Business women want longer market hours

Business women who operate from Rwamagana market are complaining that the hours of operation are not enough and should extend beyond 6.30 p.m. According to Fatuma Nyirinka, one of the business women, the evenings are when the market is the busiest therefore authorities should improve on the security and allow them work longer. “We close the market when clients are actually trickling in. It is at this time of the day that some people get time to buy food.” Nyirinka said. “I do not see why the market authorities have insisted on closing early.” The short business hours are a challenge to Nyirinka who has a jobless husband and seven children who depend on her. She got her start up capital from Duterimbere Association, an organisation that promotes women entrepreneurs. “Had it not been for Duterimbere that gave me the capital, I would still be living in awful poverty,” Nyirinka said. With the start up capital of Rwf 60,000 received from Duterimbere, Nyirinka, has moved from small stall to being a heavy-weight business woman operating in Rwamagana’s main market. She deals in foodstuffs like rice, Irish potatoes, sweet potatoes and cassava. She buys the products from cheaper markets and transports them to her stall where she sells at a slightly higher price. “We hire pick-ups to go to different places depending on market demands. Sometimes we go deep in villages or Kigali,” she said, adding that the profits are enabling her children attend school. Ends