Edith Bella Kayitesi, a 27-year-old passionate handmade crafts maker, swerved from her original line of work in tourism to go into what she calls a creative and rewarding business. In 2019, she started a company that makes baskets, vases, trivets, jewellery, and more, out of natural materials such as sweet grass, sisal fibre and raffia, all of which are available in Rwanda. She says the company targets people who are intrigued by unique interior design, and she believes in fashioning a comfortable but fun and ingenious space at home and office through her craft. Kayitesi holding some of her handmade baskets. Photo/Courtesy To her, one piece, either a vase or basket, can change the splendour of a place without even straining to refurbish it, while giving a cheerful appeal to the room. Kayitesi says this requires creative and inventive skills, and she never imagined that she would leave her work in tourism to start her own business. Starting out Growing up seeing her mother weaving and doing other craftworks during her free time inspired her interest. Her mother always gifted handmade products to family and friends on special occasions, and she was appreciated for her effort and resourcefulness. Kayitesi was compelled to join her mother in creating artistic products at home whenever she could. Soon, she realised that there is a huge gap and market potential for handmade crafts. She explored the domain further and in 2018, she joined a company of handmade craft makers where she gained more skills. “I started practicing continuously at home whatever I learned at work. The process was worth it. Just like my mother, I gifted my friends with my finished products. “My handmade baskets were well received by others. This heartened me to launch my brand, “Bella Crafts”, in 2019,” she says. The businesswoman says that she started this among her circles, and luckily enough, her products became popular through word of mouth, and sharing her products on social media platforms. Gradually, she started receiving orders from different people. At that time, she was working with a local crafts cooperative. In 2020, due to the progress of her business, she quit her job to concentrate on her business fully. Although her business is picking up, she gives credit to her friends’ incessant support and believing in her more than she did. Kayitesi’s path to self-employment seemed like a natural evolution. But, she emphasises that it wasn’t based on a great desire to build a business, rather, it was a necessity. In 2020, after the Covid-19 outbreak, she hit rock bottom though remained hopeful, she developed a deep sense to motivate and educate herself about her business from home. She longed to earn from her hard work, and wasn’t ready to let her new business collapse. Her drive was to build, create, and learn as many skills as she could, and surpass her fear. However, she says that every challenge she encountered turned into a greater experience of learning her true power. Although she didn’t pursue any course in design, the continuous practice made her better at what she does. When asked how she handles competition, the artisan responds that through doing a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats), she learned to identify how to out-compete the competition, providing her with a platform to distinguish her content. “I also endeavour to understand customers’ expectations, especially driven by the ever-evolving market trends both nationally and internationally, whether it’s being price competitive or moving with the latest design trends,” she says. While starting her business, it wasn’t easy to sell locally because people wouldn’t give products value as some of them preferred imports, but to her surprise, Rwandans are starting to love crafts and design. So far, she says that the local market is paying off. She is challenged by lack of enough capital to scale her business at the desired level and also, limitation to exposure to international crafts markets which come with better pricing. Kayitesi is looking forward to expanding to the international market and partnerships with international sales like Amazon, among others. She is also eyeing partnering with other cooperatives in other cultural settings in Rwanda. Most of her clients are young corporates, and she has also collaborated with some interior designers too. Through her business, she has learned that success comes to those who work harder. Every little time invested in her work has paid off. She is now also knowledgeable about taking risks because that’s how she has achieved triumph at the moment. The entrepreneur has discovered that one of the things that has helped her excel in her business is setting goals. She explains that when she sets goals and creates plans to achieve them, she has the ability to work harder and smarter. The artisan highlights that setting goals creates a plan of action, which requires implementing, and with time, one can achieve tremendous growth and sales. In her free time, she enjoys fixing her house, basically decorating it with some paintings, she also sews her own clothes, and offers some of her work as gifts to friends and family. She also likes cooking. Her products go for $5 apiece and above. Her main branch is in Ruhango, though she also sells online. She plans to open up a shop in Kigali. You can reach Kayitesi on 0788797858.
