During a recent visit to Rwanda, we visited some of our growth programmes for an extensive interview with their founders about the company, their lives and entrepreneurship in their country.

The Kigali-based Rwanda Clothing has been an Exchange growth programme since 2016. In the past years, the company has expanded from a clothing workshop to include many kinds of accessories as well as hand crafted furniture. Joselyne Umutoniwase, the brain behind Rwanda Clothing, believes in the use of local products, recycling and upcycling. She designs custom pieces for a variety of clients and employs 43 staff. Everyone who started working at Rwanda Clothing has stayed. Now, Joselyne is working on a coffee shop next to the store so she can offer her customers a complete experience.

Part 1: the work

Can you tell me a bit more about what your company does?

Joselyne Umutoniwase: Rwanda Clothing is a creative hub, a company dedicated to creating beautiful handmade pieces, dedicated to customisation and producing things 100% Rwandan.

When did you start?

Joselyne: It’s been 12 years; during these years we have been trying to contribute to a sustainable way of living, teaching people how to live by their talent. The whole team has developed, we expand their talents by teaching people how to maximize their knowledge and learn more every day to produce beautiful things.

Why this sector?

Joselyne: I started with clothing because it’s my passion. I was always really attracted to clothes and dressing differently. If someone had something nice, I wanted to use that but twist it and make it my own thing. That’s the customisation part, which stuck with me and which is part of the brand identity.

This creativity also expanded into interior design.

Joselyne: Yeah, the interior design didn’t come as a surprise. When you are creative, you tend to be creative in many different areas. In the beginning I wanted to start with clothing because I really understood the technical part. For a long time, I did it just for myself and my friends. After starting Rwanda Clothing, it took us around 7 years to master the technical part. The brand was running properly and I said to myself ‘why not offer something extra?’. This was also because of our customers. They would look at the lounge chair in our welcome area and ask if they could buy it. I told them we didn’t sell it, but maybe in the future. Slowly, slowly the customer could use the trust they had in our beautiful pieces to trust us to be able to do more. They continued to push, until we started with accessories, pillow cases, lamps,... they kept asking for more, so we expanded to interior production, which now offers them unique pieces for their home.

Have there been any big milestones in the history of your company? 

Joselyne: The big milestone for me was I think when we expanded to our current space. In the beginning it was just a small building in the back and a lot of things were missing in terms of machinery. My team was struggling in a lot of areas. When we moved here, I started working with different companies like Exchange and BPN to help me grow the company and the team properly. The first five years we reached the milestone of proper growth; I started with 2 people and after 5 years we were around 12-15 people. That’s when I started seeing the impact, the trust of the community. I started seeing that people embraced what we were doing. In the beginning people wondered why we were doing this. ‘It’s more expensive’, they said, or ‘we can buy clothes at the market’. When people started realizing it was not just clothing, that it’s a journey of creativity that we take together with the customer, it changed the mentality. The government has also put in a lot of effort in changing the mentality, promoting Made in Rwanda. My label was one of the very first to have the Made in Rwanda tag on it. The whole country was part of the journey I was taking.

What are you most proud of?

Joselyne: My team. Recently, I was sitting with a friend and talking about our growth in the past 12 years, which feels like ages. When I look at every individual person in this company, I know their story, how we met and how they came to be in this company. That’s really touching for me and it shows me that I didn’t just do something for me, to become important or known or whatever, it was about creating a beautiful community and team. I see their lives changing, one by one, and I can tell you that sometimes I look at them and I can’t stop smiling about it. To see them change, to see them improve. They’ve also seen me grow, first in my twenties, now in my thirties. They see a different person and that is a journey we took together. That is what I’m proud of. 

What are your ambitions and long term goals for the company?

Joselyne: I feel like my next move is to continue to expand the brand, but mostly to see what the market needs. I want to expand into services, serving my customers better according to what they need. At this moment, after 2 years of Covid and a lot of changes in Rwanda, there are a lot of steps that I can’t 100% be sure of and which ask for a lot of investment. Now I’m putting in a lot of effort to get new machines there, making sure we can produce a piece which can compete on the market and which we are proud of. 

It’ll take me another 2-3 years to compete, maybe by then I’ll be done with the coffee shop [Joselyne is building her own coffee shop in her old office next to the clothing store] … I’m going with the flow, seeing what happens in the area. As a young entrepreneur, you put a lot of pressure on yourself to achieve a lot in a short amount of time. I don’t do that anymore; I’ve learned that it’s not necessary. My journey is mine. If it’s going to take me 5 years or 10, if I reach what I’m supposed to reach, I’m proud. 

I’m taking slow steps, looking back to see what is missing. We grew quite fast and as a new brand in Rwanda you feel the pressure that makes you try to do everything as fast as possible, but I don’t have that pressure anymore. I’ve created a lot of inspiration for so many and there are plenty of designers now around the city. I’ve taught different programs and given back to the community. Now I have time to take a step back and see what is missing, either in production management, sales department, marketing .... 

We live in a world where things have to be done so fast, and I ask myself ‘for what?’ If it’s your passion and you’re going to do it your whole life, why are you running? I feel alive here, so why should I not enjoy every step? 

Part 2: life & Exchange

Can you tell me a bit more about yourself?

