It is difficult to identify real social impact in Rwanda which is directly related to fashion products as fashion clothing products cannot be considered as having clear positive effects such as strongly improving life quality or allowing people to live a much healthier or safer life.

Fashion serves our society by having intellectual impact on achieving more tolerance, more respect for individuality and helps to accept that everyone has the right to be happy its own way

Fashion products make the world simply more beautiful and allow people to express their own identity, uniqueness and style by wearing things accordingly to their taste. Fashion, same as art, also serves our society by having intellectual impact on achieving more tolerance, more respect for individuality and helps to accept that everyone has the right to be happy its own way. Fashion can directly destroy boundaries in the mind of people, can create cultural change and has the power to open a society and free its members from mental ignorance. Our RWANDA CLOTHING fashion products might not directly solve major social problems by buying and using them but the existence of our fashion products in Rwanda can help the country to overcome some of its intellectual and cultural limitations. For us at RWANDA CLOTHING fashion products are important because they demonstrate to everyone of us, that a world of beauty, art and culture influences our lives in a very positive way, makes us happier and lets us dream and believe that we all are able to achieve something great. Fashion shows the possibilities we all have and of what our creative mind is capable of. This is in our opinion the direct social impact of our products.

Income generated by selling RWANDA CLOTHING products is partly used for our charity work

Indirectly of course contribute our products – besides creating jobs, paying taxes and improving the image of Rwanda – to the wellbeing of people in Rwanda when income is generated by selling RWANDA CLOTHING products and is used for a good cause as the example of our charity fashion school project in South-Rwanda shows. Profits of RWANDA CLOTHING products made by our charity projects are in parts reinvested in these charity projects and another part is even given directly as salary and pocket money to the beneficiaries of the projects.

Even by buying RWANDA CLOTHING products which are not produced with the help of our charity projects, our charity work is supported and social impact is created since we are always donating a part of our earned profits to our charity work.

By every product sold from RWANDA CLOTHING our Rwandan community profits.

Besides being a good role model in the Rwandan society for doing ethical and moral business, our education programs, creating jobs and so being able to support whole families of sometimes up to 9 family members (spouse and children) of our employees, RWANDA CLOTHING is further directly engaged in social work with its charity project RWANDA CLOTHING CHARITY.

We are constantly striving to develop and support aid projects. For this purpose we have initiated our corporate project called RWANDA CLOTHING CHARITY which helps the disadvantaged in Rwanda and supports them in their daily struggle for survival and better living conditions.

RWANDA CLOTHING CHARITY especially wants to bring awareness to the many disadvantaged young women in Rwanda

We especially want to bring awareness to the many disadvantaged young women, a lot of them being orphans and already single mothers, who are suffering in our community from violence and sexual abuse and who are very often the victims of torture or inhuman and degrading treatment by men.

For this purpose and to take account of the needs of the most vulnerable groups in our beautiful Rwanda, at RWANDA CLOTHING we initiate charity projects by using our strong presence in our home country to find sponsors and patrons who want to help and support with us. To create positive change in Rwanda we also strategically align with selected international charitable projects.

RWANDA CLOTHING CHARITY uses fashion as a platform to help

RWANDA CLOTHING CHARITY uses fashion as a platform to bring awareness to the needs of the disadvantaged and underprivileged in our society and at the same for the beneficiaries of our charity projects as an opportunity to design their better future. Our knowledge about fashion and our belief in the positive and helpful effects of teaching and educating especially women how to discover and develop their own creativity, gives us the chance to help and train others to become designers and tailors.

Therefore a former charity project of RWANDA CLOTHING CHARITY had established together with the L. Scheele Fond, Denmark, a fashion school in Huye (in the southern province of Rwanda) for more than 20 women who had been left humiliated and scared after facing constant violence and sexual abuse.

Those young women are to a large extend orphans, single mothers and ex-sex workers who had particularly faced sexual violence. Most of these women have HIV/AIDS. They acquired HIV infection by direct transmission through rape and being placed in situations where they were forced to exchange sex for survival, exposure to intimate partner violence, which in turn, makes it difficult for them to negotiate safe sex in their relationships.

Most of them reported to RWANDA CLOTHING having experienced acts of spousal violence – physical, sexual and emotional. More than two-third of those women have been also violated by someone other than a husband/partner and often even by their male family members.

