Muhimpundu Jacqueline, an Entrepreneur in Rwanda, explains her challenges with the pandemic and how she managed to overcome them
The SME Response Clinic spoke with Muhimpundu Jacqueline, an Entrepreneur in Rwanda, to understand the challenges she faced due the pandemic and how she managed to overcome them.
Simbare Gilbert, an Entrepreneur in Rwanda, explains his challenges with the pandemic and how he managed to overcome them
The SME Response Clinic spoke with Simbare Gilbert, an Entrepreneur in Rwanda, to understand the challenges he faced due the pandemic and how he managed to overcome them.
AMI Virtual Speed Networking Event
Every month, we provide a supportive space for a community of ambitious entrepreneurs from across Africa, to network in this structured speed networking session.
This virtual networking event includes:
- Talk & Q&A with renowned entrepreneur Ciiru Waweru Waithaka who has received recognition from heads of state during the UK-Investment summit in 2020; Michelle Obama and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Program for her work in sustainable manufacturing.
- 45mins of facilitated speed networking to connect and interact with other entrepreneurs from across the continent
- Access to a FREE practical tool to help you understand and connect with your customers
Don’t miss this opportunity to learn and network with entrepreneurs from across the continent next week Wednesday 30th September 2020 at 8 p.m. EAT / 7 p.m. South and Central / 6 p.m. West Africa / 5 p.m. GMT.
Limited slots are available.
AMI Online Bootcamp: Tools for Managing Risk and Learning from Others - Justine Ntaganda
AMI Online Bootcamp: Tools for Managing Risk and Learning from Others
Testimonial: Justine Ntaganda, Owner, La Corniche Hotel in Rubavu and Nyabihu, and Salma Nkusi, Manager (it is a family business)
Justine Ntaganda and Salma Nkusi operate the “La Corniche” hotels in two locations in Rwanda, Rubavu and Nyabihu. The hospitality and tourism industry has been hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and the mother-daughter team has found that the AMI trainings have provided an opportunity to take a step back, learn new business skills, and make decisions that will help the hotels to thrive in the future.
What was most valuable for you about the AMI trainings?
“My daughter Salma and I have benefited enormously from the tools shared by AMI. For me personally, the advice shared on tools for better collaboration helped us to choose to use “One Drive” to share information. The tool for analyzing clients’ needs was also an interesting exercise during this time because demand has changed a lot. It is important that we adapt and continue to do our business.” ~ Justine Ntaganda
With the AMI tools, we are now able to check our books on a weekly basis, track cashflow and be accountable. Now, we even have a meeting on a weekly basis with our staff using the data and make decisions about where we stand. Where do we need to cut, for example?
These tools are helping with day-to-day management and the trainings have provided content in an understandable way. What’s more, the session on goal setting has been very great. Now as a team we talk and think together about our long-term goals and put them in writing as well. This helps us to prioritize and to decide how we will track our progress together.
“AMI is pushing me towards the implementation of all of these new ideas that I had but weren’t written down, and didn’t have a timeline –the tools are great, and looking at budgeting of the organization is something that we need to have in place for banks in terms of funding, too.” ~ Salma Nkusi
How has AMI supported you?
For us, it has been like going back to school, only for our personal growth and for the benefit of our business. AMI has helped us create a budget, and not only that, but to learn how to communicate with our staff so that they clearly see that there are reasons that we make the financial decisions we need to make.
One other interesting area of support from AMI is their “A New Rise” daily meditation. It’s another way to start your day by clearing your mind, breathing, and planning instead of waking up and feeling as if you are just facing emergencies.
Amahugurwa ya AMI atangwa kuri interineti: Amasomo ku Guhangana n’Ingorane no Kwigira ku Bandi
Ongera ubumenyi bwawe bwo gucunga ibikorwa by’ubucuruzi ubikesheje amahugurwa ya AMI atangwa ku buntu:
Amahugurwa: kuwa kabiri tariki ya 28 Nyakanga 2020 – https://smeresponse.clinic/2020/07/19/ami-business-bootcamp/
Ubuhamya: Justine Ntaganda, Nyiri La Corniche Hotel iherereye i Rubavu na Nyabihu, na Salma Nkusi, Umuyobobozi (ni ibikorwa by’ubucuruzi by’umuryango)
Justine Ntaganda na Salma Nkusi bakorera ibikorwa bya hoteli “La Corniche” ahantu habiri mu Rwanda, Rubavu na Nyabihu. Urwego rwo gucumbira abantu n’ubukerarugendo rwagizweho ingaruka zikomeye n’icyorezo cya COVID-19 kandi muri ibi bikorwa bibiri byuzuzanya, byagaragaye ko amahugurwa yabafashishije gusubiza amaso inyuma, bakunguka ubumenyi bushya bwo gukora ubucuruzi, no gufata ibyemezo bizafasha amahoteli gutera imbere mu gihe kiri imbere.
