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20:20..Episode 4: The Gift Of Trying
What If We Get It Right?
Lyrics
WASHIKALA MALANGO[00:00:10]
When you start small, you definitely need a vision, a big goal, and you work so hard to have that vision. But again, there are a lot of challenges and in most cases, people are not a hundred percent sure that they will be able to achieve it.
But again, seeing what we have achieved so far, it gives us more confidence in what we are doing and also being more ambitious than before.
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TESSA WERNINK
[00:00:41]
This is the fourth and final episode of What If We Get It Right in which we go to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and discover the power of social entrepreneurship to address community needs. In conversation with La Différence, an accelerator in the region and three entrepreneurs, we are exploring how for-profits and socially aware businesses in the Eastern Congo are strengthening their local economy.
Last episode, we met with Douce Namwezi, Washikala MALANGO and Chance Rwezi, who told us about the challenges that they face. Practical institutional and cultural challenges in sectors like agriculture, clean energy and women empowerment. For this final episode, we go deeper into the strategies that they have found to deal with their challenges and where they are taking their businesses from here.
Before we hear from the others, let's go back to La Différence for a bit. Mike and Patrick have been guiding us through this story, but what exactly do they bring? What does their support look like?
MIKE BEESTON
[00:01:47]
No, I keep on saying it, but no way am I pretending I'm not, I'm not imagining that somehow or other, I am Congolese. I understand Congolese life. You know, there's a bit of osmosis maybe over the years, which has helped me to understand that little bit. But it is a complicated place and you know, that's why we're Congolese.
That's why the team out there is fundamentally Congolese, I’m like the facilitator, the step on which they stand, right. It's not me, it's not about me. But that background that I have and other people have from Europe or wherever, that background can facilitate, it can help. It can strengthen. It can contribute to their way forward. And that's how I see what we're doing.
TESSA WERNINK
[00:02:30]
So Mike sees himself as a facilitator, but what then is the overall vision of that difference? Why are they doing what they do?
MIKE BEESTON
[00:02:39]
So what we're working towards is a model, a way of bridging that gap that I mentioned before, between startup and scale, as they say, or between startup and engaging with institutional investors or large, scaled sustainability. That gap.
We want to build a model. A clear, clearly effective and sustainable model for bridging that gap. And give people confidence that it can be repeatable. And others can do it. Give people who are at the institutional side end of it, ie. the upper end of it, confidence in what we are doing so that they, by turn, have confidence in the entrepreneurs that we're helping to take that journey.
So that at the end, we have a model, which in a way is able to grow and act as that kind of missing link you might say, so that this SME sector can develop in Congo. And all around the world, there is evidence that this SME sector is a fundamental building block for a secure, stable, peaceful society.
It doesn't exist in Congo or in Eastern Congo, not really. But by building it, we can hopefully get there.
TESSA WERNINK
[00:03:54]
Patrick explains how this works in practice.
PATRICK BYAMUNGU
[00:03:58]
Putting them in two levels, as I say. So, the first level is to give them those important advice. To help them to, really strongly, build their businesses. We have a program, a huge programme, where we have many, many courses.
So, the entrepreneur can learn a lot of things regarding, for example, the value proposition, how to run the businesses, how to manage some risk in their businesses. So, we have a huge curriculum and programme on this.
The second value which we bring is to help them to access a financial system. Yeah, because without financial, they cannot grow. The business cannot grow. At some level, they need financial support.
And we have to connect them sometime to some potential investors, who come from outside, or sometimes also we connect them to some bank. Who can provide them a loan, or who can invest or who can buy some share in their businesses.
So essentially this is the two levels where we are supporting them.
TESSA WERNINK
[00:05:47]
So back to some of these lessons for Douce, it is clear that her customers are more than just buyers. How does she keep herself rooted in the community that she's trying to serve?
DOUCE NMWEZI
[00:05:58]
First of all, we are every time improving the quality of what we are sewing as pads.