With the goal to give those young women a chance of earning own income to survive with their children, we offered them education and training in our charity school.

Their learning of the basic competences in producing and selling clothing was accompanied by lessons about human dignity and the human rights. We want to contribute with the work of our RWANDA CLOTHING CHARITY, our company RWANDA CLOTHING HOME Ltd. and our RWANDA CLOTHING brand products positively to human rights, to the environment and want to enhance people’s lives and wellbeing and we are strongly committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct.

The best way to help others in our view is to always promote self-help

The best way to help others in our view is to always promote self-help and all beneficiaries of our charity work learn how to respect themselves, each other and their environment including animals and we promote teamwork, individual responsibility, and the strength that comes from creativity and the power of imagination and fantasy in our charity projects.

Funds generated with RWANDA CLOTHING CHARITY will only be used to help those who are really in need of help. All proceeds will serve to benefit especially young disadvantaged women and their children.

If you are interested to work with us in our RWANDA CLOTHING CHARITY project, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We are always open to new ideas for supporting people in Rwanda and if you have any ideas how to improve the lives of others, just let us know please – we are always happy to hear from you!

For us the social success of our fashion company and the brand RWANDA CLOTHING has always been as important as the commercial one.

RWANDA CLOTHING’s fashion design products are meant to be art and should represent the beautiful Rwandan and African culture worldwide but we furthermore always had the vision of creating jobs in Rwanda and supporting the Rwandan public.

Social impact of RWANDA CLOTHING and supporting Rwanda’s development as an emerging market are very important. Instead of having our brand in Europe and to find there cultural conditions which probably still offer better chances for a career as a creative fashion brand, we decided to stay in Kigali and to help creating a cultural change, to develop a real fashion scene and industry here and to give jobs to our fellow citizens. Therefore RWANDA CLOTHING HOME Ltd. was founded by Joselyne Umutoniwase and me as an authentic, independent, creative, innovative, ambitious and professional company with a strong sense of responsibility and environmental awareness as well as consciousness for ethical and moral business.

RWANDA CLOTHING HOME Ltd. shall be an example for respecting ethical values and human dignity

RWANDA CLOTHING HOME Ltd. shall be an example for respecting ethical values and human dignity and each and every decision our company makes must consider the consequences from an economic, social, cultural and ecological viewpoint and should contribute actively to the wellbeing and sustainable development of the local and global community.

Our compliance commitment extends to all matters including decisions relating to trade, investment, subcontracting, supplying, business development and in all other business and employment relationships.

We at RWANDA CLOTHING HOME Ltd. believe that ethical business conduct is the key to profits and a strong customer base. But for us, ethical business conduct does not only mean minimum legal compliance. We want also to be a leader in the African and international fashion business in terms of corporate social responsibility, actively promoting human rights and environmental protection. To achieve this is everyone’s responsibility at RWANDA CLOTHING and an integral part of managing our business and shall become our corporate identity and image.

RWANDA CLOTHING respects human dignity and promote human rights. We recognize, with the international community, that certain human rights should be considered fundamental and universal, based on accepted international conventions and practices, such as those of the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Among those rights are: freedom from discrimination on any grounds; freedom from arbitrary detention, execution or torture; freedom of peaceful assembly and association; freedom of thought, conscience and religion; and freedom of opinion and expression.

We pay particular attention to upholding the human rights listed below:

– Health and safety
We foster a healthy working environment, working to protect employee health while ensuring occupational safety in order to avoid accidents or injuries.

– Harassment
We protect our members of staff from corporal punishment, from physical, sexual or psychological harassment, and from intimidation or abuse.

– Freedom of speech
The right to free speech and freedom of expression is both protected and upheld.

– Protection of privacy.
We respect the privacy and integrity of our employees and customers.

We want to contribute with RWANDA CLOTHING and our products positively to human rights, to the environment and want to enhance people’s lives and wellbeing and we are strongly committed to the highest standards of ethical conduct and full compliance with all applicable national and international laws. This includes, for example, labor conditions, antitrust and promoting fair competition, prevention of bribery and corruption, good corporate governance, the protection and recognition of copyright, company assets and other forms of intellectual property.

