Once everyone had arrived, the women—about six in total—gathered in the bakehouse of The Women’s Bakery, a rustic, unassuming structure on a cobblestone street in Gisementi, Remera, which beckons passers-by with its quaint allure.

Built in the style of a single-story bungalow, the structure serves as a cafe, bakery, and kitchen, with a spacious deck oven. Inside, shelves display an assortment of artisanal bread and delectable pastries, each enticingly presented behind a counter. The walls are lined with women-inspired artwork and an award that reads, "Social Enterprise of the Year 2021.” Soft lighting casts a warm, inviting glow.

First, each baker worked on refining their doughs. They made their individual levains (usually flour, water, and some ripe starting mixture), which they then set up for the initial rise, using locally milled organic flours.

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At 9:30 am, with much anticipation, the group began feeding their variedly shaped and coloured brown dough into the oven. Their creations ranged from sesame rolls, honey cakes, pretzels sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, creamy pumpkin loaves, and pillow-soft monkey bread—all on offer at the flagship store.

Susanne Kavira, 50, who in the past eight years has worked in this all-female social enterprise, wasn’t satisfied with the outcome of her dough cut-outs, so she kept rounding them until she achieved her desired shape. Off to the side were other women similarly absorbed in shaping thick, cushiony larger mounds of dough.

"I can’t think of a reason why I would leave this place,” said Kavira, as one other baker appeared with a generous slab of batter, which she placed in front of Kavira and raised a finger to signal that they needed the current batch for the oven.

Kavira’s day starts when she wakes up at dawn, needing to complete chores before heading to the bakery. With no early bus service that early, she relies on bikes for transportation. In the evenings, however, she undertakes the one-hour journey home on foot.

"Life is tough these days, but earning Rwf150,000 per month is a big step from the Rwf24,000 I made when I first started in 2015,” she explained. With this income, she can now support her family of seven, consisting of four children and three grandchildren.

She feels especially delighted on booming business days. Office workers and drivers of Kigali’s motaris (also called taxi-motos) linger in the morning over fresh bread and strong hot tea. Later in the day, locals pop in to unwind and enjoy a leisurely pause in their day. The bakery also runs a school feeding programme called the One Bread project, which aims to provide at least one meal per day to students.

The Women’s Bakery is a women-empowering social enterprise dedicated to the idea of perfecting an entire ecosystem around bread. Right from the beginning, the bakery stood out for its community-centred approach, which took off when its owner, Markey Culver, started experimenting with locally sourced ingredients one afternoon when she was particularly hungry. Her efforts were partly inspired by the Peace Corps programme she participated in back in 2012.

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In the early stages of her venture, Culver envisioned turning The Women’s Bakery into a business owned by the women themselves, Francoise Umutoniwase, the Development and Communication Manager at The Women's Bakery, told The New Times.

Her dream was for the surrounding communities to come and experience the taste of local ingredients and bold flavours. Most importantly, she wanted the women to have something sustainable they could proudly call their own.

The woman had no skills at that time to execute her vision but had the eagerness to learn the art of baking. Culver then shifted her focus to implementing skill-training sessions; these sessions laid the foundation for the bakery’s successful launch of seven operational bakeries today—three fully owned and operated by TWB, one franchise pilot, and three that have been trained by TWB but now operate independently. The bakery currently employs over 28 bakers.

Even now, Culver sees the bakery as a partnership between herself and the women. The plan remains to eventually hand over the franchise to the women themselves.

Talk turned to the connection between baking and empowerment, revealing a surprising interplay between the two processes. The professional culinary industry in Rwanda, like many places worldwide, has been male-dominated. "That's finally changing,” noted Umutoniwase.

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"Women are not only redefining what healthy bread is but also what a healthy work-life balance looks like.” The Women’s Bakery, she pointed out, has taken proactive steps to establish counselling services, and a nanny room and provided training in financial management skills. Mental health professionals cover topics such as coping with emotional struggles related to conflicts with partners, and crucially, how to achieve a balance between personal life and work.

Umutoniwase recounted how in the past, the women bakers often arrived at the bakery well after the start of work hours, visibly distressed due to either domestic conflicts at home or overwhelming morning chores. But with the positive impact of the employee benefits now taking effect, the women are much more adept at managing this. "It has transformed into an educational and social exchange, rather than just a commercial one,” she observed.

So what, practically speaking, does Umutoniwase’s assertion mean? In Florence Nyirakimonyo’s case, it means setting higher standards for romantic relationships.

"Before joining the bakery in 2018, I was a street vendor who was missing out on life’s pleasures, like love, rest, or buying clothes for myself,” the 49-year-old single mother said, explaining that she doesn’t recall any happy moments from that time.

"Now, I would only consider marrying a man who has a university degree and a house—I refuse to settle for less.” Despite having only a primary education herself, she earns a living and provides for her family, which has elevated the standards she seeks in a partner.

Umutoniwase said that looking back over her seven-year-long tenure, she was particularly aware of the transformation.

"Increasingly we’re seeing the women’s self-esteem and confidence grow right in front of our eyes,” she said. "It's also that aspect of telling them like ‘See? You sold ten packs [of bread] today. You saw something that you measured, you put it in an oven, you packaged it, you went out and you saw that people love it.”

At the start, they were baking 2kg and now they have moved to over 1,000 kg per day. "So they feel needed, basically,” she added.

To stay on track, the bakery needs support from the local community to keep running smoothly.

"We’re always trying to get affordable ingredients. If suppliers could be kind to us and understand that we’re here for the community, we could give even more,” Umutoniwase said.

For now, donations from the US, local customers, and the hard work of Culver and the women are what keep the bakery’s lights on. Their determination could spark flames of even greater success.