Beacon Program: Ingenzi K-Light Cooperative, Rwanda
Beacon Program developments can be found here:
Andy answers questions about the K-Light.
Koinonia Foundation president Andrew Williams recently traveled to Rwanda and met with the women who form the Ingenzi K-Light Cooperative.
Beata, the woman running the program, is really fantastic. She and the women have made an astounding amount of progress in these past few months.
Among other things, the women have drafted their cooperative rules, elected officers, and formed an independent auditing committee.
They have also chosen how to invest their funds and spend their collective profits.
Nyarugenge storefront.
Signing the lease.
Here is their first expense: a leased store front in Nyarugenge. Now customers will have a central location to come and purchase the K-Light.
The women have sold almost half of their grant and intend to buy more K-Lights as soon as they do. They have also looked into micro-loans from the organization DUTERIMBERE. A micro-loan from DUTERIMBERE could help the women achieve their next goal – to begin also selling second-hand clothes and shoes. This makes sense, because they have previous experience selling these much-needed items.
We’re looking at starting the next group of 10 women soon – hopefully early next year. The women are working on ideas for incorporating the new women into the cooperative and mentoring them so that they can start a successful business as well. Beata is working on a needs assessment of the districts we’ll be working in, which will also help learn how the Beacon Program can develop.
Also – the Ingenzi K-Light Cooperative now has its own gallery. In addition to the pictures you’ve seen here, I have also uploaded a few there.
Ashley
