EFI Hub, a newly formed mentoring and accelerator programme for startups across Africa and India, has expanded its portfolio of businesses to be mentored. Anu Shah, cofounder and CEO of EFI Hub, says the latest addition is ‘The Women’s Bakery,’ a co-operative bakery operating in Rwanda in the east of Africa. While the scale may not be massive, its impact will be profound.
The business is expected to change the landscape of the bakery sector in Rwanda, and is currently providing 110 women from rural Rwanda with their own bread and butter. According to Anu Shah, EFI Hub is in conversation with Dr. Reddy’s Foundation, a non-profit partner of Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, and an IIM institute to expand The Women’s Bakery to India. Anu said, “EFI Hub will be working on mentoring The Women’s Bakery and will be helping the business with its market entry and growth strategy for the Indian market.”
The Women’s Bakery is based in Rwanda, an African nation with a sparse population of 12 million tightly packed into one of the smallest countries by geography on the continent’s mainland. The Rwandan market is incredibly receptive to baked carbohydrates; bread consumption is very high in the country. It is yet another point on the plate to capitalise for The Women’s Bakery aiming to produce goods that are of high quality and value at an affordable cost, as locals consume low quality, dry, tasteless bread owing to high expensive ingredients.
This startup from Rwanda isn’t the typical tech startup, and is making sweeping changes in the local economy of a country recovering from a horrendous period of genocide in 1994. Its business model is deeply entrenched in training, coaching and mentoring local women to bake high quality bread. In a country fighting malnutrition from low crop yields and lack of safe drinking water, especially in its rural areas, this business is aiming to procure high quality flour rich in protein for baking with the baking done on-site with a small shop next to the baking centre to sell fresh products.
Anu Shah, mentor of this still-baking-in-the-oven startup, wants to help this African business prosper in her homeland. She explained that as part of their Indian expansion plan, Dr Reddy’s Foundation has been approached for assistance in having the The Women’s Bakery conduct centralised training programmes in 32 villages in India. The programme would be to train women to bake and create a livelihood for themselves.
Shah says, “An IIM has shown interest in the model and has presented the model as a business challenge to their students. Six students signed up for the business challenge. Unfortunately, the timing was bad as it was the student’s break and they could not meet together to work together. However, The Women’s Bakery is trying to accommodate their schedule to take this further.”
