.  But my favorite moment was when we showed them the video footage on iMovie from last week.  As we all watched Beatha on her sewing machine, you could see her eyes widening with glee.  "This is me!?" she exclaimed in Kinyarwanda, and we all exploded into laughter.

- Ben

A Social Entrepreneur Is . . .

I was alerted to a useful page at the Times (the British Times) Online by one of my students, Ajay Menon.

The page links to a whole of host of articles about social enterprise including an article defining social enterprise (not an easy task), one about women involved in social enterpreneurship, another about a British program that's delivering surplus medical supplies to hospitals in Zimbabwe, and another about small programs focused on conservation and wildlife preservation. From the latter article, check out the amazing Arkive project by Wildscreen. It is an incredible multi-media collection (photos, video, fact files) about nature. VERY cool -- one great photo of a Namaqua Chameleon when I visited.

I was particularly interested to learn about the School for Social Entrepreneurs which has a number of campus throughout Great Britain and also in Australia. Founded in 1997, the school provides "training and opportunities to enable people to use their creative and entrepreneurial abilities more fully for social benefit." I expect to see more and more programs like this in the US and elsewhere.

Thanks to Ajay for pointing it out!

- Karol

Pong in Kigali!

It's not all work here in Rwanda. Just this weekend we had two wonderful dinners with our Rwandan friends and enjoyed some delicious traditional Rwandan cuisine (although the bugare was kind of like eating a mound of Play-Doh).

And, as many of you may know, I am just a bit crazy about ping pong.  One of my main goals for this trip was to find a place to play (I even brought my paddle).  I am happy to report that Matt and I discovered a fantastic venue - Le Cercle Sportif - with professional Joola tables.  I was happy.  The next step is to research tournament dates and times.

- Ben

Boots on the Ground in Rwanda

I've been in Rwanda for only two days, yet I could leave tomorrow and be ecstatic about the progress we've made in that time.  For example, it was a whirlwind of activity today at Cocoki! From 9am - 4pm we:

(1) Made an order for FOUR new products: wine bags, sports bags, yoga bags, and pajamas;

(2) Conducted interviews with fourteen new cooperative members;

(3) Negotiated a lease agreement for Cocoki's great new building;

(4) Conducted ad hoc English training (led by our awesome volunteers from Baton Rouge, LA);

(5) Performed a skit explaining how products make their way from the women's sure hands to your homes (written, produced, and acted by the Baton Rouge Quartet); 

(6) Showed the women repetitive stress injury exercises and yoga moves, which was a source of hilarity for everyone (also led by the Baton Rouge team); and

(7) Observed a Management Skills training program (where the women received their exam scores from the last class).

On a personal note, it has been absolutely fantastic to have the whole Indego Africa team together - me, Matt, Tom, Megan, Jadot and, of course, the women!

Not surprisingly, i've already taken 400 photographs.  A few choice selections:

Yeves, an intern from Orphans of Rwanda, prepares for his professorial duties.

The women at Cocoki take notes during management training.

An intense focus on sewing.

Umutoni-Zubeda, a child from Cocoki, 3 years old.

Donatille Mukandri, 30.

Strength Through Family

The strength and perseverence of Rwandans never ceases to amaze. I just arrived back from dinner with my good friend Carlos, whose Kinyarwandan name is Sebasaza ("wisdom" - there could never be a more apt choice), and my father. Carlos informed us about a societal innovation that simply floored me - a fitting complement with the genocide rememberance week currently taking place in Rwanda.

Following the 1994 genocide, there were many orphaned children. The oldest orphans in each family became immediately responsible for the care of their brothers and sisters, often with little or no income. To provide for themselves at university, these orphaned heads-of-household started up a network that acts as both a financial and social support system. The orphaned students established "artificial" family units among themselves and assigned each other roles - father, mother, brother, sister, aunt, uncle. Because the orphans had no parents of their own, these new family units - composed of the students' same-aged cohorts - sought to re-establish the traditional parental structure. So the "father" would be responsible for earning income and overseeing the grades of his "children". The "mother" would cook for everyone, etc.

It's a reminder that Rwanda will be re-built by those who have been left behind, including these selfless orphans. That being the case, I'm impressed by Rwanda's prospects as a nation.

- Matt

Rwanda: Moving Forward in Difficult Times

This month marks the 15th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide. During the intervening years much has changed in the country: the economy has literally risen from the ashes of war. The government has strengthened regional and international trade relations. Poverty rates have, until recently, been dropping. More young people are in school and at universities and they dream of a better future.

But, along with these positive change have come concerns--concerns over growing authoritarian tendencies of the government, limitations on press freedom, and intolerance of criticism, often labeled as anti-genocide ideology. These worries are real and they make political observers and potential investors nervous: authoritarian governments too often close the mouths of critics as well as the doors of opportunity.

