Second day at work: Visiting Coopthega.

After a 1,5 hour drive (with taxi bus ;) we arrive in Nyabhu. Coopthega is another tea cooperative that is part of the union. Numerien introduces me to the agronomist and accountant. I am free to ask whatever I want and so the list begins. It took me about 2 hours to ask everything and I am starting to understand more and more the problems facing the union and why they brought me here. More and more ideas are rising to my head in order to help the union. It’s actually not a strategic plan they want but someone who thinks outside the box and can help them to become a reputable union.

Coopthega is part of the brand Rwandan Mountain Tea supported by the Belgian Development Cooperation.

After the immersion I get the opportunity to climb into the mountains and try to cut some tea leaves myself. Goodbye sedentary life this is going to be a lot of climbing and walking today. My physical therapist is Belgium must have a ball when she reads this because ‘Francine’ never walks.

It was worth the climb, these tea cutters conduct amazing work and an incredible speed. The average tea cutting is 50 kg a day. There is a story of a girl who could hand cut tea leaves 90 kg a day. She was sent to India to teach others how to manually cut so fast. Handcut leaves have superior quality. Machine cutting destroys the quality. In the tea factory boiling room section it smells like amazing tea. I still haven’t tasted the Rwandan premium quality tea!

Day 1 at work: The real deal Pfunda Tea Company

After our van -breakdown debacle I finally get to see the Pfunda Tea Company which is right across from the Cooperative. I meet with the head of the factory and he leads me into part of the process of making me tea. The cooperative side of Pfunda was already explained to me this morning by the manager. (On the motorbike in the photo)

The factory manager is a very clever guy whose father is a tea farmer. He knows every detail about tea. He explains to me how the tea is collected in the fields on the farmer’s own territory and transported to Pfunda. The fully loaded truck goes and stands on the scale. (As in photo) The truck gets unloaded by workers in blue and the empty truck goes back on the scale to calculate the difference. I thought that the tea leaves smelled great but according to the factory manager the smell wasn’t a good sign. He said that is a sign of lower quality. Samples are taken from the tea and analyzed in the weighing office. A score of 66 is premium quality. The tea goes to the first level for drying. The factory has 290 workers and Pfunda about 2000 pluckers.

There is also a huge storage facility of wood for the ovens to dry the tea. This morning I had read about CTC tea and orthodox tea and I noticed CTC equipment. I will receive more information on that tomorrow.

So far I have received quite limited information even though they keep telling me: We will tell you everything; but everything seems very marginal. The task to develop a strategic business plan is becoming more and more difficult. I have created an agenda to visit all the cooperation in the hope I will informally receive more information. I have gone through the filing cabinet in the office and this is also very limited. Numerien keeps telling me that they are in embryological stage and the union is ill. I am the doctor and I need to prescribe them medicine. I want to do my best especially as for the union having me here has a big financial impact. They rather not eat and have me eat.

I was also supposed to create a framework for Microfinance and microsavings within the Union but now I found out that the Pfunda Cooperative has its own saving and credit union. Things are starting to become very confusing… I hope this will soon all be cleared.

The President of the Union, Augustin also a teacher in primary school came to pay me a visit in the office. He was a very friendly and smart chap. We ran down my schedule and agreed on the costs of my mission. He wants us to sign a contract now. Augustin has a mandate for 3 years as President and still has a year to go. Augustin (Next to the motorbike in the picture.) also has tea farm land. I asked Numerien if there were still farm plots available but his answer is no. The land in Rwanda is so fertile it can grow anything. What a luxury !

First Day at work: Lunch time

We decided to go to town to buy a phone. The SIM card I received isn’t a microsim. I knew this was going to happen and even wrote about not forgetting to bring a small Nokia that fits a regular SIM. Well I forgot to bring the Nokia so I need another phone. I will now be carrying 3 phones and 4 numbers. In town we bought a Teco phone. Teco seems to be a big phone brand out here. I bought a basic Nokia type of phone that supports facebook and costed me 10000 Rwandan Francs. That is about 13 USD ! Good thing I didn’t buy my phone in Belgium. This model would be 25 euro. A good smartphone costs about 40 euro. Isn’t that fantastic ?

