Regis aim at changing the cultural value and mindset towards sweet potatoes
Together with my 3 female friends, we decided to put into practice what we learnt at university. We therefore decided to start with adding value to yellow sweet potatoes as great source of fibers, vitamin A and minerals, yet neglected by communities.
Before joining YouthConnekt, it was a struggle to plan the grow and sustanability of our business. We had various challenges regarding our products in terms of consistency, market reach and appropriate equipment. Additionally, we had only 5 non skilled personnel.
The skills gained from the YouthConnekt bootcamp allowed us to create a projected business plan and a new market strategy. Through this, we have been able to conduct more research, especially on cost benefit analysis that supported to create our current market segment and products. During the bootcamp, we also learnt how to manage and train employees, pick the right characters and attract potential customers.
Beside the skills gained, i also won an award that served as seed capital for our business. With this capital, our productivity increased 10x. We were able to produce (donuts, bread, cake, biscuits, crisps) and purchased basic tools and equipment for production scheme. this anabled us to also move from our home kitchen to a new space and hire new personnel with high quality skills. The value of the 2,5 Million Rwf won was worth to increase our productivity but most importantly it gave us an exposure for further investment opportunities such as the Business Development Fund.
Beside the challenge of community mindset regarding sweet potatoes, our bread is currently being sold in 30 supermarkets in Kigali and is among one of the two breads that have have a standard mark in Rwanda. We have managed to support a network of +200 farmers.
in 2019, we were amongst the top 3 nominees in the category of Young Entrepreneurs to win the Business Excellence Award hosted by RDB and we are members of Youth Rwanda Youth in Agribusiness Forum.