RWANDA CLOTHING also upholds the eight core labour standards of the ILO (International Labour Organization). These standards are as follows:

– The prohibition of child labour, as per ILO Convention No. 138 (“Minimum Age“, 1973) and No. 182 (“Prohibition and Immediate Action for the Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour“, 1999).

– Prohibition of forced labour, as per ILO Convention No. 29 (“Forced Labour“, 1930) and No. 105 (“Abolition of Forced Labour“, 1957).

– The promotion (and where possible the assurance) of the same level of remuneration for men and women for work of equal value, as per ILO Convention No. 100 (“Equal Remuneration“, 1951).

– Insofar as legally permissible and feasible in the country of operation, respecting the rights of workers, as per ILO Convention No. 87 (“Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise“, 1948) and No. 98 (“Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining“, 1949).

– The prohibition of discrimination, as per ILO Convention No. 111 (“Discrimination (Employment and Occupation)“,1958). The scope of the prohibition applies in particular to discrimination based on an employee’s sex, race, disability, ethnic or cultural origin, religion or worldview, or sexual orientation.

We at RWANDA CLOTHING will never use child or forced labor. We will never tolerate treatment or working conditions that are in conflict with international conventions and practices.

We encourage our values at work, promoting teamwork, individual responsibility, and the strength that comes from diversity

All our RWANDA CLOTHING employees must respect and encourage our values at work, promoting teamwork, individual responsibility, and the strength that comes from diversity. It is the responsibility of each employee to promote our corporate code of conduct and the philosophy behind our brand.
We always strive to pay fair compensation and provide a safe and healthy workplace for employees. We are committed to equality of opportunity in all our employment practices, policies and procedures. Job requirements fulfilled, no employee or potential employee will receive less favorable treatment than any other.

RWANDA CLOTHING complies with the applicable provisions for environmental protection. We adopt an eco-friendly policy regardless of our place of business which includes minimizing use of energy, supporting sound take-back and water protection. We do not use endangered species for any business purpose, and furthermore insists that our suppliers avoid raw material procurement from an origin where there is animal rights abuse or a potential negative impact on the environment which is not being addressed properly. We do not use fur or fur products for our production.

RWANDA CLOTHING and its employees will not pay nor offer to pay bribes or illicit payments to government officials or candidates, or other parties, in order to obtain or retain business. We do not provide financial support to political parties or other political groups.

We also believe as a matter of course that business partners are to be treated fairly. Trade secrets and details of third-party business are handled with due care and confidentiality.
But RWANDA CLOTHING also requires its business partners, subcontractors, or suppliers to comply with applicable laws and regulations. We encourages our partners, subcontractors, or suppliers to strive beyond legal compliance in areas such as governance, human rights and the environment.

RWANDA CLOTHING considers the interests of the customer in our business activities as one of its most important parts. We ensure that our products present no health or safety hazard when used and that every product of us has been produced in consideration of our strict ethic and quality principles. We choose the materials for our products and produce with the highest care and attention.

RWANDA CLOTHING encourages its customers when possible to share its ethic and moral principles and to follow its way of good conduct. We believe that a better world for all of us can exist.

Rwanda has a market of over 11 million people with a rapidly growing middle class and is an important hub for integrating the EAC Common Market and Customs Union, with market potential of over 125 million people, in the business activities of RWANDA CLOTHING.

More than half of Rwanda’s population is under 25-years-old, with 15- to 24-year-olds accounting for nearly a quarter (UNFPA). The total median age is 19 years, the estimated population growth rate for 2014 is 2,63%. Rwanda’s urban population is 27,8% of the total population (2014) but the country has one of the world’s highest annual rate of change of urbanization with 6,43% (2010-2015 est.) (CIA publication: “The World Factbook“). More and more Rwandan’s migrating to the cities and especially to the capital Kigali, which has more than a million inhabitants (1.223 million in 2014).

Rwanda’s young population is extremely optimistic in their outlook to the future and very motivated to work and earn money and is expected to show strong consumer behavior

Rwanda’s young population is extremely optimistic in their outlook to the future and very motivated to work and earn money. This, together with the sustained economic increase in Rwanda, indicates that the strong growth of the Rwandan middle class is expected to continue at a high rate.

