The Role of Women Entrepreneurs in Rebuilding a Nation: the Rwandan Model

Karen E. Woody and Abbey R. Stemler

The Role of Women Entrepreneurs in Rebuilding a Nation: the Rwandan Model

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Twenty-five years ago, Rwanda experienced an unprecedented human rights atrocity. In just one hundred days in the spring and early summer of 1994, over 800,000 Rwandans were killed by their fellow countrymen and women.2 The dead totaled nearly eleven percent of the country’s population.3 What was horrifically unique about the Rwandan genocide was the number of citizen killers.4 These individuals used rudimentary means to slaughter their neighbors and fellow community members. Families, friendships, communities, and an entire country, were torn apart within the course of three months. And with a fifty percent drop in GDP in 1994, the country’s economy also was in shambles.5 After the genocide, the task of rebuilding community trust and economic stability was beyond daunting.