After transforming Rwanda into a model for conflict-affected states, the Government of Rwanda is now focusing its reform efforts on a vital needs sector: agribusiness. What makes this sector so crucial is that over 75% of Rwanda’s workforce is concentrated in agriculture. Against this backdrop, GroFin is deepening its efforts to reach out to agribusinesses such as Yak Fair Trade Ltd, based in the Rwamagana district of Rwanda’s Eastern Province.

Yak Fair Trade Ltd was founded by entrepreneur couple Mediatrice Uwingabire and Janvier Gasasira in 2010. The agribusiness works hard to improve the quality of maize and beans, two of the most consumed staple foods of East African Community, through a project aimed at controlling quality from production to final consumption. The company has signed exclusive supply contracts with 65,000 farmers grouped into 52 cooperatives in Eastern, Southern and Northern Provinces, both ensuring grain supply for its own use as well as benefitting farmer livelihoods in its community. It also sells the surplus to other institutions such as the World Food Program, Africa Improved Food and UNHCR.

Besides, given the importance of animal protein as a readily available source of nutrition to low income households, Yak Fair Trade Ltd is also diversifying into the processing of quality cows, goat, rabbit, fish, pork, and chicken meat through a mini-processing plant that it has recently installed in Kigali-Nyarugenge. The plant relies principally on supplies from small holder farmers supported by the Girinka project. The One Cow per poor family or Girinka project is based on the premise that providing a dairy cow to poor households helps to improve their livelihood by commercialising dairy products. Since its introduction in 2006, more than 203,000 families have benefited from the programmewith a target of reaching 350,000 Rwandese families by end 2017.

In August 2017, Yak Fair Trade approached GroFin for finance to expand the milling capacity of its maize flour plant that currently produces at 40% of its daily production capacity. In addition, the agribusiness secured a sizeable new supply contract from Africa Improved Food (AIF) in mid-2017. A joint venture created in 2015 between Government of Rwanda and a consortium of four partners: Royal DSM, the majority shareholder, the Dutch Development Bank (FMO) and the British government’s development finance institution CDC Group; AIF produces high quality nutritious complementary foods for infants as well as pregnant and breastfeeding mothers.

In addition, for its meat processing venture, the company needed finance to purchase a distribution van with refrigeration capabilities for easy distribution of meat products to consumers within Kigali.

Apart from finance, GroFin is also assisting the business with conducting a detailed Environmental Impact Assessment and re-defining the duties and responsibilities of the main shareholders towards improved corporate governance.

GroFin’s capacity to extend business support to agribusinesses such as Yak Fair Trade has been enhanced by a grant from the USAID East Africa Trade and Investment Hub (the Hub). The grant will involve GroFin screening 200 agribusinesses and offering tailor-made technical assistance to promising SMEs across Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda, ensuring that many more agribusinesses such as Yak Fair Trade can benefit from this partnership between GroFin and the Hub.

Already, this grant has catalysed the creation of 55 skilled and semi-skilled jobs as well as sustained 16 existing jobs at Yak Fair Trade. Moreover, all 65,000 farmers that supply to Yak Fair Trade will benefit from the enhanced business value chain. Finally, our investment and support has high implications for women empowerment as the company is led by a female CEO and female employment stands at 43%.

“With GroFin’s finance and support, we are set to deepen our reach to farmers, expand employment to four times the current levels, and improve food security for the community,” concludes Janvier, the company’s co-founder and Chief Operations Officer.