Details . . .details . . .details

Bourbon Cafe . . .Rwanda's Starbucks

Our Rwandan conference room for the day

Attention to detail . . .
Counting the line items in the beauty school budget

Entrepreneurs at work . . .
Barb and Jeanne check out the view at Jeanne's future restaurant

How many line items in a thatched roof?

Getting feedback and agreement on the school’s financial plan filled the agenda for Monday morning. It was not your usual meeting with an accountant.

Alix has spent months fine-tuning the plan with input from afar from Jeanne and Sylvie. Alix’s finance skills, crafted through work on multi national clients, are already elevating the beauty school’s foundation. With only a few exceptions the plan was on track. We added a few items and increased the amount needed for several others. Just like in the states, everything costs more these days. Unlike the states, the meeting took place at Sylvie’s amusement park, the same spot we visited on Sunday. Sylvie, Susan, Alix, Malyse, Jeanne and Barb all sat inside a thatched gazebo by the pool! What a setting to go through every line item on the budget! Every supply, furniture and equipment item was discussed.

Fast cultural understanding
Afterward, we enjoyed a nice lunch from Sylvie’s restaurant which combined a 90 minute wait and a 2 minute inhalation of food which was so good that it demanded to be savored. But that was not to be as we were late for our meeting at the Ministry of Gender! We picked up Richard, and dashed to the ministry in two cars laughing all the way. The relaxed pace in Africa can be at odds with a visitor’s schedule and good humor is required. Our driver John-Paul was taught the quintessential American saying, “time is money”. He got it. His fast driving in response prompted us to teach him another phrase, “Arrive alive”.

Women so get it.
At the ministry (arrived 15 minutes early!), we were greeted by four government women, all holding high-ranking positions and a no non-sense attitude. Eight of us crammed into a small office. Bpeace shared our story in Rwanda and our support for the beauty school. Jeanne spoke genuinely about her motives for the school and long–time desire to help orphans. The women from the ministry had a plethora of questions, and couldn’t be more supportive of our work and the school. They explained that the project aligns with each and every goal their ministry and government has for development projects. It was clear that we have a strong project and an advocate in the right place. Their support will provide credibility as we move forward in becoming licensed, attaining non-profit status, and in approaching potential local funders. We will be following up with them in the coming weeks on a series of next steps toward that end.

Rwandan entrepreneurism is boundless
Glowing as we walked out of the meeting, none of us wanted to head home. Jeanne suggested we visit the site where she plans to move the restaurant (the one that is currently in the location where the school will be). Her new site is actually a large home that she owns and rents to a family. It has a terraced garden with a sweeping view of Kigali. She plans to host weddings there and while it needs work, we all agreed it’s a likely moneymaker. We’ve learned that Kigali has an endless supply of weddings!

Just like in the US we ended our day with a little shopping. Alix, Susan and Barb stopped at a modern grocery store that sells everything from electronics to toiletries to wine, 24-hours a day. It’s a tidy Wal-mart, with longer hours. A few years ago this shop could not exist, let alone succeed but the growing economy is birthing all sorts of new businesses. Indeed next-door we got our “latte fix” at a hip cafe called Bourbon Coffee Cafe. The young baristas and laptop-focused clientele were reminiscent of Starbucks, except the coffee was better! This is Africa and the coffee is very LOCAL. Founded by a young Rwandan, one cafe has turned into a small chain.

This is Rwanda and good things are happening here.