Alex Rose-Innes
It is often espoused that a person is born for a specific time. In the case of Chantal Butare, this adage definitely holds true as she continues to change the lives of Rwanda’s genocide survivors in her country.
Despite being gifted with a cow each from the Rwandan government, these survivors of some of the worst human atrocities in the world, battled to transport and sell their milk at local markets. The post-genocide Girinika governmental programme provided families with the means to improve their financial situations, but it took a young student to provide them with the opportunity to actually do so.
With most of these milk-producers being female, Chantal, at the age of only 21, as a student at the Rwandan University, started a dairy co-op to eradicate poverty and address severe hardship in her country of birth. When she was awarded the prestigious MasterCard Anzisha Sector Prize in Agriculture eight years ago, there was no stopping this young woman. Under her hand and with her business acumen, the Kinazi Dairy Co-Operative was born and today, many people’s lives had been drastically changed and a sustainable income provided.
Generating income for poor communities, Chantal collects and processes the milk and in the process, not only affords a measure of dignity to her fellow Rwandans, but created jobs as well. Her ultimate dream is to generate sufficient capital to totally mechanise her business in order to speed up the process and create additional benefits for more impoverished families.
Still under age 30, Chantal continues to be a role model for many on the African continent, operating a successful business previously thought not for traditional young people and definitely not for young women.
When she was awarded MasterCard’s Anizha Prize for innovation, a top executive of the organisation said that he never “ceased to be amazed at the ingenuity and calibre of African entrepreneurs.”
“My vision is to help eradicate poverty and hunger among vulnerable people in my community,” Chantal was quoted as saying in international media. Today, she still holds that vision as she continues to be a driver of economic growth, not only in Rwanda, but across the African continent.
And as the mostly female farmers who are part of this enterprise grow their herds, the manure is also used for small-scale agricultural farming. Three years ago, the Rwandan government reached its target of providing almost 400 000 families with a cow.
Not only had the Girinka programme and Chantal’s Kinazi Co-operative improved the living conditions of Rwandans, but the malnutrition of children had dropped subsequently. Rural communities have been trained how to access local markets. As most of these communities battle with transport as a result of their location, the Kinazi Co-op had also managed to find a way to reach these farmers.
A special App had been developed at one of Rwanda’s first technology training institutes, Gumaho, to assist farmers with information on how to grow their herds and milk production. The app is both mobile and web–based and is used for milk collection and distribution. Farmers can use the app to call a milk collector and trace the distribution of their milk via SMS. Through Gumaho, farmers can book a vet to see their heifer and get an advance on their payments. All this resulted as the dream of one young woman.
*The Anzisha Prize is a partnership between The African Leadership Academy and The MasterCard Foundation. When Chantal won the award, she beat almost 500 others equally impressive young entrepreneurs and innovators from 33 African countries for the top spot. Having received a share of the prize money of US$75,000 eight years ago, Chantal became part of a pool of Fellows to receive access to ongoing support to scale their enterprises and expand their impact.