Ni iki cyakugiriye akamaro kurusha ibindi mu mahugurwa ya AMI?
“Njyewe n’umukobwa wanjye Salma twungukiye bikomeye ku nyigisho zatanzwe na AMI. Njyewe ku giti cyanjye, inama bampaye mu masomo yerekeye imikoranire myiza, zamfashije guhitamo gukoresha uburyo bwa “One Drive” mu rwego rwo gusangira amakuru. Isomo ryerekeye gusesengura ibyo abakiriya bakeneye ni umukoro ukomeye muri iki gihe kubera ko ibyo abakiriya bakeneye byarahindutse cyane. Ni ngombwa ko dusanisha n’igihe ibikorwa by’ubucuruzi byacu kugira ngo bibashe gukomeza.” ~ Justine Ntaganda
Tubikesheje amasomo ya AMI, ubu tugenzura ibitabo by’ubucuruzi buri cyumweru, tugakurikirana amafaranga yinjiye n’ayasohotse, kandi tukaba twabazwa ku nshingano zacu. Ubu dusigaye dukorana inama ya buri cyumweru n’abakozi, tugakoresha amakuru, tugafata n’ibyemezo bitewe n’uko ibikorwa bihagaze. Urugero: nihe dukwiye kugabanya amafaranga akoreshwa?
Aya masomo adufasha mu micungire y’ibikorwa bya buri munsi, kandi ibyo bigishije mu mahugurwa byarumvikanaga. Ikindi, isomo rijyanye no gushyiraho intego ryari ryiza cyane. Ubu, twese hamwe nk’itsinda rimwe, turaganira, tukanatekerereza hamwe ku ntego zacu z’igihe kirekire kandi tukazishyira mu nyandiko. Ibi bidufasha kumenya ibyihutirwa no gufatira hamwe icyemezo ku bijyanye no gukurikirana iterambere ryacu twese hamwe.
“AMI imfasha gushyira mu bikorwa ibi bitekerezo byose bishya nari mfite ariko bitari byanditse, kandi bitari bifite igihe runaka cyo kubishyira mu bikorwa –Amasomo ni meza cyane, kandi no kwita ku bijyanye n’ingengo y’imari y’ikigo nacyo ni ikintu tugomba gukora mu rwego rwo gukorana n’amabanki kugira ngo tubone amafaranga.” ~ Salma Nkusi
Ni gute AMI yagufashije?
Kuri njye, byabaye nko gusubira ku ishuri, bimfasha gutera imbere ku giti cyanjye, bigirira n’akamaro ibikorwa by’ubucuruzi byacu. AMI ntiyadufashije gukora ingengo y’imari gusa, ahubwo yanadufashije kumenya kuganira n’abakozi kugira ngo basobanukirwe impamvu dufata ibyemezo bijyanye n’imari tuba tugomaba gufata.
Ikindi kintu cy’ingenzi AMI yadufashijemo ni uburyo bw’imitekereze ya buri munsi bise “New Rise”. Ni ubundi buryo bwo gutangira umunsi wawe usukura ibitekerezo byawe, imihumekere, ukanategura gahunda yawe aho gukanguka umeze nk’aho ibintu byose ukora bigutunguye.
Ongera ubumenyi bwawe bwo gucunga ibikorwa by’ubucuruzi ubikesheje amahugurwa ya AMI atangwa ku buntu:
Amahugurwa: kuwa kabiri, tariki ya 28 Nyakanga 2020– https://smeresponse.clinic/2020/07/19/ami-business-bootcamp/
Sign Up Today! / Iyandikishe uyu munsi!
AMI Online Business Survival Bootcamp
Grow your business skills through AMI's Free Online Bootcamps!
With the aim of equipping businesses with practical tools to face challenges brought by COVID-19, African Management Institute (AMI) is conducting a FREE COVID -19 Business Survival Bootcamp, with two different tracks. You can sign up for either one track or both tracks depending on your business needs.
- Track 1: Financial Forecasting & Cost Management Bootcamp helps you with immediate action to the threats to your businesses is facing. This track focuses on mapping out scenarios, assessing and addressing risks to your business, reviewing tools to forecast your cash flow, and defining short-term strategies. July 28th, 2020 at 15:00 pm (Kinyarwanda)
- Track 2: Reboot & Adapt Your Business: Innovation in the “New Normal” will provide you with the next steps to reboot your business, relaunch, and drive new sales. This track focuses on identifying opportunities for innovation and growth, performing market analysis, validating your new idea, and financial modeling forecasting for new products. August 11th, 2020 at 15:00 pm (English)
BOTH TRACKS INCLUDE:
- A 90-minute virtual learning session
- Access to additional courses and tools to help implement learnings for two weeks
- Opportunity to interact and network with other entrepreneurs in Rwanda
Both training webinars are designed specifically for business owners and entrepreneurs. Attendance is restricted at these sessions to keep them highly interactive, so please only sign up if you’re an entrepreneur (AMI will be organizing separate webinars for managers and leaders). Please share with other entrepreneurs and business owners in your network.
