When Sandrine Horanimana graduated from the College of Business and Economics of the University of Rwanda 2017, she knew very well the challenges that awaited her in finding employment.

Yet, having been married before she could complete her degree, she badly needed an income to sustain her young family, so she had to be proactive and the starting point was to use the only available capital she had; the business skills learnt at university.

This is how she learnt about the opportunities presented by Business Development Fund (BDF), which has since enabled her to become a model poultry farmer in Muhanga District.

A farm attendant cleans and sorts eggs for sale. Photos by Michel Nkurunziza.

After getting information about BDF through local media outlets, she says, she ran to BDF for support that is particularly provided to fresh graduates.

Horanimana got Rwf10 million through this fund.

"I already had few chickens which I was rearing at home in Muhanga and BDF presented an opportunity for me to expand on this venture to make this my full time job,” she said.

Before BDF came in, they had some 700 chicken.

She says that before they gave her the money, the fund helped her fine-tuning her business plan, building on the chicken she already had.

Thanks to BDF support, they increased the number to 2,000 chickens.

Sandrine Horanimana.

The female entrepreneur used the loan to import cages from China and also used the funding to modernize her farm.

"BDF triggered a big change in my business. I used to breed chickens on the ground but with BDF support I upgraded the business by using cages and increased the number of chickens,” she said.

She said using cages reduces space that chickens occupy, shields them from contagious animal diseases as well reduces the cost of labour on the farm.

"With this approach, each group of few chickens are kept in their own pen and that is a safer way of farming because they are easier to monitor,” she said, explaining that chickens are relocated to the cages once they hit the age of three months.

In just over a year since she started working with BDF in July 2018, production has more than doubled, she said attributing it to the new technique of using cages.

"Chickens on the ground fight for food and in this situation feeds and water are wasted which means a loss to the farmer,” she said.

Considering that BDF helped the entrepreneur to increase chickens from 700 to over 2,000 chickens, the monthly yield has reached over 1,800 eggs per day.

"We have signed to pay back the BDF loan within four years which means that every month we pay Rwf200,000. We also pay Rwf150,000 in salaries and manage to keep a substantial amount of profit that we use to develop our family and expand the business,” she says.

Horanimana’s husbands testifies that since the beginning of the poultry project, his wife has hugely contributed towards family development through the business.

The business also benefitted those who look after the chickens every day, veterinary doctors, those who transport feeds from the factory and those who distribute eggs to clients among others.

The couple said that they became model farmers since many people join them to learn from their successful poultry farming project.

Among the challenges in the business include fluctuation of prices for egg and chicken feed.

editor@newtimesrwanda.com