When Annonciate Mukafurika paid Rwf5, 000 for two bead crop seeds at a trade fair in Kigali, in 2015, little did she know that they would later turn out to be her main source of livelihood.

Seven years later, the 57-year-old, resident of Jabana Sector, in Gasabo District, treasures the seed beads – small beads that you can add to your jewelry-making projects in a variety of ways – for what they have done to her, and her family. She uses the seed beads for bead weaving and stitching, bead embroidery, and even stringing projects. She makes necklaces, bracelets, trays, and other things, with the view to keep the Rwandan culture alive through innovation.

"People are buying my bead seeds and products. Full-grown beads are a money-making business,” Mukafurika told Doing Business during the just concluded agriculture show at the Mulindi expo grounds in Gasabo, Kigali.

She sells seeds at Rwf5, 000 a kilogram. It takes six months for the bead crop to start giving yield, she said, pointing out that a kilo of the seeds can yield about 100 kilos of beads.

Talking about how the idea to venture into bead crop farming started, she recalled how she attended the Rwanda International Trade Fair at Gikondo expo grounds in 2015, and met exhibitors from Kenya and Tanzania who had brought the farm beads.  The beads, which come in different colors, lengths, and large or small beads, are like jewelry for house living spaces, and other types of interior decoration, among other things.

"Because I knew that beads are expensive in Rwanda, I thought that was the wealth I was bringing, so I paid the Rwf5, 000 without fear,” she said, adding: "I carefully kept them, but grew them without exactly being sure whether they would germinate and actually produce beads. But, I was delighted to see them thrive to productivity.”

Also, she said, her interest in the venture was stimulated by the fact that there was no factory making beads in Rwanda, yet they were being imported from other countries and some people like them. She added that from the times past, these items were liked in Rwanda such as a bride wearing a wedding veil adorned with beads, and the shawls worn by women sometimes being decorated with beads.

The two seeds she planted in 2015 produced a small amount, which she later planted and harvested three kilos.

Later, she planted the three kilos of the seeds on a half-hectare of land. They produced 600 kilos of beads.

As she scaled up her seed beads farming operations, she also diversified her products; doing curtains and fruit containers as well.

At the 2019 agriculture show, Mukafurika won the award for the best woman exhibitor – for introducing a new seed variety in the country and showing that the beads could be used to make various products.

Currently, Mukafurika has stored nearly three tons of beads harvested in different periods.

She has ample seeds for the next planting season and also has enough to sell to her growing clientele.

"My hope is built on the fact that the beads are liked in Rwanda. Many people wear them and they are also used or included in many forms of decoration,” she said.

Mukafurika plans to set up a factory to process beads.

This, she believes, will improve her work as she currently relies on manual operations especially when piercing the beads, which is time-consuming.

"A bead processing factory can help speed up my work in piercing the beads, cutting or shaping them, and much more” she said. A factory, she added, can support the development of the nascent business by ensuring a ready market for the large produce that will eventually come from the many other local seed bead farmers.

Mukafurika’s son, Joseph Niyomwungeri, a university graduate, said: "Through the bead sales, my mother was able to pay for my university tuition fees.”

He said that the beads are a good business opportunity for the youth.