PEACE THROUGH BUSINESS®

Princesses Umuntesiwase always got pushack from her brothers about how much she would be able to accomplish as a girl. Proving them wrong became paramount, and she worked hard through school to earn a scholarship at a university in Nairobi, then landing a job at the central bank of Rwanda.

Yet the tug was strong for another achievement — owning her own business. With Legacy Brands, she has created a business with a vast variety of services, everything from branding and publishing to event management. A steady part of her business is renting cars, with the Kenyan, Moroccan, and Ugandan embassies as clients.

Despite her earlier experience with her brothers, she came to earn their respect. Her goal is to make documentaries, especially about Rwanda, and to share with the world how her country is a beautiful place that has overcome its past and has much to offer for the future.

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For Chandelle Mutezintare, it wasn’t always clear how she would break out of the traditional gender roles and one day own a business. With a young child and husband, she began going to school at night even though it at first caused friction at home. She was also met with unapproving professors who thought business wasn’t the place for her.

She pushed through, gaining her husband’s support and getting a job at an internet service provider. Over time, Mutezintare found herself not getting the credit as the other men, and saw she could run such a business herself. She continued to pick up the skills she needed and made the leap.

Today, she’s the owner of 4NetAfrica Ltd, which provides internet service and helps Rwandan businesses develop their online presence. She has ten full-time employees and about another 20 who do work for her throughout the country. The path to success was jagged, as just a few years ago she was worried she wouldn’t make it in such a male-dominated field. But she found the right mentor, continued to learn, and pressed ahead.

She wants to use her experiences to help the next generation of women of women believe they can enter the workforce, own businesses, and work in whichever field they choose.

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Diane Murkatete discovered the key to her success through trial and error. Her family was always focused on agriculture, and after a career in government service she and her husband decided to give farming a go. They purchased a large plot of land, hopeful to build a future for their four kids and to try something new after 15 years as a tax auditor..

When harvesting sweet potatoes she grew, it turned out they weren’t great for eating but made exceptional bread and biscuits. Through her company GMDI Investment LTD, she sells plenty of bread and sweet potatoes for others to make it as well. Murekatete is passionate about her community seeing the health benefits, as sweet potatoes are packed with vitamins. She also wants her entrepreneurism to be an example to girls and women in Rwanda. She’s optimistic about the future, as the government and wider society are showing they want a future of strong women, too.

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Like many families during the Rwandan genocide Asterie “Asty” Hitimana’s fleed to escape the violence, returning later to try and rebuild their lives and country.

Growing up, Hitimana hada passion for fashion and design, dressing up dolls and helping her mom as she made clothing for the family of 12 children. Hitimana has taken that childhood passion and succeeded at turning it into a business. Her store, Twinkle by Asty, creates clothing for clients not only in Rwanda, but the U.S. and Europe. She handles the design, and hires other women who make the clothing for customers.

She speaks about her passion for Rwanda and inspiring other women and girls that they can have a future for themselves in business. She takes great pride in that her products are made in Rwanda — many are still just warming to the idea of buying something made in their own country. With this success, Hitimana hopes her sisters will also take notice of what she has achieved and embrace the belief that they can accomplish whatever they may dream of.

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Being a businesswoman in Afghanistan isn’t easy, according to Sona Mahmody. She’s the owner of Rumi Trading LLC, a business that helps Afghan women export dried fruit, saffron, and nuts to eastern markets, with a goal of eventually expanding to the U.S. and Europe.

The aim of her business is to promote the Afghan agricultural sector and its products, which has often been overlooked and had to break through in a difficult market. Her products come about from a combination of her own efforts and the larger agricultural community - she grows, harvests, and processes saffron, and exports dried fruit and nuts grown from local farmers.

Originally, her family was wary of her going into business given many of the long standing beliefs about women undertaking such an initiative. However she received support from her husband after getting married, and they saved money to start the business together. The cultural and safety challenges are formidable — a friend saw their business destroyed from a terrorist bombing. Mahmody won’t travel without a male family member to ensure she’s protected from the Taliban. Misunderstanding is global, though, as many of her Afghanistan colleagues weren’t granted visas to attend the Peace Through Business conference. Yet the sacrifice is worth it, as she’s passionate about modeling how a woman can achieve and showcasing the products from her country.

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Growing up, Aisha Haguma had to do a lot of fending for herself. She lost her parents in the Rwanda genocide, and lived with her aunt and extended family.

