One of my favourite local designers works from her backyard. She sits with her tailors on verandah behind her house working on numerous orders ranging from school uniforms and shirts, to coats and dresses, you name it.

They sit on the verandah five days a week to serve their clients’ demand and do not mind working over the weekend if there are deadlines to be met.

Mostly, as they work, they tell stories and other times they have a loud radio for entertainment as they work.

Once her products are ready, it would be hard to tell that they were made in a backyard in Kicukiro. They even come with a label indicating the designer’s fashion house.  

She buys her raw materials from her friends at a local marketplace.

The quality of her work is as good as most imported brands (if not better) and is very affordable compared to designer outfits we import.

She has thoughts and plans for her enterprise; move from her backyard to a better more accessible space, employ more tailors, open up an outlet in town and sell some outfits in Europe through her relative who stays abroad.

But to do all these, she needs to expand her clientelle base beyond what it is currently.

Her dreams are valid; numbers from the Ministry of Trade and Industry indicate that about Rwf60 billion is spent on clothes imports annually.

Her clientelle base is mostly made up of a small section of the growing middle-class, most of who learn about her work by word of mouth, but it is yet to get to the level she hopes for.

An aspect that continues to hold her back is that most of her potential clients are yet to be convinced that her products can compete with those in boutiques imported from Turkey, China and other markets.

Her colleagues in the industry cite the same challenges, a perception by a section of their target clients that the quality of their products is inferior or meant for a different target market.

The perception problem is not solely faced by the textile industry. It is not even a solely Rwandan challenge. Most locally produced goods suffer not due to inferior quality or high cost but mostly due to wrong perception.

We continue to refuse to see locally made products without bias, we carry around perceptions that they are of poor quality or, worse still, that such handmade products are meant for markets overseas.

This reduces the number of local brands and products consumed by the average middle class whose income has been said to be growing in past years

Among the products suffering this fate include the textile industry, leather industry, handicrafts, cement, hygiene materials, among others. 

As a result, East African Community member countries continue to have a high trade deficit, and in Rwanda’s case, the National Bank of Rwanda governor John Rwangombwa, recently put the trade deficit at $1761.3 million.

For an economy aiming at having less revenue leak due to imports of locally produced items, one needs not to be an economist to see that the status quo needs to change.

The ever-increasing high volume of imports that drive up the trade deficit has partly been blamed on a growing middle class with disposable incomes that they spend on what they consider as quality products.

Again, one does not need to be an economist to understand the reason why the incomes should be spent in the country as opposed to imports.

A number of African countries struggling with the same challenge have introduced different approaches to increase the consumption of locally produced items.

Some, like Nigeria, recently banned imports of products that are produced in excess capacity in the country.

Very recently, an EAC summit concretised plans to ban the importation of second-hand clothes and shoes within the bloc, as a way of, among other reasons, giving a chance to local products.

There have been varied opinions on the suggestion but most seem to be built around perceptions of what local producers cannot do and what markets their products are tailored for.

But how do all these change the perception of locally made products? How can we change how the ordinary consumers look at certain products without seeing them as inferior or as tailored for different consumers?

It’s probably time for local producers, like my tailor, to emulate their competitors with regard to marketing, branding, advertising and interaction with consumers to change the image of their products.

It’s probably time for her and her colleagues to realise that there is no ‘home advantage’ that gives their products the edge over competitors.

Producers should work to increase average consumers awareness of their products across various industries.

They should produce, package, brand and advertise having in mind that they are up against global competitors.

No policy is likely to change consumers’ perceptions of a product.

I think the question we should go forward seeking answers to in regards to ‘Made in Rwanda’ products is how to change perception.

With a different perception to her products, my friend might move from her backyard, employ more tailors, and open the outlet she has always dreamt of in town.  

The writer is a journalist.