The Rwandan Coffee Project
The Rwandan Coffee Project …
One of our key projects in Rwanda is the Coffee Market Building for Peace and Prosperity, which is funded by the Scottish Government, and delivered by Challenges Rwanda. The coffee sector has been one of Rwanda’s success stories, playing a pivotal part in restoring the economy after the genocide 25 years ago, and rebuilding trust between community members. Helping the Rwanda coffee sector to better access the international market is one of the key aims of our Rwanda coffee project.
Launched in partnership with Twin Trading and the Scottish Fair Trade Forum in 2017, the Coffee Market Building for Peace and Prosperity project is working with eight coffee co-operatives in the country’s western and southern regions. The project, which is also supported by Enactus and Matthew Algie Coffee, aims to increase the capacity of eight Rwandan coffee co-operatives by delivering business, management and leadership training; improving quality control and each co-op’s “cupping scores”; streamlining and better enabling infrastructural processes; widening access to international markets; encouraging the adoption of clean tech innovations; and working with communities, particularly women and young people, to overcome systemic barriers to economic growth.
The Access Africa Programme
The Access Africa Programme is a world-first initiative that enables Scottish social enterprises and social entrepreneurs to explore and expand into African markets. It provides market research and business development support to enterprises and individuals who have an idea, product, service or model that could make a real impact in Sub-Saharan Africa. Funded by the Scottish Government, it is delivered by our Edinburgh-based office alongside our teams in Ghana, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda and Zambia. To date, we have supported more than 20 Scottish organisations and individuals to take their first steps into African markets. These include Clean Water Wave, creators of an innovative and sustainable treatment solution can be used in rural and hard-to-reach communities; Lilypads, a social enterprise that produces eco-friendly sanitary pads and is committed to improving women and girls’ access to sanitary products and ending period poverty; and Giraffe Healthcare, an e-health platform that delivers high quality, personalised healthcare programmes backed by expert advice and support.
Rise Ethiopia
In Ethiopia, Challenges is running an investment acceleration programme to support 20 social enterprises to prepare for future investment deals. Each of the businesses involved in our RISE (Readying Investable Social Enterprises) project is receiving onsite pre-investment support underpinned by a set of robust analytical tools with a proven track record to provide SMEs with a clear, practical roadmap to achieving deal and transaction readiness. This approach also gives potential investors a clear view of the state of preparedness of the SME.
Using a combination of onsite consultancy support, technical assistance, group training and coaching, we are assisting each enterprise to develop a clear strategy for its short and long-term growth ambitions; understand what type of investment it needs to pursue growth plans (e.g. trade finance, commercial loan, private equity, partnership, etc.); structure an appropriate financial ask based on the type of investment required; improve its internal management and operations, so the business is in good condition to receive finance; and prepare all the essential documentation needed to conduct a deal.