The rise of a middle class in Rwanda and whole Africa will produce a new type of African consumer for RWANDA CLOTHING by changing the traditional consumer behavior.
The attitude of Rwandan consumers has undergone a major transformation over the last few years. The increase of the Rwandan middle class, due to the fact that people are fast shifting from agriculture to the services and industry sector where growth prospects are reasonably high as compared to the agriculture sector which is showing slow growth, has provided a big boost to the consumer culture during the recent past.

The tastes and preferences of the current generation are also changing rapidly. Young Rwandans today, who have a higher income per capita and are financial independence at a younger age, want to lead a life full of luxury and comfort orientated towards a more international lifestyle which is very fashion orientated. They are strongly interested in earning money and spending money for consumption, especially for clothing.
The current generation does not mind paying extra for better facilities and ambience or the prestige of wearing special designer’s clothing.

Over the past decade, the number of middle class consumers in Africa has expanded to 355 million, according to a report from the African Development Bank Group (AfDB report: “ Africa in 50 Years’ Time“, Sept. 2011). In 2010, the continent’s 355 million-person middle class – those who spend between $4 and $20 a day – comprised about 34% of the population. This middle class will continue to grow, from 355 million in 2010 to 1.1 billion (42%) in 2060, the bank says (AfDB, 2011 page 13). And this increase in the size of the African middle class is the key to Africa’s future prosperity and RWANDA CLOTHING’s home market success.

The study brings into focus a potentially huge and enticing market for RWANDA CLOTHING. Africa’s emerging middle class, and the accompanying consumer demand also for clothing, is seen as an increasingly powerful economic engine, one that can complement the continent’s traditional reliance on agricultural, energy and mineral production and exports. Africa is a continent on the move with a huge potential for investors, thanks also to more open markets and a greater degree of political stability.

Middle-class Africans, the main costumers of RWANDA CLOTHING, are young, nearly 70 percent of them are under the age of 40, have disposable income and are demanding an increasing amount of goods and services that contribute to the overall well-being of society.

In a separate report from Feb. 2011 (“Out of Africa: A generation of consumers on the rise“), McKinsey & Company estimated that by 2020 there will be 128 million households in Africa making $5,000 or more a year (up from about 85 million in 2011), which is the level at which shopping involves choices, not just necessity. Private consumption on the continent has grown by $275 billion since 2000 – more than in either Brazil or India. Consumer spending in Africa is projected by the McKinsey Global Institute to reach $1.4 trillion in 2020.

Decisions by major consumer retail chains such as Walmart to establish a presence in Africa reflect this global confidence in the economic impetus which can be expect from the African middle class consumers.

These consumers will be easier to reach as more Africans move to cities. In the last 10 years, Africa has added 15 cities, including Kigali, with a population of 1 million or more. Another 19 will join this group by 2020 – by which time there will be total 71 such cities in Africa. More than 117 million Africans have migrated to cities in the last decade (McKinsey, 2011 page 1).

Rwanda already shows how the future of the African middle class could look like. Inspired by the prospect of integrating with the global economy and connected with the global community via internet, young Rwandans own entrepreneurial thinking and acting and are very ambitious in using latest technologies to start new businesses.

Consumption in Rwanda will increase in the next years due to the change and growth of the Rwandan credit culture

Another major factor that will lead to increased consumption in Rwanda in the next years is the change and growth of the Rwandan credit culture. The new Rwandan consumer does not feel shy to purchase products on credit and pay tomorrow for what they use or buy today. This tendency has already led to a tremendous increase in purchase of homes, cars and consumer goods and will strongly support the sale of RWANDA CLOTHING in its home market. The Rwandan market for luxury products, like high-priced fashion and accessories, has also already reached a high level compared to a decade ago when it was almost negligible.

Today, the price of a product is not the only consideration for the purchasing decision of a Rwandan consumer as it was a few years ago when prices played a major role in purchasing.

In their consuming behavior this new Rwandan middle class goes to restaurants and clubs at the weekend, spends money for luxury goods but unfortunately still prefers to shop in stores abroad (e.g. Kenya, Dubai, Uganda) because of the limited choice in Rwanda.