Joselyne: I always call myself a self made entrepreneur. I didn’t go to a fashion or design school. I learned by doing. Mistakes have happened, and I corrected them. I’m a mom of two, a sister, a daughter. I believe in doing things because you really feel like you can put in 100% of your contribution. Not for money or to impress, but because you believe in it. I also believe in starting small. There is really no need to start big. The company started with 2 tailors, me, and my ex-husband. We did it together and grew the company, there was no need of a huge investment. It grew organically, one thing at a time. I believe if you’re passionate, go for it, put in 100% of your effort and you can reach it. 

What inspires you in life?

Joselyne: Mostly small things. I’m a social person, I like to be with people and hear peoples’ stories and journeys. Character strength, tenacity, really inspires me. I also believe in my environment, which inspires my clothing the most. I travel a lot. I believe in loving things not too deeply; I love things and if I like something, I will imitate it until I make it my own. Most of the time we create nothing new. We are just inspired by others’ work, we add our own touch, improve upon it, make it our own. That inspires me. 

What do you like to do in your free time?

Joselyne: This year I took a year off of work, I was exhausted. In this year off, I’m taking a pottery class. I like working with my hands, be it gardening, pottery, … apart from that I’m mostly trying to look outside of myself. For a long period of time it was all about me, me, me, what can I do for me, now I’m looking at what can I do for others, how can I give back, even in small ways.  

What has your experience with Exchange been like?

Joselyne: Exchange has been life changing for me because the first time they came - I think around 2016 -  I was struggling a lot. The pattern maker was struggling to create the proper fits and we would have to redo our clothing several times, creating a lot of unnecessary work. BPN [Business Professionals Network Rwanda] was talking about Exchange. I wanted to try it. At the beginning I was afraid of the cost. Then they sent me Liesbeth [Verhelst] and Natalie [Aerts] and I was so happy because these women were at the same point in their lives as I was. Our energy matched completely and the three weeks they spent here were also life changing for them. Now when we meet we take our time, but then we were just cutting patterns all day. Three weeks flew by. Working together with people who understand you is amazing. The communication was easy, they love the same things, … we developed a friendship as well and when I’m in Europe we try to see each other. 

Exchange doesn’t only bring knowledge, but also the understanding that whatever struggle you have, you’re not alone. In the beginning I thought I couldn’t handle it. Then Exchange came in, we fixed it together and found a solution customized to me. Liesbeth also came alone twice for leather making. Most of the accessories we sell here or in another shop in the countryside were developed thanks to Exchange. Searching for so many solutions by yourself can be draining; it’s very important as an entrepreneur to have this person to lean on. 

Part 3: entrepreneurship and Rwanda

What do you like most about Rwanda?

Joselyne: The people and energy are amazing, the weather suits me and I love the scenery. To me, the combination of this creates the love for Rwanda. It wasn’t like that all the time. Growing up in a difficult time, right after the genocide, was tough. I was afraid and pondering if I should love the country or run from it and find somewhere else to live. But the efforts which the country itself put into practice to fight that fear made me love the country even more. Every single year I could see the improvement, and I was also part of the change. As a younger girl you don’t have that much to offer, but you see things change and improve and you start being inspired by it. I knew I was always creative, and if I was part of the creative industry I would do something important, which can also change and improve the lives of others. The love of my country was not a given, it was something that slowly grew. Now I really feel that when you look at where Rwanda comes from, it’s a form of disbelief. And that makes you feel like nothing is impossible. And then the love grew.

How do you look at entrepreneurship in your country? What do you think of the business climate?

Joselyne: Entrepreneurship has changed; seeing a younger girl starting a company - I was 23 - was not very common, but I know that the government has made it possible for me as a woman to start a company. Everything was in place and I took a leap of faith and did it. That was only possible because of the efforts of the government. Protecting us, helping us put everything in place, helping us through different programmes so we know what we’re doing. Every entrepreneur you find here, you feel like they’ve done 5 years of university on entrepreneurship. It’s because of all those programmes and the way they were implemented with organisations outside of Rwanda. All done specifically to grow this ecosystem of entrepreneurship in Rwanda. And it was done properly, to create those entrepreneurs who can last. So many things we’re still learning about now to improve as an entrepreneur, and we’re being updated on all the different groups and associations we can count on. We know that if there is something that needs to be discussed, you will be heard. 

How do you see this situation evolving throughout the next few years?

Joselyne: There’s still a lot of room to improve, but I feel I see it creating even more, stronger entrepreneurs. Because now that we know which way to go, there are also other areas in terms of creating huge companies and asking for loans, which is something Rwandan entrepreneurs are struggling with. It’s one of the areas which need to be improved upon and which entrepreneurs can look forward to for growth, expanding outside of Rwanda for example.

What improvements do you look forward to the most?

Joselyne: I think I look forward the most to the growth of the market. I feel like we’ve saturated the market in Kigali. If we could expand to East Africa, the exchange could be really beautiful. There are so many big cities in East Africa that could benefit from what is being made here and we could benefit from what is made there. Nairobi, Kampala, Dar es Salaam, ... as an entrepreneur it would be beautiful to discover the potential. I think most ngos look outside to Europe and America for growth and export, but never within East Africa. I think that should be done on a governmental level. We can exchange knowledge, and I always look for knowledge, because that’s something I have which nobody can take. If I can give it to my team, nobody can take it from them. Exchanging knowledge with Tanzania for example - their craftsmanship is incredible - could be an amazing way of growing our economies.