Many people leave their home countries to seek greener pastures abroad, but not always does one decide to leave a developed country and build a life back home. This is the case of Nellie Ingabire, a mother of three, who decided to move back from Sweden and now runs an agri-business.

Ingabire was born in Uganda and partially raised there until the family moved back to Rwanda. She lived in Sweden for about seven years, then came back to settle in Rwanda permanently in 2012.

"Living in a country that is not yours can be very hard, there are challenges, like the living condition, people around you, the segregation and some other things that can’t be listed. So I found that if I wanted to do something that will make a mark, I couldn’t do it in Sweden. The jobs that people do there can take you to another level but if you are looking to grow and leave a legacy, it is something that I found can only be done back home,” she says.

The agri-businesswoman feeding chickens and turkey birds. 

Ingabire first gathered the courage to leave Sweden, then came back and created a business.  

"It takes a lot of courage to start a business and when you know what you want and you know how to live low, everything goes well. I started from almost nothing and it is hard for some to believe. When you decide to create a business it needs you to be there, it’s like giving birth, you have to be there and have it grow with you,” Ingabire says.

Starting out

The idea to venture into agriculture started in 2013 when Ingabire was at the time operating a restaurant in Kigali. She bought land in Nyamata where she got into agriculture to support her restaurant.

Ingabire checking on her rabbits that gave birth recently.

However, in 2015 she gave birth to twin girls that needed her attention, and so she needed work that didn’t require her to move a lot and would allow her to take care of the girls.

"I had to decide to either keep the restaurant or be home with my children. That is when I decided to move from Kigali to Nyamata and do farming fulltime, a job that would allow me to work, be with my children, and pay for our living,” Ingabire says.

She started rearing pigs in 2013 and says that she noticed an increase in demand from many people.  Over the last three years, the number of pigs has increased as she sells many each and every single day. She started with five pigs, but now also has chickens, goats, cows, ducks, turkeys, rabbits, hamsters, and her farm has banana plantations.

Ingabire also started an initiative of women who weave baskets and other art crafts, with the aim to uplift the vulnerable women in her area. The farm also has lunch-outs, where people go every weekend to eat.

Ingabire describes a day on a farm as hectic but also a very amazing experience.

"I love being a woman in agri-business, I would say I am a strong, courageous woman and I am a person that lives a very low life. I work for what I need and put what I need on a list, and that has helped me achieve all of what I have,” she says.

Ingabire faces challenges, like not finding people to work with, and also the level of understanding of some businesses because people don’t really take farming as a serious business—it took her time to convince people that her business will be something big.

She advises everyone to work for what they need and not what they want because it will take them far, and if you want to start a business, know what you are working towards.