Despite high unemployment rates among Rwandans, highest among the youngest generation of workers, salon employees are often not Rwandan. With no local training available, owners must import skilled labor from nearby countries. Enter Jeanne and Sylvie, they lost family and friends during the 1994 genocide and have watched this young generation of Rwandans with concern. Idle youth are always the "armies" of conflict. Jeanne and Sylvie have a vision for a beauty school. Their goal is to provide a vocation and a future for Rwandans and an ongoing labor stream for themselves (and yes, their competitors).
In combination, the two salons owned and operated by Murekatete and Mukamusoni employ 28 men and women, serving as a powerful business model for the surrounding community.
Sixty percent of Rwanda lives below the poverty line. But its economy is growing. Fifteen years after genocide claimed over 800,000 lives, Rwanda now is a place of promise. At its center: two female, local entrepreneurs who plan to open a beauty school in 2009 as a way to teach peace as well as energize economic recovery in their country.
“In the Rwandan service sector,” says Bpeace representative Barbara Bylenga, who also is founder and CEO of the San Francisco-based market research firm Outlaw Consulting, “demand currently outstrips supply. In Rwanda today, there are more available salon jobs than trained local hairdressers, and more potential clients than these hairdressers can accommodate. This means good prospects for the graduates, and growth potential for local beauty businesses.”
“Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish; and you have fed him for a lifetime”— While the saying is cliché, it’s not always the vision of well meaning projects. But teaching is the beauty of the beauty school. Ten years from now we hope to visit the Rwanda Beauty School graduates and see them thriving; perhaps several will have opened their own salon.
The school will provide a 12-month intensive program designed to create a skilled professional able to turn lessons into income. In the first year the school will matriculate 30 students, with plans to increase student capacity in the future.
Lectures and demonstrations will take place in the classroom three days a week; hands on experience will take place in Jeanne and Sylvie’s salons two days a week.
The school will be licensed and accredited through the Rwanda government.
Each graduating student will be awarded a certification.
Jeanne currently runs a beauty salon in Kigali - Genesis Beauty Salon. Jeanne grew up in difficult circumstances. She was constantly berated for being a Tutsi, and her father was killed in a wave of ethnic violence in the 1960s. Her mother raised Jeanne and her six siblings on her own. At the time of the 1994 genocide, Jeanne was married but her husband and his family rejected her and the children because of ethnic differences.
Jeanne managed to keep her children safe, but her mother, four siblings, and many more of her relatives were killed. Jeanne started working almost immediately after the genocide. “I didn’t want to be a woman who waited for her husband to bring her everything,” she says. She opened a full-service salon for women and men in December 2005.
In late 2007, Jeanne approached Bpeace with her dream to start a beauty school for orphaned girls; by giving them skills, she believes they will be less likely to turn to prostitution. Since then, and with the support of Bpeace, Jeanne’s vision has evolved to a sustainable model and to include Sylvie as a partner. Jeanne lives in Kigali with her new husband and baby and three teenage children from her first marriage
Sylvie is a true entrepreneur running four successful businesses in Kigali employing a total of 140 people. Before the war, Sylvie was a nurse and her husband was also a civil servant. When the war started in 1990, Sylvie’s husband was accused of being a traitor to the Tutsi rebels and Sylvie was accused of having met with the rebel group in Belgium. At that time she decided to quit her job, and focus on starting a business--just in case something went wrong. Soon, her husband also resigned, and joined the business.
Today, Sylvie runs four businesses--hair salon for men and women; video rental; baby supply and gift shop; and her biggest endeavor--Bambino Supercity Amusement Park. The park includes a conference center, swimming pool, restaurants, beautiful gardens, and rides. Sylvie is proud of the amusement park. It helps the community by providing jobs to many people and improving lives. Giving back to the community is a priority for Sylvie which is why she became a partner in the Rwanda Beauty School. Sylvie lives in Kigali with her husband, four children, and nine other people from her extended family.
Here is a link to a recent article about Sylvie. http://xr.com/crg
Kate Buggeln is the Bpeace Rwanda Team leader and is the primary force behind fundraising for the Rwanda Beauty School. She has led missions to Rwanda and has successfully charted the vision of the Rwanda program and the School. Her involvement has been critical to the success of the program and the growth in each of the Associate’s businesses.
Kate has a 20-year track record establishing new businesses and growing mature ones, working in large to mid-size corporate, start-up, as well as not-for-profit environments. Today, in addition to consulting for senior retail management teams, Kate serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Noble Biomaterials, an advanced materials manufacturer and Dress Barn Inc. (DBRN), one of the nation's leading value priced women's specialty retailers. Sodehox, the $16.4 billion multi-national hospitality firm, purchased Circles Inc., the concierge and lifestyle marketing company on whose Board Kate served. She continues to advise Spire, an online high-end lifestyle resource, on whose Board she served until June 2008.
