Gahaya Links was founded by two sisters; Joy Ndunguste and Janet Nkubana. The company was incorporated as the first handicrafts export company ten years after the 1994 Tutsi Genocide. From a humble beginning under a tree in a remote village called Gitarama,  the sisters organised about twenty  women and taught them how to weave or how to enhance their weaving skills with new design techniques. Today the company manages a network of over 4,000 weavers across the country organised in 52  savings cooperatives.

 

After the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi, Rwanda was faced with a gender imbalance, with many women left as widows, single mothers, wives with husbands facing long jail terms, and teenage orphaned girls. Thus, our artisans are less previlaged rural Rwandans, majority women whose relatives and husbands were either killed during the genocide, fled the country or are in prison charged with genocide related cases.

Gahaya Links became the first Rwandan handcraft export company to benefit from the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) which enabled the company to penetrate the US market. With Fairwinds Trading, Inc and Macy’s, Inc partnerships, the company is now the leading exporter of Rwanda’s one-of-a- kind baskets through its Path to Peace program. The Macy’s relationship is the cornerstone of Gahaya Links’ success.