Jobless and lacking skills, Claude Ntakirutimana, a physically disabled individual, watched with uncertainty, pondering how he would endure. Being a primary four school dropout, lacking self-assurance, a chance presented itself when he was accepted into a six-month manufacturing training programme in 2022, offered by Mouzah Design Ltd, a Rwandan company specialising in locally made products.

During the training, Ntakirutimana learned how to make shoes, bags, and wallets, which changed his way of living and enabled him to sustain himself. He has now joined an association known as Ibyiringiro in Ngororero where he makes shoes and earns at least Rwf 5,000 per week.

"I also make bags and shoes for my siblings as they can’t afford them. I feel useful in society as I can pay medical insurance and no longer depend on others financially,” he said.

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The training was initiated by Alcade Fabrice Uwonkunda and his cousin Jean Luc Umuhuza Hirwa, the founders of Mouzah Design Ltd. Their aim was to provide free skills training to people with disabilities in the manufacturing of Made-in-Rwanda products. This was also intended to help check unemployment rate, especially among the youth, and reduce imports.

"The company was started in 2019 during my first year at Kepler with the motive to support youth projects. We didn’t have any defined source of income except the allowance that came with the government sponsorship,” Uwonkunda told The New Times.

The business partners were able to put aside Rwf 19,500 every month from the scheduled allowance of Rwf 29,500 they received.

Their initial endeavour involved crafting footwear using discarded car tires. With the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which left many individuals feeling disheartened, the entrepreneurial pair recognised it as an opportune moment to start operations and launch an initiative that would create prospects amidst the ongoing crisis.

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"Since lessons were conducted online during the lockdown, I figured we could use our time to work remotely with people with disabilities and train them with the necessary skills to make shoes using old car tyres,” Uwonkunda said.

The business partners who had acquired skills in making shoes and other items in a short training in 2019, called on people with disabilities in their neighbourhood in Gikondo in 2020.

At the start, they trained six people whom they gave free car tyres to manufacture shoes, which they sold to their neighbours.

"By 2021, this expanded to a learning project. It was around this time that I attended the YouthConnekt Africa summit, where we presented our shoes, bags and wallets,” Uwonkunda said.

Their project achieved third place and received Rwf 1.5 million at the provincial level, along with Rwf 6 million as recognition for being outstanding entrepreneurs in the 2021 cohort.

According to Uwonkunda, this was an investment that kept the project running. By the end of the year, they were pondering on ideas that could create more job opportunities for people with disabilities.

"We wanted to use the money to give back to the community. We, therefore, approached a local organisation, known as The National Union of Disability Organisations in Rwanda (NUDOR), which strengthens the voice of people living with disability in Rwanda. They picked interest in the idea of training them; we were able to train 42 people in manufacturing skills. We trained people from Musanze, Nyanza, and Ngororero districts from September to November 2022.”

Uwonkunda explained that the training mainly consisted of activities such as teaching people how to make bags and shoes among others. After the training, each of them was given a certificate of completion.

After some time, the entrepreneurs’ ideas changed as they yearned to see how their social impact would improve the economic development of communities.

They observed numerous underprivileged children who were carrying books to school by hand and decided to find a way to provide them with bags.

"Although we wanted to give the needy kids bags for free, we didn’t have enough money to invest in purchasing materials to make the bags. We figured there was another way. We eventually started recycling plastic advertisement banners on the road into bags,” Uwonkunda noted.

For them, recycled bags were a good idea because they are waterproof, long-lasting, and cannot easily get cut or torn.

To get these banners, the partners approached companies that are vigilant with marketing using banners. They first pitched their idea to MTN who were more than willing to support their cause free of charge.

"This was the beginning of our journey of making bags from banners. This project was successful in June 2023 when we did our first distribution to some schools in Musanze.”

Uwonkunda said they anticipated making other products to give back to communities. They realised that tailors were throwing away a lot of excess materials from the cuttings of cloth, which damaged the environment.

The duo was intrigued to start collecting these cut-off materials from tailors and started making curtains and bedcovers.

"We created opportunities for teenage mothers to sustain themselves through tailoring. Our target was to help the disadvantaged, the ones with disabilities, and teenage mothers,” Uwonkunda said.

Challenges

Uwonkunda observed that their main challenge is the scarcity of resources. For instance, the available banners are insufficient to create enough bags for all the school children.

They also lack adequate machines to make mass production. Currently, they are using machines imported from Kenya and China which are not of high quality and generate few products.

However, they are currently raising awareness about the corporate social responsibility of individuals for various marketing companies.

"Many of these companies just leave the banners on the streets when their advertisements have expired. Therefore, raising awareness is a way to alert them that instead of throwing them away, such banners can assist in putting smiles on a number of kids’ faces.”

Future plans/accomplishments

The pair plans to initiate online training for production skills, allowing individuals to start their own businesses. The objective is to provide people with disabilities the opportunity to learn from the convenience of their homes.

"We also want to increase our level of production, thus the need for more capital. We also call upon people involved in environmental protection, and social inclusion to partner with us to make an impact on societies.

"Previously, people didn’t understand our concept and wanted second-hand imported items, however, their mind-set has shifted as they have started supporting Made-in-Rwanda products, a thing that has shot high our sales,” Uwonkunda noted.

The businessmen also emphasised that people appreciate their creativity. They have also provided job opportunities to 19 full-time employees and 42 trainees who are also involved in manufacturing.

"After the training, we always follow up on our students to ensure that they are doing something productive. We collaborate with a number of organisations to employ some of our trainees.”

Uwonkunda envisions making raincoats out of plastic banners for disadvantaged people at some point.