How to Access the Training
What Participants Had to Say About the Training
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How to Access AMI's Free Training
How to Access AMI’s Free Training
We know things are tough for entrepreneurs right now and believe you want to explore ways of improving your business in the face of COVID-19. The 90-minute webinar, Reboot and Adapt Your Business: Innovation in the “New Normal,” is a great place to start! There are only two simple steps you need to follow to participate in the AMI’s free training.
Step 1. Sign up by filling out this form. Once you sign up, you will receive a confirmation email. The email will include a link to a platform called Zoom.
Step 2. About 10 minutes before the webinar begins, open the confirmation email and click on the meeting link, and it will launch the platform. Then, the facilitator will walk you through how to use the platform.
If you have any trouble, reach out via WhatsApp at +250 78 7339 435 or via email at rwanda@africanmanagers.org. After the webinar, you will receive an email with log-in information to access free tools and to engage in a community discussion with participants.
You can ask questions anytime either via the Reboot and Adapt community on the AMI platform or via the WhatsApp group.
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Rwandan Online Business Bootcamp Launched
Rwandan Online Business Bootcamp Launched
On Tuesday, May 12th, small businesses in Rwanda from different sectors and with different business sizes joined the FREE “Business Survival Bootcamp” facilitated by the African Management Institute (AMI).
Jean Bosco Iyacu of Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR), opened the webinar with a message of solidarity for the SME Response Clinic and SMEs in Rwanda.
The webinar, which will be held in Kinyarwanda on Thursday, May 14th, takes businesses through important tools for planning during the COVID-19 pandemic. These include:
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- Scenario planning for your business – how do you deal with issues regarding customers, suppliers, infrastructure, staff and cash flow? How will these be affected if I close or have slow business for two weeks? What if it is two months?
- Organizational risk assessments – looking at the different dimensions of business, the risks they face, and how to mitigate them. What do you do if you can’t get the goods you need for your store, or supply your customers?
- Impact on cash flow – what to do if and when your cash flow is affected by an unexpected closure or low period.
WHAT PARTICIPANTS HAD TO SAY
“These will be great resources to use.”
“Thanks AMI and team for this lovely webinar and the resources.”
All participants are given access to tools, such as cash flow planning spreadsheets, from AMI to use to help in their own businesses. These resources are free and designed specifically to navigate the issues in the COVID-19 pandemic, and include additional courses.
These tools and conversations are important given that the pandemic is likely to continue to affect SMEs in Rwanda – and around the world – for an unknown period of time. According to Diederik Wokke of AMI, many small businesses originally thought they would be affected for just the first two weeks of the lockdown. Now that the situation is stabilizing but slowly, businesses still need to build these skills and plan for a more uncertain future.
Conversation during the training highlighted some of the questions that SMEs have right now. For example, supplier negotiation is becoming more difficult now that businesses are able to open little by little. A shop renting a space may have had more flexibility in terms of payment during the lockdown, but this is changing as the country opens.
Finally, there are still many questions around payments and transferring to contactless mechanisms as much as possible. Many businesses are switching to digital payments and are still in the learning phase.
But with planning, management, and resources like those available from the SME Response Clinic, small businesses will be more likely to survive this pandemic.
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Upcoming Sessions:
2nd June 2020 at 1400hrs (Kigali) / Kinyarwanda | Open
4th June 2020 at 1400hrs (Kigali) / English | Open
Find out more about the upcoming sessions at “Expanding My Skills” on the SME Response Clinic website and on Facebook.
Hatangijwe Umwiherero ku mirimo y’ubucuruzi ikorwa hifashishijwe ikoranabuhanga mu Rwanda
Ku wa Kabiri, tariki ya 12 Gicurasi 2020, abahagarariye ibigo bito by’ubucuruzi mu Rwanda byo mu nzego zinyuranye kandi bitandukanye mu bunini bw’ibikorwa by’ubucuruzi bikora bitabiriye Umwiherero ugamije Kuzahura Ubucuruzi wateguwe n’Ikigo Nyafurika gishinzwe Icungamutungo (AMI).
Jean Bosco Iyacu wo mu kigo Access to Finance Rwanda (AFR), ni we wafunguye uwo mwiherero witabiriwe hakoreshejwe ikoranabuhanga atanga ubutumwa bwo kwisungana basuzumwa uko Ibigo Bito n’Ibiciriritse (SME) byabasha guhangana n’ibihe bikomeye no kwiga ku ishusho y’Ibigo Bito n’Ibiciriritse mu Rwanda.