The RWANDA CLOTHING brand strives to capture this ever increasing Rwandan middle class which forms the most important part of consumers in Rwanda. Our goal is to make young Rwandans becoming more interested in the Rwandan fashion market, to use their purchasing power and to offer to them what they expect to purchase.

Young urban middle class Rwandans are well educated, cosmopolitan and open-minded, and they are looking for something different and new, buy exclusive products, follow trends and are very brand-conscious

Young urban middle class Rwandans are well educated, cosmopolitan and open-minded, and they are looking for something different and new, buy exclusive products, follow trends and are very brand-conscious.
They are global in their worldwide view and, unlike their parents, have been exposed to enormous information through the new medias and were born in a consumption-friendly and consumption encouraging Rwandan society. They are expected to be at the forefront of creating a new, modern, west-embracing consumer environment, as well as push the demographic change that will drive economic growth.

The number of working women has especially increased tremendously by the last decades in Rwanda. This part of society has offered new opportunities for the Rwandan retailers. The working woman today has grown out of her long-standing image of being just housewife. Working women have good incomes, their own mind in decision to purchase the products that appeal to them and build one of the most important customer groups for RWANDA CLOTHING in Rwanda. Here in Rwanda, woman are dominating the daily life and have the biggest influence and impact on the social development of the country where more than the half of all Members of Parliament are female. Therefore RWANDA CLOTHING especially focuses on having female Rwandans as longtime customers.

The rural Rwandan consumers are also showing signs of change and their standard of living is improving through socio-economic programs set up by the government and international organizations. They are also shifting towards industrial and services sector and their purchasing power is increasing. For this reason, RWANDA CLOTHING will also focus towards rural Rwanda to capture untapped rural market.

The environmental awareness in Rwanda has started affecting marketing of products based upon their eco-friendliness. In general, Rwandan consumers are likely to buy environmentally responsible products and packaging. The future key for marketing is for RWANDA CLOTHING to produce and promote ethical and ecological responsible products and packaging.
Our customers should not have to decide between their environmental concerns and their commercial considerations.

The current urban middle class Rwandan consumer buying behavior to a large extent has western influence

The current urban middle class Rwandan consumer buying behavior to a large extent has western influence. There is an increase in positive attitude towards western trends. The Rwandan consumer has become much more open-minded and experimental in her/his perspective. There is now an exponential growth of western trend reaching the Rwandan consumer by way of the media and a strong Rwandan diaspora working abroad. Foreign brands have gained wide consumer acceptance in Rwanda.

But the proud and patriotic Rwandan consumers still follow their Rwandan culture, tradition and values, which causes that foreign companies are forced to give a Rwandan/African touch to their marketing strategies in order to enter the Rwandan market. RWANDA CLOTHING is a domestic Rwandan brand, producing and selling in Rwanda and that will be one of our greatest strengths to succeed in Rwanda and Africa.

In our opinion the new generation of consumers in Rwanda will prefer brands that are launched during their growing up years. They will not prefer brands that are very old in the market. This will make it easier for new brands like ours, to cement their place in the market and run successfully. We also believe that the young consumers must be treated with respect: they appreciate smart and unusual marketing campaigns and they have to see a true benefit of purchasing the product before spending their money. For us customer and consumer care is essential. We truly love our customers.

RWANDA CLOTHING currently only sells in Rwanda – its home market. Even though our marketing strategy is to target new international markets and be present around the world – right now our focus still is on Rwanda.

There is increasing competition in the Rwandan market today and it will become a buyer’s market from seller’s market. Customers will be the ultimate beneficiary of competition in the market which will reduce prices and force the manufacturer to maintain product quality to sustain in the soon to be competitive market.

The fashion industry in Rwanda is still fragmented across a small number of different competing clothing companies

The Rwandan consumer is evolving and driving retail growth in Rwanda and companies in the fashion industry like RWANDA CLOTHING must react to this evolution which suggests that fashion will become a strong industry in Rwanda, yet the industry is still fragmented across a small number of different competing clothing companies.

The few fashion enterprises in the country have only a very limited number of qualified designers, including not more than a few established Rwandan designers, some new other designers from Rwanda, as well as some designers from different countries and cultures.

