Rwanda is an ideal country for dairy production thanks to its stable climate and good infrastructure. Milk collection centres are located all over the country and a lot of Rwandese have their own cattle.

Rwandan entrepreneur Milton Ngirente installed in 2004 several milk kiosks in the city of Kigali where people could buy raw milk produced by farmers’ cooperatives. But he quickly noticed a lot of surpluses, so he started with a small production unit in 2012. A few years later the dairy company Blessed Dairies was born. Nowadays Blessed Dairies sells and distributes several milk products in Rwanda. Thanks to the production of various milk products such as pasteurized milk, cream, mozzarella and yoghurt, Milton can create added value. Nevertheless the company still faces a lot of challenges, that’s why Milton contacted one of our Business Development Managers to ask for Exchange support.

In August 2019 Milton Ngirente was very happy to welcome Catherine Gilain-Pycke to conduct a feasibility study at Blessed Dairies. Catherine is the managing director of Inex  and was one of the leading persons to develop this Flemish family company into one of the biggest players in dairy business in Belgium.

After a positive feasibiliy study Catherine decided to get involved in this new Exchange Growth Programme with Blessed Dairies as a coach. In October 2019 Milton Ngirente traveled to Bavegem to see the impressive production unit of Inex. Milton and Catherine also made a first draft of the growth programme.

The growth programme with Blessed Dairies that started at the beginning of 2020 has several objectives: first of all the strategic management and the marketing plan of Blessed Dairies needs an update. Also the improvement of the quality management will be a main issue to address. Blessed Dairies also wants to improve its processes and production techniques. Last but not least Inex will also advice Blessed Dairies regarding the ideal machines for dairy production and the lay out of the new production unit.

The first phase of the growth programme has been finished. Evariste Mariyamungu was welcomed by Inex in January 2020 for an intensive internship of 10 days. Inex provided an interesting programme tailormade to the objectives of Blessed Dairies. In 2020 Blessed Dairies is now taking action with all the lessons learned to improve Blessed Dairies. Inex is available at any time for advice and will support Blessed Dairies from a distance. In 2021 we will evaluate if a second coaching mission by Catherine is necessary and if any specific expertise is needed by Blessed Dairies. To be continued!