Silk from worm to weave

I had a engaging discussion and plant tour with the CEO of Utexrwa, a textile manufacturer in Kigali. Their core business is processing cotton from the raw material all the way to finished clothing products. But the fascinating aspect of their business is their emerging silk program.
Utexrwa claims to be the only vertically integrated silk company in the world! They have mulberry bushes surrounding the factory, silk worms that they grow from eggs, the staff to unwind the silk cocoons, and the machinery to spin the silk and turn it into material.

And if that wasn’t enough, they are now beginning to innovate with banana fiber, a highly absorbent material. Utexrwa engineers built two custom machines to turn the core of a banana tree trunk into fiber and then they blend that with cotton to make a highly absorbent cloth.

With over 700 employees and ambitious growth plans, Utexrwa is a wonderful example of business innovation in Rwanda as a catalyst for social change.

The new look for Kigali

Nathan Loyd is an entrepreneur and a Kenyan-American who came to visit Rwanda 10 years ago and hasn't left. He married a Rwandan woman, has two children, and has built the leading real estate development company in Rwanda.

Nathan started with a single desk, a computer and a single truck. DN International now has 400 employees and is successfully competing with Belgian and Kenyan developers. He spent an hour with us in his office talking about the housing challenges in Kigali, explaining how he has grown his business so successfully, and discussing where he sees the opportunities in the future. The land ownership is in the process of moving from an old 99-year lease structure to a full land title law. At the same time, three banks are beginning to develop mortgage products.

He just finished a 28-house development called Hillview that completely sold out before the project was complete. These are tidy three and four bedroom, three-bath homes in a secure community. Their own sewage treatment plant produces "gray" water that is used for lawn irrigation. Last month, the president of Rwanda visited to tour the development and named it the best new development in the country.

Across the valley from Hillview, Nathan's company has just broken ground on a new development called Greenpark Villas, a 70-house community that will include a swimming pool, clubhouse, bank, and a convenience store.