Henriette Uwizeye Gasaro (middle) displays her SME products
Henriette Uwizeye Gasaro is a young female entrepreneur who started (Isaroso30 ltd) with less than Rwf200,000 to produce processed red pepper oil (Akarungo) and mushroom stems to make ends meet in less than a year.
From her makeshift production joint in Kabuye, in Nyarugenge, she packs the products and transports them to markets in Kimironko, Karuruma, Nyabugogo and the Kigali CBD but her products are not fully certified with an S-Mark (offered by Rwanda Standards Board-RSB).
“I have not been aware that my products have to be certified and this is because I have not been informed and thus producing for wholesale to a few clients,” Gasaro said.
The experience and situation of Anastase Nkejuwimye, the owner of Deep Clean-a soap bar producing enterprise, is not different from the above. With a minimal capital of Rwf300,000 he runs the business producing the soap from his residence, with less than five employees and financially challenged with meeting the required standards (facility) to get his soap certified as a brand.
Anastase Nkejuwimye (middle)
“It is not easy to afford the required facilities and staff because of lack of financial resources and that means missing out on the opportunity to reach more buyers,” Nkejuwimye said.
Similar challenges are seen especially among SMEs dealing in fresh food, fruits and other horticulture products.
To address these challenges, the Private Sector Federation Specialized Cluster (PSF-SC) has entered into a joint partnership with British Standards Institution (BSI) to kick start a project that will enable a special category of Rwandan Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to acquire skills and standards requirements for certification to access more buyers.
The beneficiaries of this project include registered and unregistered members of the PSF-SC, which is a cross-cutting cluster & umbrella organisation for women, youth, & people with disabilities (PWDs) entrepreneurs.
Hybrid meeting between PSF-SC members, BSI, and FCDO
The sealing of the partnership launch event and commencement of training of the first batch of 30 beneficiaries under the “Standards Partnership Implementation Phase – Year 2 (FY24/25) project was conducted at a hybrid meeting held in Kigali this December 12, 2024.
“This project aims to support PSF SC members in obtaining quality certification marks, which will enable them to access both domestic and international markets,” said Therese Sekamana, the chairperson PSF-SC.
The PSF Specialized Cluster (PSF-SC) is a cross-cutting cluster and umbrella organization for special groups of entrepreneurs, operating as one of the key clusters within the Rwanda Private Sector Federation (PSF).
According to Sekamana, this partnership (which involves training and awareness) will open doors to the special groups to improve the quality of their products for sell within the local market but also into the regional and global markets.
“Besides accessing markets locally, they (specialized SMEs) need to reach other markets, but this cannot happen if they are producing without meeting required standards and certification,” Sekamana said in an interview.
Graham Holloway, the Team Leader, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Standards Partnership Project for Ghana and Rwanda said that entering this partnership will ensure trade happens between buyers and sellers and especially for specialized SMEs who still find it hard to get markets to sell to.
He noted that they are working with PSF and Standards Board to ensure market access and this is through- quality assurance and product standards, especially fruits and fresh foods.
Holloway said that the other challenge to address is barrier to markets entry- to get products into a country (market access) and this will be addressed by trying to assist PSF members to get their products to the market through certification from RSB
“This will come with training and some will be selected. we look forward to starting this project and the success will be to see a number of PSF members certified,” Holloway said.
Jane Nyamvumba, the RSB Director System Certification on Standards noted that for each product, upholding hygiene elements of the standards is one key to be competitive and the board is ready to walk the journey through capacity building to help implement standards and conformity.
“We are ready to show them (SMEs) how to implement these standards in order to access the markets. There are a number of standards that they need to know and learn to be recognized and certified to reach the local and regional markets,” Nyamvumba said.
To ease the journey, Anna Mugabo, a former Director General for Labour and Employment in the Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) called for need to categorization this cluster of SMEs, startups, big and small companies, without compromising standards, to gradually achieve certification especially that most have a range of varying financial difficulties.
Jeanne Franciose Ingabire, the PSF-SC Executive Director said that in order to walk the journey to meet standards, they will do field visit to assess needs on ground so as to support and advise on how to implement the requirements but to another level deal with financial difficulties with available opportunities.
Jeanne Franciose Ingabire (left)
