Beacon Program
Overview
The mission of the Beacon Program is to encourage economic growth and poverty reduction by helping unemployed mothers begin sustainable businesses.
The Koinonia Foundation has formed the Ingenzi K-Light Cooperative, a government-registered cooperative within which women begin and operate their own small business.
The Foundation provides entering women with business training and then grants each woman 6 solar-powered LED lanterns, known as K-Lights, with which to begin her business.
K-Light by PiSAT
The women decide how to invest their profits, and they can grow their business by purchasing additional K-Lights at a reduced cost from a company in Rwanda.
We work with women because women are more likely to use their financial resources to better the lives of their children and families.
Women in the Beacon Program have indicated that they plan to use their profits to expand their business and educate their children and themselves.
Ingenzi K-Light Cooperative, Ngoma District, Eastern Province, Rwanda
June 2010: The Ngoma branch of the Ingenzi K-Light Cooperative has officially begun business operations! After participating in business training, during which the women came up with great ideas about how to expand their business, all 20 women got their grant of capital to begin their business.
Testing the product
Participants in Ngoma District
May 2010: The Ingenzi K-Light Cooperative will start a new branch with 20 new women in the Ngoma district of the Eastern Province. Twenty new women have been chosen by the programs manager and executive committee of the existing branch in Kigali. These women will be receiving business training and their grant in May 2010. This will bring the total number of women in the program to 40.
Ingenzi K-Light Cooperative, Nyarugenge and Gasabo Districts, Kigali, Rwanda
March 2010: Koinonia Foundation has expanded its Beacon Program to 20 women, 10 women from the Nyarugenge District and 10 women from the Gasabo District.
The second grant was administered on March 15, 2010 to these 10 new women from the Gasabo District. Both groups received intensive business training this month, after which the new grant was given. Further business training will be delivered in the coming months.
Program manager Beata at new storefront.
The women have also chosen a new, more-centrally located storefront from which to sell their goods. They have an inventory of K-Lights with cell phone chargers, as well as men’s and women’s clothes.
The women have decided that they will learn English so that they can expand their business in Rwanda and East Africa.
August 2009: Koinonia Foundation awarded the first micro-grant to the Ingenzi K-Light Cooperative. Most of the women live in Nyakabanda, the poorest area of the Nyarugenge District in Kigali. They have had previous experience in small business, mainly in selling second-hand items, such as clothes and shoes. However, they have never had the financial resources to begin their own small business.
First 10 women of the Beacon Program.
Learning about the K-Light.
Examining the grant.
The women were chosen by working with a local authority to find unemployed women with school-aged children, and interviewing these women about their economic status, experience in small business, and family situation.
Selected women were then invited to a meeting to learn more about the Beacon Program and meet other potential participants. All 10 of the women agreed to participate in the program.
To date, the women have sold almost half of their grant and plan to soon return and purchase more lights at a discounted rate from a company in Rwanda.
First storefront in Nyarugenge District of Kigali.
They have also decided to sell second-hand clothes and shoes.