But in particular because of the expanding consumer’s demand for new clothing and the governmental initiatives to stop the import of second-hand clothing to Rwanda in the coming years, it is realistic to expect that soon more national and international design houses like RWANDA CLOTHING HOME Ltd. as well as more individual designers will contribute to Rwanda’s recognition as an emerging fashion market in Africa. From our point of view, chances are good that the Rwandan fashion market will increase its meaning and financial capacity in the next years drastically.

Rwanda’s future relevance as a major African market for clothing will then be displayed by an increase in the number of large fashion events held in the country, their sponsors, hosts, size, frequency, duration, launch year, number and nationality of the participating designers and whether the event is internationally renowned (include whether the events are listed in global fashion event calendars, or whether they attracted considerable number of international participants).

But still, the present clothing market in Rwanda is dominated by second-hand clothing which is a big burden for a first to establish own textile and fashion industry. Once this problem has been overcome, the Rwandan fashion market can be expected to witness strong growth in the next years owing to a young population and an increase in disposable incomes, which is leading to increase in consumption and so to rapid growth in organized retail of new clothing.

Growth of the local Rwandan fashion industry and with it the cutback of second-hand clothing must be attributed on the one hand to the increase in awareness of domestic brands and also to government and private support of domestic Rwandan clothing companies which is already common in other countries (especially in other emerging fashion markets such as South Africa, UAE, Singapore, Brazil, India etc.).

For example government initiatives (through the Johannesburg Economic Development Unit) are fueling the growth of the fashion industry in South Africa, which is now (2013) a $4.3 billion industry, and Johannesburg is fast emerging as the fashion capital of Africa. In 2006, the Johannesburg Economic Development Unit announced its goal to develop the city into an “an internationally recognized creative city”. Some initiatives undertaken so far, include the establishing of a ‘Fashion District’ in the city that houses over 100 fashion enterprises and institutes and provides training to designers and also include organized fashion competitions in the city (“Developing Fashion Industry in Africa: The Case of Johannesburg – Introduction”, Christian M. Rogerson, the School of Geography, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2006).

The South African market must become a role model for the Rwandan fashion market in terms of nurturing a fashion scene and changing the consumer’s perception and buying behavior

The South African market must become a role model for the Rwandan fashion market in terms of nurturing a fashion scene and changing the consumer’s perception and buying behavior, also with regard to a similar development in the past. Before becoming a democracy in 1994 and many years after, the clothing sector in South Africa was almost exclusively dominated by foreign influences and used second-hand clothing as well. However, the last few years have seen the emergence of big fashion events held in South-Africa and several strong domestic brands. These brands include key players in the domestic market, such as Stoned Cherrie, Sun Goddess Loxion Kulca and David Tlale which have also gained international recognition.

Another example of how the future in Rwanda could look like is Singapore. In Singapore, the Singapore Tourism Board started the Singapore Fashion Festival with the objective of promoting Singapore as the tourist and shopping hub of the Southeast Asian region and in 2008, a group of domestically established designers founded a fashion foundation with the aim to assist designers and fashion manufactures in growing the local fashion industry at international level.

Especially those last mentioned projects can be of good example how to foster the fashion industry in Rwanda. Rwanda should follow these examples of combining powers and the Rwandan government, the tourism board and the clothing sector should work together.

Rwanda has a good business environment to become a strong fashion industry in Africa

Today Rwanda already has created a good business environment and the most important criteria and standards for evaluating and measuring in this context are in our opinion the facts and figures of the annual “Doing Business“ report published by The World Bank and the International Finance Corporation which comperes regulation for domestic firms in 189 economies. In ranking order from 189 to 1 (best), “Doing Business“ presents quantitative indicators on business regulations and the protection of property rights that shows how easy or difficult it is for a local entrepreneur, like one in the field of fashion for example, to open and run a small to medium-size business when complying with relevant regulations. It measures and tracks changes in regulations affecting 10 areas in the life cycle of a business: starting a business, dealing with construction permits, getting electricity, registering property, getting credit, protecting investors, paying taxes, trading across borders, enforcing contracts and resolving insolvency.

The data set covers also 47 economies in Sub-Saharan Africa (average global rank of all Sub-Saharan African countries together in Doing Business 2015 (DB2015): 142) including Rwanda which is now the 3rd easiest place to do business in Africa (1st in the East African Community (EAC)) and number 46 (so DB2015 global rank: 46) in the world (1st in Africa is Mauritius which ranks 28th globally, and 2nd is South Africa which ranks 43rd globally).

