NextBillion.net - Development Through Enterprise - Rwanda

Coffee Coops in Rwanda

Seema Patel — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 12:23:47 -0400

Managing Organization: The Maraba Coffee Coop

Activity URL:

http://www.nextbillion.net/blogs/2006/08/07/part-i-rwanda-finds-hope-in-premium-coffee

Activity Description:

Rwanda, a tiny East African country recently rent by a famously savage civil war, has found hope in that most colonial of crops: coffee. By riding booming demand in the developed world for specialty brews — and, to a certain extent, by turning its own challenges to its advantage — Rwanda has made premium coffee-growing a national priority. That has not only brought in a trickle of money to a country with little else to trade, but provided a stage on which one-time blood enemies can reconcile their terrible history.

Kigali Center for Entrepreneurs

_Alex Bloom — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 15:22:20 -0500

Managing Organization: Kigali Center for Entrepreneurs

Activity URL:

http://www.thvf.com/html/kce.htm

Activity Description: The Kigali Center for Entrepreneurs is a non-profit organization in Rwanda that helps budding entrepreneurs develop business ideas and obtain funding. In addition to providing these free services, the Center also provides more advanced services, such as help with writing business plans and conducting feasibility studies, for a fee.
The Kigali Center for Entrepreneurs was co-founded by Antoine Bigirimana, who also heads the Thousand Hills Venture Fund (THVF). After the Kigali Center helps refine an entrepreneurial business idea, THVF frequently invests