When we began, we didn't have really good material and we always asked the consumers for their feedback of what they think and how they think we can improve.
So, we could be more open to their needs. And, we are always improving our material.
When, for example, the clients or the women and girls, they say, for example, this kind of tissue, it's not easily washable, we try always to find other tissue in cotton that can be easily washable.
And when we make a small survey and we feel people are satisfied, we are also happy. And we try to ask again and again on Maisha Pad, for example, how do you think? What topics do you think we can talk about through social media?
And we always received topics from people who are members now of this Maisha Pad community. And, because at the beginning we were the ones to decide what will be talked about. But now, when it's other people who say: “I would like during the weekly meeting, the weekly discussion that we talk about XYZ problem.” We feel that this is really, really, really good. And this is improvement in the way we are doing things.
And also, we are trying or to mix this social entrepreneurship of making and selling pads with other domains. Uwezo, we are working also in new technology of information on the communication, and we are trying to see how we can use social media and other communication tools to influence people's way of thinking, way of living, way of talking.
And through culture, cultural messages, how we can, for example, ask a comedian to perform something about menstruation and, it can make people laugh, but the message is there. And so, this kind of way of doing things, helps a lot.
TESSA WERNINK
[00:08:53]
For Chance, it is clear that an international market is key for his coffee cooperative to grow and scale. But interestingly, the lessons that he wants to share are more focused on strengthening his local community on the island.
CHANCE RWEZI
[00:09:08]
Chance speaks in French…
TESSA WERNINK TRANSCRIBES
[00:09:11]
Chance believes that the islanders need to create an environment that supports complementarity. Complementarity refers to the idea of an ecosystem.
He explains: “if one entrepreneur produces fish, another entrepreneur packages that fish, another produces cornmeal, or creates a hotel to accommodate people and yet another provides connection and facilitates communication through the internet. Then this complementarity will develop the village and Idjwi could become an even more attractive place than it already is today.”
MIKE BEESTON
[00:09:46]
If there was an additional aspect to building an SME sector that we would like to put in place it's that it’s collaborative, and that people work together. Because you know, the lack of resources in DRC means that competition tends to be the default mindset. We've learned in previous careers that if you like, at the outset, especially, when you collaborate with other people on the same path, you get there faster.
But fundamentally, yes, have a group of SME successes, particularly those which are focused on these kinds of outcomes, which are social benefits, for example, in clean energy.
Where those benefits touch upon the wellbeing and sustainability of the whole community, not just this SME sector. If we can help to establish that, then that then becomes a model which is then credible, replicable, then that I think would be our job done.
But it's going to take a long time. A long, long time. You know, I mean, we just keep going. It's the right thing to do, we think. And the vision is.. it’s going to work.
TESSA WERNINK
[00:10:52]
The message is loud and clear. This is what it means to build long-term sustainable value. And everyone is saying the same.
When trying to build a business environment, it's about collaboration. Collaboration with other actors in the field, like government, NGOs, civil society, the church, businesses, and it's about complementarity. So using and buying local products and supporting each other.
It's another name for what attracted me to make this podcast. It refers to what some people call building an ecosystem. Patrick says it like this.
PATRICK BYAMUNGU
[00:11:26]
We started this journey five years ago, and we succeeded to set up, or to help 25 businesses.
And 84% of those businesses show that they are growing. And it is something which is really good for us, is really good to know, and it continues to encourage us.
Those businesses now, they are bringing revenue and services to more than five thousand families in the region. And the products which are being produced by those businesses are really contributing a lot to the daily life of the community.
And more than a million people in Kivu are really impacting on this change. So briefly, this is the impact which we have until now.
TESSA WERNINK
[00:12:48]
Starting an enterprise or stepping into risk is not easy. It's hard work. The question is: are these entrepreneurs ever satisfied with the impact that they're making? Is an entrepreneur ever done? It's a difficult question to answer. Douce says this about it.