In this article by The Economist, the author points out the important ties that exist between sustained economic growth and continuing peace. Excessive government control limits citizens' freedom; it also limits entrepreneurial exploration. Both are essential if the government wants to see more of its people flourish in ways that they find to be valuable. Rwandans in the public sector and in the private sector have worked hard to build a diversified marketplace for commerce, but flourishing requires more than economic success. Ultimately, the great post-genocide challenge may be building and supporting a marketplace of competing ideas.

- Karol

A hillside in Kigali, Rwanda.

“15 Years Later: The State of Rwandan Reconciliation”

Last Wednesday (April 1st) at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C., Indego Africa hosted “15 Years Later: The State of Rwandan Reconciliation,” a commemorative event intended to honor those impacted by the tragedy and recognize the progress that has been made since 1994.  It was a huge success!  The first part of the night – a panel discussion – provided a variety of important perspectives on today’s Rwanda, from the role of redemptive justice in fostering ethnic and political reconciliation to the importance of free trade and social enterprise in rebuilding a still fragile economy.  Special thank you to the wonderful panelists, including Karol Boudreaux, law and economics professor and lead researcher at Enterprise Africa!; Andrew Jones, Policy Director at CARE; Catherine Larson, author of the incredible book As We Forgive; Matthew Mitro, Founder & CEO of Indego Africa, and Augustin Mutemberezi, trade specialist at The Africa Trade Office.  The panel was masterfully moderated by Jackson Mvunganyi, Vice President of the Rwanda International Network Association (RINA) and co-host of Up Front on Voice of America radio.

The reception that followed, co-hosted by RINA and Indego Africa, provided an informal setting for guests to talk one-on-one with panelists and the many Rwandans present.  Munching on food donated by some of Washington’s favorite restaurants, those present shared stories about Rwanda and thoughts on its future. Some of the guests in attendance were students from an Intermediate Typography class at American University who, as part of a service-learning assignment, had designed beautiful awareness posters for Indego Africa.

Thank you to everyone who made such a wonderful night possible!

Click HERE for larger images.

Indego Africa Back in Rwanda!

It's great to be back in Rwanda!  Tom and I have been meeting with the women in our partner coops, catching up with our local team, setting an ambitious agenda, and polishing up on our Kinyarwanda . . . 

Me: "Murabeho. Amakuru?" (Hello, how are you?)

He/She: "Ni meza. Wit wande?" (I'm fine. What's your name?)

Me: "Nitwa Matayo." (My name is Matt - using my Kinyarwandan name)

He/She: [hysterical laughter]

As enjoyable as it is to be back here, it's also time to make some headway on important projects.  The following are my top priorities:

(1) Finding a new location for Cocoki which is more secure and closer to the market;

(2) Setting up both a major sewing installation and a computer center at Cocoki;

(3) Formalizing partnerships with other NGOs to provide services outside our core competencies (specialized nutrition, land rights advocacy, literacy training);

(4) Introducing a range of new products, both for export and domestic sale (more info to come);

(5) Launching our first service tourism projects with a group from Baton Rouge, Louisiana; and

(6) Finishing up our social impact assessment.

I look forward to bringing you updates on each of these projects. Indego Africa always sets forth a grand vision for our trips to Rwanda and this trip is no exception. A particular thanks to our team members (Tom Mitro and Ben Stone in particular) who are traveling a great distance to pursue our important mission.  Keep reading Social Enterprising for more updates . . . .

- Matt

Leveraging Opportunity In Africa Though Mobile Banking

Social enterpreneurs help build businesses and strengthen skills, but the people who are running these businesses need a host of "support" services to continually improve what they do and how they do it. One of the issues that business people in the developing world point to as a serious constraint on their growth is access to capital. For example, how might a start-up business in Rwanda get access to capital to help improve their facilities, create marketing products, hire a manager, etc.?

They may or may not go to a bank. Most of Africa's rural poor are unbanked. In part, this is because the banks aren't there for them, in part it's because banking costs can be high, especially burdensome for the poor, and other issues, such as comfort level, also factor in. This leaves options like family and friends for loans, moneylenders and, increasingly in Africa, microcredit. But microcredit hasn't spread as far and as fast in Africa as it has in Latin America and Asia (more on this in another post).

That's why the development of M-banking (mobile banking) services are potentially so exciting. M-banking allows people to receive and move money through their cellphones. And, because cellphone use has grown so rapidly in Africa (much more rapidly than the use of microcredit), the technology has the potential to reach millions of people quickly, making it easier, safer, and less costly for them to do business and establish credit histories with vendors. I'm not sure if people are classifying M-banking as "social enterpreneurship" but it certainly helps to leverage the work that social entrepreneurs do.

Here is an interesting report on this growing field.

- Karol