I noticed that Rwanda is not expensive at all. Taxi’s, food, phones, etc are cheap. This allows for Rwanda to have consumption and an increasing economy. This is much better than Liberia for example where the average salary is 60 USD a month and a basic phone cost 40 USD. Many people can’t even afford a bag of rice at 80 USD a month. Rwanda is different the country is affordable to its people. It’s not like Liberia or even Nigeria in that matter, where life can pretty much only be afforded by the rich. I have seen beggars here in Gisenyi but it is very very limited to what I am used to see in Africa. If Rwanda keeps continuing this road it will be a very well developed place within a decade. Roads are being constructed in the countryside. A lot of new villa type houses are being constructed by the local population. It is a nice sight. I give another high five to the Kagame regime!

Buying a phone with Numerien is so detailed. He wants everything to be perfect and he got me an extra deal of 800 free talking seconds. (Never have I seen phone companies charging in seconds. But it’s good because you can recharge for less than a dollar; again affordability is key here.) Numerien wants me to be happy and receive the best he can give. Numerien impresses me more and more everyday. He is so well organized and structured. I am starting to think he has OCD… Lol

At 1pm we drove back to the city in another jam packed bus. I couldn’t see a thing and didn’t even know where Numerien was sitting. As you can see from the photo one guy had to hang from the window and I was sitting on half a butt cheek. The bus was overloaded and I was convinced it was going to break down. I felt really hot and had the feeling my toes were on fire. I started to think maybe the engine is underneath my feet and something is really wrong. The heat became unbearable while we were trying to get across another hill. Yep my doom scenario happened; the bus shut down and we started rollingggggggggg backward down the hill. He finally managed to stop rolling backward into a dirt road. No one seemed to care and stayed on the bus. They lifted the first row seats and yes the engine was underneath my foot. (See photo) So I wasn’t crazy! My feet were literally on FIRE! While fixing the van half of the people stayed on the bus. I thought that was so dangerous… After half an hour we decided to leave and hop on another jam packed bus. I really want to take moto-taxi as it faster but Numerien doesn’t think it’s safe plus it costs triple the price.

Arrived back to the Centre Francois Xavier for lunch I decided I wanted to eat African food. All I see on the menu’s here is kind of Belgian food. I assume this is a result of Belgian colonisation. I am not in the mood for steak or stews nor French fries or purée. There is one African dish casava pasta, so I order it. It wasn’t spicy at all, so I added the lovely African Chilli pepper. Hmmmmmm

I am happy I have a phone number so I don’t have to use my Belgian private number anymore. This has costed me 100 euro already in a few days.

Back to work.

Day 2, First morning of work: The selfiestick !

Numerien, the coordinator of Union Theicoles de Crete Congo Nil was supposed to come get me at 9:00 o'clock to go to work together. I woke up around 7 AM but as usual I decided to laze around for a bit because I still got 2 hours to go. Before I know it’s 8:15 and I start my everyday morning headless chicken routine. This is my version of a quick shower, hair and makeup. At 8:30 I am already ordering ordering a cheese omelette and by 8:45 I have completed my breakfast. Hooray I am still on time. I was wrong. Numerien had beaten me again on the clock. He was already waiting in the lobby. He is so freaking punctual I will have to step up my clock game.

Dressed with a white formal shirt, lose pants that I bought at a microStart microcredit customer and my Valentino heels, we head out to the office. The reason why I am wearing heels and decided to dress up formally is that power dressing is still very common in Africa. You have to be well dressed at the office if you want to be a well respected lady and the men always wear shirts with or without tie. I assumed it would be the same here in Gisenyi.