DOUCE NMWEZI
[00:13:05]
I can say yes and no. Yes. Because when I see these small victories, I feel like we are doing really, really great things.
And even if it's one or two or three women who can give her testimony and say that she feels more empowered or more happy in her body. Or, she's not any more afraid of going to school with using a piece of cloth. And that by using Maisha Pad she's feeling really happy. I'm also happy and I feel like we are good in what we are doing.
No, because we still have work. We still have a way to work on.
When I see a community like Bukavu city, it's somehow easy to approach people to talk with them about menstruation, about pad, et cetera. But when I see rural communities with all these problems related to poverty and low economic empowerment of women, then I think like there's still a lot to do.
Of course, the vision is there, it’s watching me. I feel like I have to find everyday new strategy, new ways of doing things. For me. I can't rest until the last rural Congolese woman have her pad, so I can say that it's like I achieved my vision.
TESSA WERNINK
[00:14:50]
Armant Chako, who interviewed the entrepreneurs, asked them if they had some advice for people who wanted to be part of change. And they did. Washikala said:
WASHIKALA MALANGO
[00:14:55]
We have a lot of problems. These are problems that we have to own as Congolese. We shouldn't expect that there are people that will come into the DRC and they work on these problems. It is our responsibility as Congoles to own this problem and really work hard towards addressing them.
We should also, I think, understand that there are several ways of addressing these problems. You know, people can get involved in politics, they can get involved in business. It can also be involved in the social sector. In most cases, what we see is like, a lot of people think that it's only through politics that they can affect change or bring about change in our country.
But, it's important that people realize that entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, also has a big role to play in bringing change and developing our country. So, I would encourage a lot of us, a lot of young people, young Congolese, to be involved in entrepreneurship and be able to affect change.
TESSA WERNINK
[00:16:13]
And Douce?
DOUCE NAMWEZI
[00:16:14]
A lot of entrepreneurs want to start a business without knowing exactly what they want. In this search of ‘what do I want?’, it's really important to put a social aspect in the way you are reflecting on your business. How am I changing my community through my business?
And this social aspect will be the leitmotif of when you just want to stop because there are a lot of problems in business. You will be doing business, yes., but you'll be also changing lives of people. So, when you want to do something, just ask yourself how will I impact my community with what I'm doing.
TESSA WERNINK
[00:17:03]
What if we get it right as a platform for positive stories about people using business to address societal and planetary problems. Stories that people can engage with and that inspires them to action.
This series on the Congo was designed to understand how entrepreneurs in the region are creating value, how they are building an ecosystem so that local businesses can flourish in the area.
Remember how we started this series? Patrick told me how uncomfortable he had become with repeating the same story over and over again. How he had wanted to influence the lives of his fellow Congolese in a way that would last.
So, I asked him at the end of our interview, if he went back to his previous work and what he does now, does he feel that he might be getting it right?
PATRICK BYAMUNGU
[00:17:50]
This experience is totally different than which I had before. You can see that you are, you are contributing to building something great. And you know, two months ago I was in the plane and I was going just to visit our partner who is a cooperative for rice.
And this cooperative has more than 200 members. 200 members means 200 families. Each family has six or five children, or people who are living in the family.
Supporting these cooperatives means that you are supporting all those who are members and are family in the cooperative. So, for me, I think this is really something which I should do for the rest of my life.
OUTRO
[00:19:06]
This podcast series is a collaboration between Tessa Wernink and global design agency Impossible. Interviews with the entrepreneurs were organized, conducted, and translated by Armant Chako. Production, scripting and narration by Tessa Wernink. Sound design and editing by James Powell. All music used in this podcast is listed and credited on whatifwegetitright.com. Design an artwork by BeAPeach and Impossible. Special thanks to La Difference for all their help and support in putting this podcast together.
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[00:19:49]
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