Janet from Gahaya Links
Janet Nkubana partnered with her relative and created a company called Gahaya Links; which is known to have promoted the Agaseke and other woven products. They have different varieties and colors of the Agaseke which help them market and sell their product all around the world, especially in the US.
So far Janet’s company has grown not only businesswise but also in the act of helping other women to develop themselves. Janet holds different workshops and conferences whereby she teaches good business skills to the youth; we talked with her when she had just finished holding a workshop at IFC.
Janet studied art and design but she grew up seeing her mother weave alongside other women that were neighbors in the refugee camp they lived in; these women would weave and also teach the art to their daughters.
She became the manager of Hotel Kiyovu after the 1994 Genocide; the situation after the Genocide was bad such that she met many survivor women who begged around for help in order to survive.
These same ladies then started coming to the hotel to sell woven products to the white tourists staying there. Janet then realized that she could help them using her position at the hotel; she opened a shop for the ladies whereby they would display and sell their products.
When Hotel Kiyovu clsed down, she saw it as an opportunity to do her own business; she went to the village to find women that could weave and started with five of them. She has now trained over 4000 women on good weaving techniques and also buys their products to re sell.
They also produce earrings, handbags and material clothes in addition to weaving.
Her jewelry is now internationally recognized and is even worn by stars like Alicia Keys and Queen Latifah. She also has an outlet at Macy’s.
One of the challenges she met was that husbands or relatives of some of the women she worked with, had killed families of their colleagues; so it was hard for them to collaborate and work together. But this no longer caused a problem when they started earning profits.
Janet’s advice to women is to stop fearing themselves and work hard; “whatever size of a business you have, it can take you anywhere.”
Astrida U.