Experts emphasise the role of play as it allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, skills, and physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. It is for this reason that parents find the proper toys that can enable the little ones to play comfortably.
After giving birth to her first child, Ritah Uwera, moved around Kigali trying to find good quality and affordable toys for her toddler. The only options were plastic toys and stuffed animals.
Using her frustration as inspiration, she contemplated creating a kids’ brand as she suspected many parents were in the same situation.
Some of children’s toys at her shop.
In 2015, she started ‘Toddle Care’ after identifying the need for quality wooden toys, children’s furniture and their other accessories.
Her company produces wooden educational toys, soft developmental baby toys, wooden kids’ furniture for home use and schools, such as tables, desks, chairs, beds, and so forth. The toys are manufactured in Kacyiru, and the shop is located in Kiyovu.
"When I decided to turn my idea into a business, I was working from home, looking after my baby, I invested in an electric sewing machine and I learned to sew through YouTube tutorials.
"I would sew toys and other items and post them on Toddle Care’s Facebook page, and to my surprise, the reaction from other desperate parents was overwhelming. I started getting lots of messages and ideas of things to make and orders as well,” Uwera says.
Some of her workers during the manufacturing process.
The businesswoman says that within a year, the business had grown enough and she decided to move out of her home to find a shop.
She started working with carpenters to produce wooden items, although it was hard to achieve the quality she required.
However, in 2020, Uwera invested in a carpentry workshop, she was amazed by the production. Her team grew from one person in 2015 to 12 employees by 2021.
For her, the birth of Toddle Care was to solve the lack of wooden educational toys for children from birth until primary school level.
Uwera notes that in Rwanda, it is still rare for parents to invest in these toys for their children, but, part of her mission is to sensitise and educate parents about it.
Another challenge she encountered was lack of child-size wooden furniture, she also started manufacturing it as she thought it was important for children to have it both at home and school.
The entrepreneur adds that investing in the local production of these products has helped parents and schools have easy access to these products, which has reduced the need for importation of toys and children’s furniture.
"As we continue to grow as a business, we are hoping to reach a capacity where we can supply local shops in Rwanda,” she says.
Just like any business, it isn’t all a smooth journey, as she lacks enough and affordable raw materials, pays high cost of rent, lacks key machines to help her scale up, and also tight cash flows due to reduced sales during the pandemic.
Uwera is looking forward to expanding her production capacity and facility to be able to increase production and product variety in order to ream a bigger market in Rwanda and internationally.
According to her, the appreciation and satisfaction received from her customers really cheers her on to keep going and provide even better products since the market is available.
"I believe that there are many problems in Rwanda that need solutions that the youth can turn into businesses, so I encourage young people to invest time in thinking creatively and just make the first step,” she says.
Her company has expanded to produce apparel, bags, books, decoration among others. Prices start from as low as Rwf 1,500 onwards. Some of the toys include, fire engine trucks, crotchet teddy bears, gift bags, baby gyms, toy storage units, wooden architectural blocks, and crochet animals such as rhinos, crocodiles, dogs, and so forth.
You can reach Ritah Uwera on 0788312364