Something great is happening here

Barb is behind the camera during our first work shop meeting.
Left to Right: Susan, Jeanne, Malyse, Alix and Sylvie

We have arrived and in the thick of it here in Kigali!
We were greeting by Kigali’s usual beautiful weather and our local office Bpeace colleagues Richard and Susan. What a joy it is to see them again and introduce first time visitor Alix to Rwanda.

Economic recovery is evident and tourists abound
With tourism dollars beginning to flow into Rwanda there has been activity in the hospitality industry. A $15 million construction project to install a spa and new luxury rooms forced us out of the usual Bpeace choice when in Kigali, Hotel Serena. Disappointed but happy for the investment and what it means for Rwanda, we said farewell to Serena and checked into another local hotel offering. It appeared at first blush to be the perfect authentic African hotel. But instead it turned out to be the perfect setting where nothing worked. There is still fine tuning ahead if all of Rwanda’s hotels are to be competitive with those in Kenya and Tanzania. We decided construction dust could just be another mission memory and have returned Bpeace to the Serena, which remains fully booked despite the construction, as appear to be all the other hotels in Kigali.

We wonder if all these tourists will need their hair done? But pause on that thought because it was our first night and it was time to eat at one of Kigali’s several great restaurants. We enjoyed the best Indian food in the world (yes, even India) at Barbara's favorite restaurant, Indian Khazana.

We woke up to another glorious Kigali day and the first of our daily work sessions with the school’s founders, Jeanne and Sylvie.
We were a little nervous. The goal of this first meeting was to finalize the scope and scale of the school. But the teams have been working separately the last few months in Rwanda and the USA. We wondered, were we on the same page? With the help of our beauty industry veterans MaryClare Lokken, Denise Soto and Russell Brown, we were prepared with months of research and analysis and a proposed implementation plan. The associates were prepared with their own months of assessment. It was a big day. Alix, Susan and Barbara joined Jeanne and Sylvie at the site of the school, Genesis Salon. Malyse, Jeanne's daughter joined and brought her excellent English skills.

It was a meeting of the minds.
It all came together. More details will unfold to the readers in the next few days. The meeting was a great collaboration of ideas and we now share BIGGER ideas, maybe because we started small and evolved together. The partners brought different perspectives; Jeanne brought more practical salon experience, Sylvie more business focus. Not only did we see a concrete vision for the school emerging, we walked away with a view of what it’s going to look like in the future, not just near but long term too. Beaming and laughing as meeting’s end, we enjoyed a lunch brought in from Jeanne's Middle Eastern restaurant Melting Pot, savoring it as the restaurant is soon to be renovated into the site for the school. Next up is a review of Jeanne and Sylvie’s salons which will be used for practical training for the school. Some upgrades may be needed!

We joined the Rwandan Bpeace community.
The end of the day brought us together with ALL the Bpeace associates as we joined their monthly Bpeace associate meeting. They are the first class of Bpeace associates in Rwanda. Now in their final year of the 3 year program with Bpeace, it was rewarding to see them together laughing and talking business. A community of business women can be powerful indeed. This community has helped birth a beauty school which will benefit a small nation.