Born and raised in Musanze District, Jules Munyaneza always had ambitions of becoming an architect. With time and the opportunities he was exposed to, his ambitions changed. After spending five years in South Korea studying architectural engineering, he ventured into agribusiness back in his country. The adjustment in interest was partially as a result of interactions, Munyaneza had with a roommate from Kenya while studying in Korea. The roommate said that he was doing poultry back in Rwanda which was quite profitable. A worker arranging chicks at Ever Vista ltd to be sold. Courtesy photos. By sharing business tips and the profitability that come along with poultry, Munyaneza bought into the idea and decided to try his hand on agri-business on completing his studies. “When you live abroad for a period of time, you get exposed to different people with different backgrounds, their inspirations and advice contributes a lot to your success and how you could impact your community,” he said. For him, what he learned most from his exposure is that a good business is the one that strives to solve the community’s problems. In Africa, he said among the problems its facing is food security and about 60 percent depend on agriculture. chicks after being hatched. He however decided to take this opportunity to make changes. In Rwanda, he said he identified that there was many imports including poultry where chicks were being imported from Belgium and neighbouring countries as there were no hatcheries adequate hatcheries in the country. This prompted him to venture into the business in efforts to rectify the status quo. In 2017, while still in South Korea, he started a hatchery back home with a capacity to hold and produce 2,000 chicks monthly. After completing his studies, he returned with 2 incubators with the capacity to hold 12,672 eggs, which further improved his poultry venture. He said the money he invested in the business was from his savings from South Korea where he used to work. The poultry enterprise goes by the name Ever Vista ltd, based in Musanze District. The business has three departments; poultry hatchery (about 14,784 chicks a month); eggs and meat poultry farming (with 4,000 chicken); and a poultry farming training centre. The poultry farming training facility is where he offers training to his customers, especially those buying chicken from the hatchery. He says the farmers are trained on modern poultry faming, so that on buying the chicks, whenever they encounter challenges, they are able to handle them on their own. Impacting the community Through his enterprise, Munyaneza has managed to create jobs for young people and women from his own community. He has also managed to improve food security by introducing solutions to his community. “Most of people in my community can afford to eat chicken and eggs, which is very healthy because of the nutrition value eggs and chicken come along with,” he said. Rather than seeking employment, he is creating jobs for others and at the same time being his own boss. “I have learned that despite challenges and restrictions as far as starting up a business is concerned, anyone can still start out small and eventually grow bigger especially in Agri-business sector. He added that people should move from thinking and get started. Munyaneza has managed to employ nine permanent workers at the farm and hatchery, two veterinary workers depending on how the company needs them. At least every worker goes home with Rwf 40, 000 a month while veterinary earns about Rwf 120,000. Challenges He cited the growing cost of poultry feeds as one of the most challenging issues for him as far as poultry farming is concerned. However, in bid to solve the issue, he said he is planning to open a micro-poultry feed mill, which will see him produce feeds not only for his chicken but for the customers who buy chicks from his hatchery. Although he has fully ventured into agribusiness, Munyaneza still have hopes of reviving his career by starting a consultancy in architecture. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