Yet that experience gave her the strength and courage to be independent. She’s grown into an entrepreneur as the owner of a supermarket, Alimentation Le Panier. The spark for beginning her own journey to entrepreneurship was trips to Dubai, where she was enamored with the clothing and began to sell items that she purchased on the journey there. After this taste of success, she launched her own supermarket, growing the store’s inventory and adding a bakery and butcher. Talking to customers and continually asking how her store can serve them creates a personal touch and sense of connection to the community.

She credits the Peace Through Business program as being another source of motivation and practical strategies for improving her business strategy. Much of her support also comes from her husband, who fully backs her business goals and independence. Haguma also shares thoughts on work-life balance and why she works at home when her children aren’t in school to better spend time with them. In total, her strong Christian faith and desire to make things happen instead of waiting for them continues to drive her forward. She believes that women can have a bright future in Rwanda, and she wants to be an example and mentor.

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Deep and meaningful conversation is at the core of what Barbara Umuhoza believes can connect and heal others. This vision drove her as a pastor and has been continued with her as the business owner of Eclat Communications.

With her pastoral background, integrity is essential to how she runs this firm, which is dedicated to helping with their marketing and promotional strategy. She’s particularly dedicated to helping her country become a regional conference hub for east Africa. Her company has a wide spread of services, such as translation, content production, and social media usage.

Umuhoza describes hos she’s keen to the change in her country, with more women attending university and pursuing a business career. While some old attitudes remain, she’s hopeful for a wider cultural shift and encouraged by the president and first lady of Rwanda’s support for women. She’s seen the change in her own family — her husband was supportive of a time she walked away from a job, while her father was more skeptical.

Umuhoza also offers a perspective on the Rwanda genocide. With this retelling, she frames the context for younger generations, which she hopes will sustain the vision for the Rwanda they wish to build.

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As a child, Angel Mutoni admired her father’s musical talents. It was one of many sources of connection she clung to in her childhood as she coped with the loss of her mother. Mutoni’s father released an album and did a number of performances during those years, while also giving the family a rich experience of living abroad and a stint as a diplomat in Canada.

Even with his encouragement, it would be a while before Mutoni would embrace her own talents and become an artist in her own right. Her career is young, and she’s used social media and music platforms like Spotify to promote her work. With that experience, she wants to help connect other artists who have their own ambitions. Her startup seeks to help artists find gigs and publicity for their talent.

Connecting with artistic women is the key to fostering a community, so she’s started a collective of women artists so that they can help each other to be independent and continue to promote their work. She encourages other women to understand that they can make music and art their career — it doesn’t need to only be a side ambition. She’s passionate about fostering this connection through sponsoring a women’s event, bringing in artists to perform and providing resources for women to build careers through the arts. There’s a strong music scene in east Africa, and she’s excited to support the growth of women artists.

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Freshta Sarwaree has an immense passion to build economic security and independence for women in Afghanistan. She does this through her business and school, building a support network for the women in her community..

Sarwaree’s company, Green Choice, provides processed food, fruit, and spices for her customers. She has an all-women team, part of her desire to build women's independence and sense of purpose in the workforce.

Her life experience is a true asset to her community. She lived with her husband in Japan for graduate school, and while there she observed how Japan runs its kindergartens and sought to emulate the model for her students. The school has children in range from three months to six-years-old, providing a comprehensive school experience and child care setting for the students. The school has ten teachers and employs cooks, drivers, and security.

The latter remains a concern, as the return of the Taliban would be a devastating setback. Her husband, an engineer, is a strong source of support in her goal to raise women’s profile and create a stronger foundation for the future. With a six-year-old daughter, Sarwaree is determined the work she is doing will help create an Afghanistan where women are welcome and able to succeed.

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Frida Kansime was only three years old when her family was forced to flee due to the Rwandan genocide. When her family returned, she learned she had lost her grandmother and other members of her family.

With her close family and support system, she was able to build a life through achievement at university, culminating with an MBA. After spending time in the workforce, she reached a point where she grew tired of her job and knew it was time for a new opportunity. At only 28 years old, she is the owner of Eclipse LTD, which provides electronic security systems and fire alarm systems for residents, hotels, and businesses.

With her four employees, she takes great pride in what she’s built and how hard her team works together. She wants her success as a businesswoman to be an inspiration to other girls and women who dream of owning their own company. Her ambitions are big — growing to be a leading security company in East Africa with an eye towards expanding to other countries.

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