In order to get to work we had to cross a few hills and hop in a taxi bus. This bus was so packed that I didn’t even see an available seat. Yet we wormed ourselves in there. To make matters worse a pregnant lady jumped in…. (See photos) I don’t mind all of this as I experienced this ‘jampacked bus situation’ before  in Nigeria but Rwanda is a hilly country and those vans can barely make it over the hills. I was scared we would roll completely backwards down the hill. Oh the thoughts that were racing through my head…

After 45 minutes we finally arrived at the office. (This journey by car would be 15 minutes) In the bus I had unpacked my jivo selfiestick and decided to try it out. Numerien loved it and immediately before entering the office everyone wanted to try the selfiestick. No one had seen this before even though everyone has a smartphone here. A business opportunity immediately jumped to my mind! (See photos above)

Numerien shows me his modest office first and then we go visit the manager of the Pfunda Tea company named Niyonizeye Claude Medard. He is a very friendly man but doesn’t say much. So I decided to lead the conversation by asking many questions about the Pfunda Tea Cooperative. I found out they are labelled fair trade by Forest Alliance and are the third best tea producer in Rwanda. The manager explains to me the tea making process which gave me food for thought to work out my agenda for the next few days.
Numerien and I return to his office and I get to meet Rwicaninyoni Jean de Dieu, 27 year old who is the accountant of the tea Union. Rwicaninyoni was also impressed by the selfiestick and wanted to try it out. After a long photo session of trying out my iPhone, Apple laptop and selfiestick; we decided to go into town.

Day 1/Part 2: Centre D'Acceuille Francois Xavier

After 3,5 hours we arrived right near the Gisenyi hospital. Numerien and I got off the bus and had to walk to the hotel. OOOOOh I was hating my suitcases at that point. Each of us carried one of the suitcases and schlept it up and down the hills to Centre D'Acceuille Francois Xavier. Numerien saw that I was dehydrated and went to get me plenty of water.

The centre D'Acceuille is very basic but has everything you need. I actually just now noticed that there is no tv in the room. (I never watch tv anyway so no big miss for me.) We had lunch here as you can see fries with rice ?! Besides the fact the carb in take was way too high; the food was very yummy! I could eat that dish everyday. Numerien and I chatted about work tomorrow and had a good laugh. Exhausted I drag myself to the room and began to unpack. There is no closet in the room so I have to divide all my items in a clever way.

I have my medicine cabinet; and yes as you can see I have every type of medication with me. Sickness isn’t going to be part of this mission and if it is I have every pill to self medicate.
I took the blankets of the bed, installed my malaria impregnated fitted sheet over the mattress so that no possible bug can bite me. I laid out my cosy Ralph Lauren blanket and popped up the malaria impregnated net. I double netted the bed as the hotel also had a net hanging from the ceiling. No bug will be able to get to me! I arranged the bathroom, hung my own toilet paper that I brought from home. (The little Scottex dog on my toilet roll makes me feel home.) Yes. Yes the small things in life… I even brought air freshener from Zeeman (the purple pot in the photo and yes the room needed it … Mildew smell) The room is starting to look at a dorm and I am smiling at my new house for the next 12 days.

Tomorrow is my first working day and I am very nervous as I want to perform at my best. It took me a while to choose what to wear tomorrow because first impressions always remain.

I haven’t slept much since Friday so on this note Goodnight!

Day 1 in Rwanda! Road trip from Kigali to Gisenyi !

Last night Numerien and Cyrille had agreed to come and pick me up between 9, 9:30 - 10 in order to take the bus to another town, Gisenyi (where I will be working) When I went to bed I thought for sure they will be late to pick me up. I am not going to set an alarm. I will be awake before they get here because they will be late.

Mannnnnn !! Was I wrong. They were on time and I was late. They asked me you are not a morning person are you ? I was embarrassed. Ok so that won’t happen again; Numerien is punctual.

So we left Chez Lando to go to the bus terminal (See pics above) and had to buy three seats on the bus due to my excess luggage ;) (Luckily I left some stuff at Nausicaa’s mom house and was left with 2 suitcases and a backpack.) I figured it would be difficult on the bus…

The bus system is privately owned but works very well. Every 30 minutes there is a bus to Gisenyi. The ride took 3 hours but was amazingly beautiful. There is no denying that Rwanda is the land of the thousand hills ! Numerien says thousand hills, thousand problems and thousand solutions and he is probably right. The road is perfect (again what a big difference compared to other African countries I visited) but curvy. You are continuously lingered from left to right, basically falling on top of each other due to the hilly landscape. It ended up actually being good for my vertigo. I think that being flipped from one side to the other, it somehow balanced the crystals in my ear.