Rwanda has been the number 2 global reformer over a period of 5 years from 2006-2011. Together with Georgia (1st rank), Rwanda has been the most consistent country in reforming over the last years. In DB2014 however, Rwanda was nominated top reformer in Africa and second globally to Ukraine when Rwanda even overtook Georgia as the economy advancing furthest toward the regulatory frontier since 2005, with a total of 34 reforms – most in Sub Saharan Africa – over that period.

The economy profile of Rwanda in “Doing Business 2015“ (DB2015) indicates further strengths:

–  Getting credit: Rwanda ranks 4th in the world (from 32nd in 2010) after putting in place a fully functional private credit reference bureau
–  Paying taxes: Moved from 43rd in 2010 to 24th easiest place to pay taxes in the world
–  Registering property: Rwanda is the 15th easiest in the world

Further the ratings of credit rating agencies (CRA) focus on political and economic strengths and weaknesses of countries and give important information about Rwanda.

Standard and Poor’s (S&P), the world’s largest CRA, has now revised in 2015 Rwanda’s long-term credit outlook upwards from a ‘B’ to ‘B+’ rating. According to the agency, the upward revision is attributed to the government’s ability to access capital markets and reducing risks to external financing due to stable donor flows.
The agency in the ranking process also took into account the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth rates that stood at more than 6 per cent in 2014 (averaged 6.9% in 2009-2014) and projected a growth of about 7 per cent between 2015 and 2018. At B+, Rwanda is placed alongside countries like Kenya, Senegal, and Mozambique.

Fitch Ratings has also recently upgraded Rwanda’s Long-term foreign and local currency Issuer Default Ratings (IDR) to ‘B+’ from ‘B’. The Outlooks are Stable. The issue ratings on Rwanda’s senior unsecured foreign and local currency bonds have also been upgraded to ‘B+’ from ‘B’. The Country Ceiling has been upgraded to ‘B+’ from ‘B’ and the Short-term foreign currency IDR affirmed at ‘B’.

Rwanda’s ‘B+’ upgrade in 2015 reflects for the largest rating agencies in the world, the strong political and economic leadership in Rwanda that have favored pro-growth structural reforms and delivered a strong macroeconomic performance.

Ernst &Young, one of the world’s largest assurance and tax consultant, also marks Rwanda’s business environment in its report on African economies as “extremely friendly” (in “It’s time for Africa – Ernst and Young’s 2014 Africa attractiveness survey“).

Rwanda is, and at RWANDA CLOTHING we can also confirm and testify this, politically stable with well functioning institutions, rule of law, zero tolerance for corruption and a clear vision for growth through private investment set out by President Kagame (Vision 2020) (also compare RDB report “INVESTING IN RWANDA – AN OVERVIEW 2011”).

The present performance makes Rwanda, which was also mentioned in the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report (2011- 2012) as the most competitive place to do business in East Africa and 3rd in Africa, to one of the most attractive business and investment destination in Africa not only with regard to the political and economic situation.

A low demand of the Rwandan consumer market for new textile goods and accessories produced in Rwandan could become a risk for the Rwandan fashion market

But even though the business environment in Rwanda can be described as supportive and stable for a brand like RWANDA CLOTHING, the Rwandan market also has some particular risks which besides general economic risks can influence our growth negatively.

A particularly crucial factor here for us is, as a company of the consumer goods industry, the economic situation in our sales markets Rwanda, which can result in a risk of reduced demand for new textile goods and accessories. The RWANDA CLOTHING brand’s dependence on consumers’ buying behavior always includes risks for the corporate profits and growth and makes it important to effectively counteract possible negative impacts of changes in the economic situation at an early stage. In order to minimize country risks with regard to sales, RWANDA CLOTHING products will be only sold in countries with stable economic environments.

The risks relating to changes especially in our major sales market and home country Rwanda, may arise as a result of changes in the political and regulatory environment but also terrorist acts and environmental disasters constitute other possible risks to our assets, financial position and earnings.

