While growing up, Jeanine Nzeyimana envisaged herself in job where she would meet and interact with people from all walks of life to network and discuss current affairs, build career blocks and serve her community. When she became of age and graduated from school, her work schedule always came into her way, especially since her professional circle was small.

Nzeyimana says after graduating from university in 2003 with a BA in accountancy, she got a job at Red Cross Rwanda as an accountant. However, she threw in the towel in 2010 to chase her dream, and opted for self-employment, which she believed could give her the latitude to play a more impactful role in her community.

New dawn

Nzeyimana says after quitting her job, her husband supported her to set up her first enterprise, a coffee shop. "Like me, my husband is a fan entrepreneurship and has always asked me to be a problem-solver. So, when I told him that time had come for me to begin my business, he gave all the support I needed. Since then, I have never looked back,” she says.

Why a coffee bar of all businesses? Well, Nzeyimana happens to be a ‘master’ brewer and good cook, so she believed the passion was a good ingredient for any business to thrive.

I thought, "I knew that, besides doing what I love most, I would make some money and create jobs for other Rwandans.” This gave birth to Kacyiru-based Magda Café, a coffee bar and restaurant.

"I decided to open it in Kacyiru because there are many offices and so getting customers would be easy,” says Nzeyimana, who was born in Burundi, but returned to Rwanda in 1994 as a young girl in high school.

She says her love for cooking and interacting with people inspired her to venture into the coffee brewing business, arguing that this would enable her meet people of all cultures and creed to fulfill her childhood dream. She says the need to cause change in her community and her husband’s encouragement, particularly on job-creation fueled her zeal to the ‘road’ into business.

Start-up capital

The start is always hard for many an aspiring entrepreneur, a reason most business ideas die and never see the light of day due to lack of start-up capital. As they say, starting a business requires determination and the ‘go-getter’ mindset for one to realise that dream.

"I started with Rwf10 million, some of which I borrowed from my husband. I used most this money to buy furniture and materials to decorate the cafe, as well as raw materials and ingredients, renting the premises and workers’ pay for the initial months,” she says.

Though the first three to five months were challenging as the business sought customers, Nzeyimana says she persevered.

Thanks to her ‘never say die’ and fighter’s spirit, Magda is one of the top coffee shops in Kigali, attracting multi-cultural patrons from within and outside the country to partake of her coffees and other beverages.

Women in business

Nzeyimana says women in Rwanda have performed well not only in politics, but also in the business arena, which she attributes largely to government’s support and protection. Because of such initiatives, Private Sector Federation established Chamber of Women Entrepreneurs, a conglomeration of women in business.

"The chamber even help many get loans to start or expand their business. This, (involvement business and other sectors of the economy), has changed the status of women in the country,” Nzeyimana notes. Challenges

Nzeyimana says like any business, there are always great moments and untold challenges, the prices for commodities are sometimes too high and these coupled, with high taxes makes venturing in business "a trek in the Den” which has hindered many people from taking up business arena.Achievements

She has achieved many things ever since she started this business but above all she has learnt management skills and experiences in handling people of different cultures.

Her business has also grown and the number of employees increased, she says she started with only seven staff but she now has 12 workers, the cleaners, cook and those who do catering.

She pays them Rwf2.5 million a month all together however their salaries vary according to their work.

She says a cleaner is paid Rwf35,000, those who serve people are paid Rwf80,000, while those in catering are paid Rwf150,000.

Two of her workers have completed their undergraduate degree from ULK while others are still in school. "I give them time to go and study those who still want to study,” she said.

Future prospects

She plans to open up many other coffee shop branches across the country to create more employment opportunities for the youth, especially TVET graduates.

She also dreams of one day starting catering school, which she believes will enhance the industry and improve customer service delivery in the country.

Advice

Nzeyimana says anybody who wants to venture into business you need to develop best practices for your enterprise be it a restaurant, boutique or anything."Customers are our best assets as business men and women. So, once you don’t have a good relationship with them, your business will not survive,” she said.

She advises business people to build communication channels with customers, arguing that this can help them get feedback that is essential to improve the business.

Nzeyimana also says that running a business requires extra-ordinary discipline, especially on the issue of handling money.

"Don’t just use money because you have gotten it… For start-ups, it is important that you first to build and grow the business before you can get out money for other ventures,” she notes.What people say

Jeanine Mucyo, one of the employees at Magda, says she has been able to study and complete university, thanks to support from Nzeyimana and savings from her job at Magda.

"I had no hope of joining university before I got a job at the cafe. Thanks to my job at the coffee bar, I am now a graduate,” Mucyo, who has worked at the firm for four years, says.