Muri uwo mwiherero, ibiganiro bizatangwa mu rurimi rw’Ikinyarwanda ku wa Kane, tariki ya 14 Gicurasi 2020, bizasuzuma uburyo ubucuruzi bwakomeza hubahirizwa ingamba n’amabwiriza by’ingirakamaro mu igenamigambi mu gihe cy’Icyorezo cya COVID-19. Muri izo ngamba n’amabwiriza harimo:
- Guteganya ingamba wafatira ubucuruzi ukora – ni gute ukemura ibibazo byerekeye abakiriya, abagemura ibicuruzwa, ibikorwaremezo, abakozi n’uko ugenzura amafaranga winjiza n’ayo usohora? Ese ubucuruzi buzabangamirwa gute nindamuka mfunze cyangwa ubucuruzi bugakendera mu byumweru bibiri? Nibimara amezi abiri bizagenda bite?
- Gusuzuma ingaruka zishingiye ku kigo – gusuzuma ibyiciro bitandukanye by’ibigo by’ubucuruzi, ingorane bihura na zo n’uburyo bigerageza kubyitwaramo. Ni iki wakora niba udashobora kubona ibicuruzwa ushyira mu iduka ryawe, cyangwa ibyo ugurisha abakiriya bakugana?
- Ingaruka ku mafaranga winjiza n’ayo usohora – icyo wakora mu gihe amafaranga winjiza n’ayo usohora agizweho ingaruka n’ifunga ritateganyijwe cyangwa igihe ingano y’amafaranga winjiza n’ayo usohora iri ku gipimo cyo hasi.
Ni iki abitabiriye umwiherero babivuzeho?
“Izi ni zimwe mu ngamba ziboneye tuzifashisha.”
“Turashimira AMI n’itsinda ryateguye uyu mwiherero kubera ko wagenze neza kandi wagize ibyo utwungura.”
Abitabiriye umwiherero bose bazagezwaho ibikoresho bifashisha nk’impapuro zigaragaza igenamigambi ry’amafaranga yinjira n’asohoka, zateguwe na AMI, kugira ngo zifashishwe mu kubunganira mu bikorwa byabo by’ubucuruzi. Ibyo bikoresho bitangirwa ubuntu kandi byateguwe by’umwihariko hasesengurwa ibibazo bivuka mu gihe cy’Icyorezo cya COVID-19 kandi bikubiyemo n’amasomo y’inyongera.
Ibi bikoresho n’ibiganiro byatanzwe ni ingirakamaro kubera ko icyorezo gishobora gukomeza kubangamira Ibigo Bito n’Ibiciriritse mu Rwanda – no hirya no hino ku isi – kuko igihe kizamara kitazwi. Nk’uko Diederik Wokke wo muri AMI abibona, ibigo byinshi bito byabanje gutekereza ko bizagirwaho ingaruka mu byumweru bibiri gusa bya mbere ingamba zo guhagarika ibikorwa bitari iby’ingenzi zigitangira. Kubera ko ubu ibintu bitangiye kujya mu buryo ariko buhoro buhoro, ibigo biracyakeneye kubaka ubumenyi ngiro no gufata ingamba z’igihe kiri imbere gikomeje kubera abenshi urujijo.
Ibiganiro byatangiwe muri uwo mwiherero byagaragaje bimwe mu bibazo biri mu Bigo Bito n’Ibiciriritse muri iki gihe. Urugero, ingorane mu kumvikana n’abagemura ibicuruzwa zirarushaho gukomera kuko muri iki gihe ibikorwa by’ubucuruzi bigenda bifungura buhoro buhoro. Iduka rikorera mu mwanya ukodeshwa rishobora kuba ryararushijeho koroherezwa mu byerekeye kwishyura ubukode mu gihe ibikorwa bitari iby’ingenzi bihagaritswe, ariko ubu ibintu biragenda bihinduka uko mu gihugu ibikorwa bigenda bikomorerwa.
Mu gusoza, haracyari ibibazo byinshi mu myishyuranire no guhererekanya amafaranga kubera ingamba zo kubahiriza intera hagati y’abantu mu buryo bwose bushoboka. Ibigo byinshi byahisemo kwishyurana hakorehejwe ikoranabuhanga ku buryo bikiri kwimenyereza izo mpinduka.
Icyakora, kubera igenamigambi, imicungire ndetse n’amikoro akenewe nk’aboneka mu Bigo Bito n’Ibiciriritse mu buryo n’ingamba bifite byo guhangana n’ibihe bikomeye, ibigo bito bizarushaho kugira amahirwe yo kutazahazwa n’ingaruka z’iki cyorezo.
Shakisha amakuru arambuye ku masomo tuzabagezaho ubutaha, usura “Expanding My Skills” ku rubuga rwa SME Response Clinic no kuri Facebook.
Have questions? Please email smeresponseclinic@gmail.com