But even with regard of these risks, we believe that the sustainable developments in Rwanda will offer good opportunities for a long-term growth over the next decades of the local Rwandan fashion market. Especially the progress in the ICT sector gives excellent possibilities for value-oriented growth in the future also in the fashion sector.

In our opinion Rwanda has the potential to transform itself from a subsistence agricultural to a knowledge-based economy and in accordance with the international ratings of Rwanda, RWANDA CLOTHING also draws up an overall positive balance from the political and economic situation in Rwanda and looks forward to further positive developments in our country.

The potential of Rwanda are its young people. Rwanda has the possibilities and the power of its young, fresh and motivated population. The new generation of Rwandans will build the new Rwanda. In future RWANDA CLOTHING will be just one example amongst many others more for great achievements of the “new Rwanda”.

After almost two and a half years remaining with our old rwandaclothing.com website – the last one we launched in September 2013 – and several efforts to renew, restructure and rebuild it, we finally decided to build and launch a complete new website which develops further the simple black and white graphic design and user-friendly layout of all the sites we have had before.

rwandaclothing.com version number 4 is going to be launched

One of our goals for 2016 is to have a successful online store to satisfy better the customer’s demands outside of Rwanda. At RWANDA CLOTHING we really care about our customer’s satisfaction and to give the best service to everyone who wants to buy from us. We have an established and well functioning system of the service we provide to customers in Rwanda who come to buy at our RWANDA CLOTHING STORE Kigali: very friendly and well prepared staff members in the store, a great team of tailors, designers and assistants at our RWANDA CLOTHING FACTORY which is next to the store and that offers best service for all custom-made issues of our clients – but as soon as someone wants to purchase RWANDA CLOTHING outside of Kigali we began to struggle a lot in dealing with producing items on demand for someone we don’t know and whose measurements we have never taken, with processing the payments, delivering the items to the customer and sometimes even with legal issues as for example guarantees, a good return policy and so on.

The new online store on rwandaclothing.com

To fill the gap and to sell online we have tried several ways of including an online store in our business, worked with some online platforms for testing purposes, had meetings with other businesses in Rwanda to see if some cooperation in selling online can help us and we discussed with web designers and searched for ideas how to integrate an online store in our existing website. After some trials with not convincing results, we then decided to build a complete new website for our brand which from the beginning on will already include the store and where the store and the possibility to buy our products is already fully integrated in all functions and is linked to all other sites, posts and pages. This has now to be achieved with rwandaclothing.com – version 4 which we now started to build.

We also took decisions regarding the idea we had before in having two separated and independent websites for RWANDA CLOTHING. When we started now in beginning of 2016 the project of renewing the RWANDA CLOTHING online presentation, there still existed two websites of ours: first the rwandaclothinghome.com website for our company RWANDA CLOTHING HOME Ltd. and all related business issues and second the rwandaclothing.com website which was addressed to the end-consumer and presented our RWANDA CLOTHING fashion brand and which was meant to create the brand’s image and identity. This distinction between the two websites we had from the beginning of our business in February 2012 and thought it might be a good idea to have on the one hand side a special designed website for prospective business partners and on the other side a site which targets potential clients and end-consumers who are less interested in our business data.

Finally now after being in business for four years we came to the conclusion that there is no need of having a web presentation to business people. Not that they are not interesting for us – even though we have never really had contact to them – but we have always been convinced that it is better to make all decisions on our own, to be not dependent on anyone else’s money, so to finance our business from our income and profit, to better grow slowly but in a way we can control it and to finally be 100% able to use our full creative potential without any limitations for the benefit our our customers. In the end this is what only counts for us: our customers and how we can make them happy with our fashion designs. So that is why we only need one website for our customers and we now decided to give up on rwandaclothinghome.com completely and just make it a forwarding page to our new rwandaclothing.com. We do business for our customers – that is what only counts for us.

We will continue our journey to become one of the best and most popular African fashion brands with a new and better version of our website, an integrated online store and full concentration only on our customer’s needs. The site will be launched in beginning of March 2016 and we hope you – as our customer or future customer – will like it. If there is anything we can do better for you or if you have any tips and ideas how to improve rwandaclothing.com, please let us know on info@rwandaclothing.com

We are always happy to help and hear from you.

Roman Schulz
Co-founder of RWANDA CLOTHING