Page 27 - DIVA_1_2024

international

the ITC in Ulaanbaatar this year, where she the innovation prize in 2011», she says. Subsequently the
has found some networking opportunities for government decided to switch to LED lighting.
her company Zuzu.
Some years later, when there was an opportunity for
She founded the company for the production of constructing micro-hydropower plants Ms. Sekamana
cashmere garment together with her husband responded to the call for tenders. And she won two
in 2013. They are selling their products under projects for hydropower plants. «Energy is the backbone
their brand name Dulaan. Before, both of them of development,» she says. Today, the one in Kigasa in the
used to work for the Gobi Corporation, a big North of the country is working, while the other one in the
manufacturer specialing in cashmere products, South West in Ngororero isn’t yet connected to the national
her husband as a technology engineer, and grid. The plants produce about 300 kWh. A small village in
she as a sales person. «So, when we started Rwanda uses monthly between 30 to 50 kWh. Usually the
our company, we already had more than 20 housholds don’t have refrigerators or TV.
years of experience in producing cashmere
garments», she says. «An advantage was also, The importance of quality
that we have a combination of complementary «I was insisting on quality», Ms. Sekamana says who has a
knowledge.» They are working with Japanese commercial diploma and worked in France for a business
and German knitting machines and have bank. «And I’m persistant, I don’t give up once I have
also 6 employees, plus women doing mainly started», she is adding with regard to her success. She had
handmade work at home like buttonholes, asked a Swiss company to make the feasibility study. «A study
handworks at end garments. might seem expensive, but it can save you money later», she
explains. It had been for the first time that Rwanda issued a
Today, Erdene Naidan and her husband are call for tenders for independent energy producers. So there
selling garments to different countries, to wasn’t yet this expertise in the country.
China and Russia, the two neighbouring
countries of Mongolia, but also to European This Swiss company, Stucky in Renens at the lake of Geneva,
countries like Germany, Sweden, and Belgium also called for bids for the equipment. And Ms. Sekamana
under contract OEM (Original Equipment signed a tripartite contract with Stucky and a French
Manufacturing). They let transport their equipment manufacturer. She also signed an agreement to
garments by air cargo. Sometimes, when Gobi ask the manufacturer of the mechanical part, the turbine, to
and other big companies have a work overload, supply the electrical part too. «In case a problem occured,
Erdene Naidan’s company is acting as a I didn’t want to hear ‘it’s not me, it’s the electrical part’ or
subcontractor. For her own company, Erdene ‘it’s not me, it’s the mechanical part’, she explains. For this
Naidan has found clients, for example, with reason she wanted one single company to be responsible
the support of Mongolians living in European for both.
countries, and she also made successully
campaigns by online advertisement. In addition, Ms. Sekamana has concluded a maintenance
contract with a Portuguese company in Rwanda that is
Energy for Development building the new international airport of Kigali. And
One of the panelists at the WEDF in the French company HPP (Hydro Power Plant) trained
Ulaanbaatar was Therese Sekamana. She is the teams. «If you invest in quality from the outset, you
the founder and CEO of LED Solutions & know from the start that you are building for many years,
Green Energy Rwanda. And she is also the in general, power stations are built for life.» Quality is
Chairperson of the Private Sector Federation expensive, she adds. But if there is a natural disaster, it
Specialized Cluster, the host institution of pays off. «I›ve never had any problems with my project,
the SheTrades Rwanda hub. Ms. Sekamana the Plant or the power station, not even last May, when
has been part of the French diaspora and we had heavy rains that affected a lot of infrastructure and
was looking for an activity to help rebuilding also human lives», Ms. Sekamana highlights. Her company
her country after the genocide. In 2010 she Green Energy Rwanda has today two 25 years PPAs (Power
founded her company. «I was the first one Purchase Agreements) with the Government of Rwanda
to bring LED lamps to Rwanda, where I won for the two hydropower plants.

w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h