Warmly receiving people and caring for them is something Marie Florence Uwimana is deeply passionate about, and finds peace in. With her husband, they would host friends from different parts of the world at their home and provide shelter, food and much more—to the point where guests felt at home, and all for free.

One day, a guest suggested that they start a business as they were good at hospitality, assuring them that they would get clients, and this eventually inspired them to start a business, Tea House Bread and Breakfast, and Café, located in Gisementi.

At the time, Uwimana was working with an NGO that she’d been with for more than five years, and so she sought something new in another domain.

She, therefore, quit her job in July 2016 and started her the business with the support of her husband. Uwimana was looking to start a business that would connect her to people and allow her to care for them.

One of the rooms. Uwimana keeps it local for the decor. 

"The purpose of starting the business was to enable people to afford guesthouse accommodation with incredible standards. I was sure that many of the cheaper bed and breakfast lodges or guesthouses lacked the proper standards, and those that had them, charged expensively.

"At that time, I wanted something unique, which portrayed African culture because I was certain it was missing, because most hotels operate with the western style. Surprisingly, the guests found the African style appealing. That’s when I knew I had hit the first mark,” she says.

The entrepreneur says that she was also filled with the desire to support Made-in-Rwanda products as most of her guesthouse uses 80 per cent locally made items from lampshades, furniture, duvets, to interior designs, decorations, doormats, and so forth.

When she started the business, she says that it was posted on online platforms like ‘Trip Advisor’ and ‘Booking’ to draw customers’ attention and trace her business easily. Surprisingly, the following day she had received two bookings, a thing that encouraged her.

Inside the restaurant. 

"When we started, we were surprised by continuous bookings due to the services offered and had huge online visibility. Many small and medium established hotels at that time hadn’t discovered the importance of using these online booking platforms, which somehow made us stand out,” Uwimana says.

She highlights that after one year, her guesthouse had good reviews on the platform, and clients kept recommending and booking, especially business travellers, for example, those working with NGOs, investors, and others.

In 2017, Uwimana says that her guesthouse was fully booked, making it hard for some of her loyal clients, considering some wanted to stay longer, like a month or more. This is because they were occupying the space for long time, a thing that hindered other clients who wanted to stay for a few days, or a night. 

By then, the businesswoman says, the guesthouse had only eight rooms, but due to the increasing number of clients, she opened another branch. One branch was for short term occupation (clients staying for about two to three days), and another was for those staying for a month plus.) The two guesthouses were located in Kimironko. One year later, they shifted one to Gisozi.

The pandemic

Unfortunately, with the outbreak of Covid-19, she had to close one branch she was renting as it was expansive yet receiving no clients. In May, having closed her main branch, she relocated to Gishushu, and was able to survive with a few clients.

"Since people were not travelling like before, we decided to adapt and open up a restaurant, unlike before where we offered only in-house services. Because the place wasn’t big enough to cater for a restaurant, we shifted to Gisementi, where we are located up to now,” she says.

Most of the challenges she faced were during the pandemic, when the government imposed the lockdown, and most people were working from home, thus no need to order for food. She wasn’t able to make money from the restaurant as she hoped.

This, somehow, dispirited her as she was operating in losses, she thought of applying for a job but most hospitality companies were already laying off workers.

"That was a challenging year, I had to lay off some workers, and when life tried to go back to normal, I wanted to employ some workers but the process of training them isn’t a cheap one,” she says.

She has also been able to start offering internship training to students and ensure that interns are equipped with skills from different departments, and even follow-up to confirm that they got jobs after the training.

Being a graduate and expert in tourism and hospitality management, Uwimana says she shares her skills with her employees and trainees to do their job the best way as they’re not given practical lessons in class.

Uwimana also explains that the restaurant picked up and has now expanded services. She now offers lunch buffets during weekdays, breakfast and lunch during weekends, and organises kids’ activities, catering for small and big events such as birthday parties, graduation parties, among others.

Some of her future plans are to expand her business to accommodate more customers by opening a boutique hotel where each room has its uniqueness and creativity, with spa and massage services.

She looks forward to promoting domestic tourism which is why she has cut her prices by offering a 50 per cent discount to locals.