Henry Carl Nsabyumukiza is the founder of G5 Skyway Growth Limited Company based in Kacyiru, which is involved in the production of instant coffee. The firm which started small in 2015.

As a jobless young man, he found an opportunity by supplying coffee beans to firms after purchasing from small scale farmers.

At the time, he could only afford one sack (about 84 Kilogrammes of coffee beans) which was at Rwf 61,000.

On the initial purchase, there was a slight mix-up, one of initial clients wanted dried coffee, yet he had mixed both dried and non-dried beans.

The sorting process and drying the beans slowed down the first sale but not his resolve to venture into the sector.

On the completion of his sale, he had a revenue of Rwf 133,000, translating to a Rwf 72,000 profit.

He did it over and over, all the while re-investing and saving proceeds.

In about two year, he was able to buy an 8 hectares piece of land in Karongi, Western Province to start a coffee plantation of his own.

He also started urging farmers in the area to take on the crop starting off with 9 farmers. The farmers have since grown to 42 with most having adapted the latest techniques.

Instant coffee

His firm has since started producing instant coffee. This followed a realisation that most –if not all-of the instant coffee in Rwanda is imported.

The thirty year old conducted research on instant coffee production, agro-processing techniques required in the process among other trainings.

After about six months of research, he set out to start instant coffee production after acquiring necessary equipment.

The instant coffee production process has about eight steps including cleaning and sorting, hulling, roasting, grinding, extracting and aroma recovery system as well as  drying.

"I am the only one who makes instant coffee in Rwanda and it is 100 per cent natural. My company’s investment was at around Rwf22 million,” he says.

At the moment, some of his clients include airlines, local and international organisations with operations in Rwanda, hotels and retailers such as shops and supermarkets.

Challenges

He admits that the learning process after inception of the business was somewhat an uphill task. Also, often, having adequate and efficient machinery was somewhat a challenge as it was costly. 

Other than training his staff, his firm also works with small scale farmers and connects them to better markets.

Currently, he had eight permanent workers, 45 casual and works with 42 small scale farmers.

With the proceeds from his firm, he has been able to construct a house and buy a car.

He has also been partnering with agencies such as Business Development Fund, to acquire training and finance.

Going forward, he hopes to increase the number of coffee farmers he works with to about 185 as well as increase the number of employees.

"My plan is to supply Rwanda and Africa as the leading producer of instant coffee because I believe as we think big, we will grow globally,” he noted.

Instant coffee for sale is packaged in varying measurements from 25 grammes to 250 grammes. A 100 grammes packet retails for about Rwf 2000.

To emerging entrepreneurs, he urges them to consider being job creators by developing crafts in as aspects they think will be relevant.

He also noted that there is an opportunity through the Made-in-Rwanda Initiative which they can take advantage of.

editorial@newtimes.co.rw