I  sat next to a young guy who was editor of umycoradio.com and hoped to receive a scholarship abroad in order to further his education. I hope he gets it.

I noticed on the bus that the young generation doesn’t speak French but only English. While the older generation only French and no English. So I never really know in what language to approach someone. However these are minor issues.

When we got 2 hours into the bus ride I got so sleepy. We had made it now from Kigali to Musanza and I saw the Diane Fossey foundation :) When I was basically becoming narcoleptic Numerien decides he wants to talk.. Sigh…

“The evidence suggests that the truth lies in the in-between: Microfinance works really well sometimes – but not always. It works for some people the way we thought it might, and for others in ways we didn’t anticipate.”

— I copied the above quote from lyrianfleming blog because I tend to agree on the statement. My experience in microfinance shows that it works for the majority of people. Unfortunately there are always a few people on which microfinance has  “adverse effects”. However, by providing free coaching, guidance and training these possible “adverse effects” of microfinance can be eliminated over time. Microfinance should be a combination of credit and (business) coaching. In our microfinance agency (microStart) we call this combination “GUIDED MICROCREDITS”. Through granting guided microcredits we see that microfinance can be successful for everyone.

FI2020 Week to Convene Global Conversations on Financial Inclusion

prnewswire-yahoopartner:

WASHINGTON, Sept.17, 2015 /PRNewswire/ – The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) today announced the upcoming launch of Financial Inclusion 2020 (FI2020) Week, taking place from November 2-6, 2015.

During the week, stakeholders from across the globe will organize and participate in conversations and events to explore the most important steps for achieving financial inclusion – access to financial services for low-income people – by 2020.

The range of participants will include banks, insurance companies, payment companies, telecommunication companies, policy-makers, regulators, NGOs, microfinance institutions, investors, financial-inclusion support organizations, financial capability experts and fintech companies, across multiple geographies. Stakeholders will conduct interactive and participatory events, each of which is designed to produce calls to action. FI2020 Week partners will focus on the question, “What are the most important actions needed in our context (country or industry segment) to advance financial inclusion?”  

Partners sponsoring FI2020 Week events to date include: AVAL Consulting, BRAC, CGAP, Fidelity Bank Ghana, Freedom from Hunger, Good Return, Grameen Foundation, GSMA, Innovations for Poverty Action, Institute of International Finance (IIF), JP Morgan Chase, LeapFrog Investments, Making Cents, MetLife Foundation, Micropension Foundation, Microsave’s The Helix Institute, Pakistan Microfinance Network, Sightsavers, Smart Campaign, and Accion. A more detailed description of these events is available on the FI2020 Week website.

“FI2020 Week is a unique opportunity to engage in global conversations on the challenges and opportunities facing financial service providers, regulators and policymakers – indeed, anyone with a stake in this important goal,” said Elisabeth Rhyne, managing director of the Center for Financial Inclusion. “We look forward to sharing and learning from these conversations.”

The FI2020 Week website, www.fi2020week.org, will feature live social media posts and photos from the events during the week, followed by key recommendations, reflections, and findings from each conversation following the week. Visit the website for a full list of planned events and partners. Companies and organizations interested in participating in FI2020 Week should contact Allyse McGrath at the CFI, at amcgrath@accion.org.

Financial inclusion is defined as state in which everyone who can use them has access to a full suite of quality financial services, provided at affordable prices, in a convenient manner, with respect and dignity. Within this vision, financial services are delivered by a range of providers, in a stable, competitive market to financially capable clients.

About the Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion  
The Center for Financial Inclusion at Accion (CFI) is an action-oriented think tank working toward full global financial inclusion. Constructing a financial inclusion sector that reaches everyone with quality services will require the combined efforts of many actors. CFI contributes to full inclusion by collaborating with sector participants to tackle challenges beyond the scope of any one actor, using tools that include research, convening, capacity building, and communications. To learn more about CFI, visit www.centerforfinancialinclusion.org

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To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fi2020-week-to-convene-global-conversations-on-financial-inclusion-300145165.html