During her tenure as Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development at Coach Inc. (COH), Kate held responsibility for growth and consumer strategies and managed the direct marketing, Internet and licensed businesses. Prior Kate was President of Boo.com, during its U.S. re-launch as a fashion internet site. And earlier, as a consultant with Coopers & Lybrand and the LakeWest Group, Kate worked with industry leading companies such as Bergdorf Goodman, Barneys New York, CVS Pharmacy, Sesame Street, Gucci, J. Crew, L.L. Bean, and Harley Davidson, among other notables. Kate began her career in the Executive Training Program at Bloomingdales Department Stores where she spent six years learning the retail trade as a merchant and operations executive.
Kate has been featured in a variety of international and industry publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The International Herald Tribune and The London Times. She has appeared on radio and television programs including CNN, CBS Nightly News and the BBC. Kate has been a guest speaker at U.S. corporations and the business schools of Columbia, Fordham and Harvard Universities as well as MIT. She holds a B.A. from Fairleigh Dickinson University. kbuggeln@bpeace.org
As the Rwanda Beauty School project leader, Barbara Bylenga’s function is to manage the project’s vision and execution.
In her work life she is founder and President of Outlaw Consulting, a San Francisco based market research firm specializing in trendsetters. Barbara has 20+ years experience in market research. She had a successful career in advertising in both Chicago, and San Francisco. After a year-long "world trip" in '94, she founded Outlaw Consulting. She has provided companies such as Levi Strauss & Co., Nike, Converse, Spiegel, Nordstrom, Diageo and eBay with intelligence and customized information to ensure that they stay one step ahead of the preferences and desires of their target customers. Information is used to guide product design, advertising and marketing strategy. Barbara earned her BS in Communications from Florida State and her MA in Advertising from Michigan State. She is a member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Council on Strategic Planning. Barbara is mentoring Bpeace Associate Jeanne Murekatete. bbylenga@outlawconsulting.com
As the team's Financial Planner, Alix Samuelson created the school's budget and financial projections.
Alix is currently pursuing her MBA at INSEAD. Previously, she worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers where she gained seven years experience in accounting and advisory services. She is presently living in Singapore for her studies, but was previously based in New York. Alix is originally from San Francisco, California and is a graduate of the University of California where she studied economics.
Alix joined Bpeace in fall 2007 after being introduced through a friend and quickly joined the Beauty School Team once she saw how excited and dedicated everyone was to the project. She also felt that she could be a valuable member of the team with her financial background and business skills and would love to learn more about the Beauty industry.
Specifically, the curriculum includes theoretical and practical instruction in beauty salon services: cutting, styling, braiding, color, straightening, relaxing, maintenance, salon procedures, and client handling. Make-up, nails, and spa will eventually be integrated into the curriculum. Students will be exposed to international styles, expertise and experience through guest instructors sent by the Regis Corporation as well as other international experts.
Executives Russell Brown (right), Senior Artistic Director and Kevin Kirven, Regional Trainer with Regis Corporation traveled with Bpeace to Rwanda in 2007 to provide training to the staff in Jeanne and Sylvie’s salon. Their experience allowed them to design the curriculum based on the styling needs specific to the Rwanda market.
How You Can Help Build the Beauty School
We provide various ways for people to get involved in creative fundraising, technical support, etc.
Organize a fundraising event at your home, local salon, or school. Tell us what interests you and we can help you make it happen.
- Let us know about relevant grant opportunities.
- Collect donated materials such as beauty magazines, books, and equipment
- Introduce us to corporate sponsors and journalists.
- Tell others about the Rwanda Beauty School.
For salon industry professionals:
Hold an event at your salon to raise money for the School. We make it easy. Bpeace has a free toolkit for salon owners who want to become a charter fundraiser and help launch the Rwanda beauty vocational school. The electronic tool kit includes 17 ideas on how to generate salon traffic and deepen customer relationships and raise funds for the beauty school; two sample press releases to customize and send to local press to announce the event, and to later report the results; a sample radio promotion to tie-in a local station; photos of Jeanne and Sylvie, the founding partners; 11 x 17 inch color posters of Jeanne and Sylvie and their story to print out and post in your salon; tax-deductible receipts to give to customers for their contributions; a simple 5-step checklist to make your salon fundraising event a success. Additionally, once you sign-up as a charter fundraiser, Bpeace will mail you a DVD with short videos on the beauty school project and will customize any of its materials with your logo.
Travel to Rwanda as guest lecturers and traveling mentors.
What We Need Financially:
Start-up capital to open the school in January 2009: $100,000. Funding is needed NOW for classroom and salon equipment, supplies, computers, and curriculum translation.
24 months’ operating funds to provide stability: $60,000 per year. Bpeace is raising funds to ensure the school has a foundation to build a self-sufficient model within three years.
Scholarship money for at-risk youth who need a future: $10,000. The Beauty School of Rwanda Scholarship Fund is being established to support those students unable to pay tuition.
For more details on any of the above, email bbylenga@outlawconsulting.com or call Barbara Bylenga at 415-541-9300.