SINA, The name that defines Nyirangarama

 

sina explains the process of making one of his products

  If you have never made a stopover at Nyirangarama, perhaps you travelled while asleep.
This is the official stop-over point for travellers plying the Kigali-Musanze route. For travellers using public means, it is the only place the bus stops for you to grab a few refreshments and empty your bladder as well.
Legend holds that it started in 1993, as a small roadside mandazi shop until, eventually the owner,
Sina Gerard moved into food processing.
Today that name is synonymous with Nyirangarama, and no talk of it is complete without mention of Sina Gerard.
The stopover is called Nyirangarama, while Sina’s food processing empire is Urwibutso Enterprise. But Urwibutso Enterprise and Nyirangarama are almost one and the same.
The enterprise is a cluster of commercial buildings that house Sina’s diverse business interests, while a few of the premises are rented to service providers like banks and telecom companies.
Otherwise, it is one giant, indigenous business empire modeled along the lines of a social enterprise.
Food processing is the dominant activity here, and some of the products on offer are; assorted fruit juices, biscuits, cookies, banana and grape wines, fruit jam, bread, honey, flour, and the famous Akabanga chilli sauce.
The owner is a man whose life revolves around the outlying farmlands that dot his huge plantation, and on the Saturday afternoon when I stopped over for a chat, I found him driving out to attend urgent business with farmers. For a man who liaises with hundreds of peasant farmers on a first-name basis, such scenarios must be regular.
“I can say confidently that I’m a man who has no single enemy in this whole village,” he said in a rather cheeky way. “I work with all the farmers in this village, because all the food that I process here is bought from them.”
Nyirangarama has a VIP restaurant that houses a buffet and mini bar. Obviously it is meant for people with private means (unless, that is, you are going to eat your food in five minutes and rush back to catch your seat on the bus). This upper floor-based facility is mostly patronised by tourists, who occasionally come here to catch a Primus or try the brochette, although the majority come here to make use of the more private (and cleaner) washrooms.