Building Better Futures for Women in Rwanda
In 2005, the Dukundekawa coffee cooperative, also known as Musasa, became Root Capital’s first client in Africa. Since its founding in 2004, Musasa has grown from 300 to more than 1,800 members—among them many women who were made widows by the 1994 genocide. Today, some of Musasa’s key managers are women, and the cooperative is pioneering new business opportunities for its female members.
Raymisa is a Peruvian producer and exporter of sustainable textiles, furniture, and home décor products. A Root Capital client since 2007, Raymisa provides traditional artisans with opportunities to use their skills to make a living. By providing markets for their goods, Raymisa increases incomes for hundreds of artisans and their families. This helps to stabilize rural communities, and to ensure that Peruvian crafts will be kept alive by a new generation of artisans..jpg?1323981759)
Freshco is a Kenyan company that sells high-yield hybrid seed, especially maize, to small-scale farmers. Maize seed that is optimized for the climates of Kenya’s various regions can produce up to six tons of grain per hectare, compared to a norm of only one ton with ordinary seed. Maize production is essential to Kenya’s fragile food security, but droughts in recent years have devastated harvests. By providing better seed to Kenyan farmers, Freshco is helping to feed a nation in which nearly three million people don’t have enough to eat.